French beach resort offers cream of jobs to the right pair

Wanted: young people to spend July and August on a French beach rubbing sun cream into the backs of beautiful young people. Wages: €5000 ($9500).

Sables-d'Olonne in western France describes it as the "job of the summer". As a publicity stunt, the popular resort just south of Brittany will start an internet search for two "creamers". They will spend July and August on the beach with 30,000 samples of sun-cream lotion. The perfect candidates, says the town, will be young and good-looking and have a little medical knowledge. They should also have a sense of fun and be capable of organising beach activities. They will save people from burning. Children will have priority. But there will be nothing to prevent the "creamers" from offering to rub their products into the "upper backs and arms" of beautiful, adult young things.

Applicants should speak French but do not need to be French. Full details will be available on www.lejobdelete.com.

Applicants have until May 26 to send in a CV and a 45-second video in which they explain, or demonstrate, why they are ideal for the job. The two successful candidates will earn €850 a week for six weeks, from July 10 to August 22 - about €5000.

Last year, the resort launched "l'aspirateur nuages" - the cloud hoover. The town made a promise, which has been renewed this year, that any holidaymaker could cancel a booking up to 48 hours in advance if the weather forecast turned bad.

The sun-cream stunt is the latest example of "dream jobs" being used for promotion. Queensland tourism advertised a "caretaker" position for Great Barrier Reef islands, described as "the best job in the world". A tourism company in Ireland advertised for a couple to travel to the most romantic honeymoon spots around the world. They offered €20,000 for the six-month posting.

- INDEPENDENT