He-man resources

Research commissioned by Stormline, an extreme weather clothing manufacturer, asked 1000 people what they thought were the manliest jobs/industries, and what made the jobs manly. The results are a mix of surprising and predictable.

The Top 10 looks like this:

1. Engineer
2. Infantry soldier
3. Blacksmith
4. Motor mechanic
5. Chef
6. Butcher
7. Private security contractor (bodyguards, door supervisors, night watchmen)
8. Arboriculturist (tree surgeon, lumberjack)
9. Surgeon
10. Intelligence analyst

Absent are traditional men in uniform like firemen and policemen, and apparently pencil pushing intelligence analysts are in.

If that wasn’t strange enough, the research also reported that the most manly quality a job can have is ‘problem solving ability’. This is closely followed by ‘harshness of working conditions’. Problem-solving, eh? We never knew crosswords put hair on your chest.

You can extrapolate two things from the list that seem to most contribute to manliness:

a)   A sexy, sexy brain.

b)   Proficiency with sharp and/or deadly objects.

What seems clear is that the apron, often lampooned as a feminine accoutrement, is in fact more likely to make you more manly than a uniform – Chefs, Surgeons, Butchers and Blacksmiths all proudly representing Team Apron.

About the author

Jerome Langford

Jerome is a graduate in Philosophy from St Andrews, who alternately spends time writing about HR and staring wistfully out of windows, thinking about life’s bigger questions: Why are we here? How much lunch is too much lunch? What do you mean exactly by ‘final warning’?