Beginner skiers, now is your chance to get a taste of the pro life. Swedish ski-apparel company Tenson is looking for two people to test its new line of jackets, pants, and base layers. Mediocre, inexperienced athletes are preferred.
鈥淰ery limited prior experience of skiing is beneficial but not a requirement,鈥 the company wrote in 听posted on its website. The job pays $30 an hour, plus round-trip airfare to Idre Fj盲ll, Sweden, lodging and food, four days of skiing, an eight-hour lesson, and a head-to-toe kit of Tenson apparel. Testers also get to bring along one friend (travel, room and board, and skiing included). The assignment: use the gear all day on the slopes and then provide feedback.
The application is easy: just enter your name and contact information, and answer a few questions about your ski ability, the reason you love spending time outside, and who you鈥檇 bring with you on the trip.听The application period ends February 11.
Plenty of other outdoor companies have run similar contests inviting the public to apply for dream gigs as product testers, if only for a few months. Chief among them: Columbia, which听in 2015听hired two 鈥渄irectors of toughness鈥听to travel the world and put its gear through the听paces. But historically, brands have sought out experienced, moderately skilled outdoorspeople鈥攖hose听who know their way around the woods and mountains, and who are, at a minimum, proficient in the sport or sports in question.
In this regard, Tenson鈥檚 job posting is a bit of a curveball. According to the posting, qualified applicants should be 鈥渁n expert at falling in the lift queue,鈥 鈥渉ave no idea what 鈥榩ow,鈥 鈥榬ipper,鈥 鈥榞lades,鈥 or 鈥榩oaching鈥 mean,鈥 and 鈥渢end to change [rental ski boots] two to three times, claiming there must be something wrong with them since your feet hurt so bad.鈥
According to Karin Plonaitis, Tenson鈥檚 chief brand officer, the contest was designed specifically to give the average athlete a voice in gear design. 鈥淥ur ski gear has been thoroughly tested for years and years, but never on the average joe,鈥 Plonaitis says. 鈥淎part from skiing all day and enjoying their time in the mountains, the successful candidates will also provide us valuable product-development insights to help us continue to democratize the outdoors.鈥
Of course, extreme testing by expert-level athletes is vital to the design process for technical gear. But听all too often, that feedback loop fails to consider the gap between what pro athletes want and need and what recreational athletes want and need. To that end, adding average skiers into the testing process is never a bad thing.听