Extreme Hiring! Viral Chinese job listing requires applicants to spend 10 minutes in ‘freezing cold morgue’

A funeral home in China went viral earlier this month over its attempts to recruit a manager — with applicants required to spend time in the morgue in order to qualify. Candidates were also asked to pay a 70 yuan exam fee and make sure they were available for 24-hour shifts. 

According to a South China Morning Post report, the morgue manager will be paid a monthly salary of 2,200 yuan ( approximately $300) as part of a three-year contract. The job — listed by the Rushan Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security on December 6 — also sought only male applicants under the age of 45 who possessed at least a junior secondary school education. The job also required candidates to have a permanent household registration in the Rushan area.

“The special requirement is just a test method because some people have strong taboos or fears of staying too long in such settings, but our work requires someone who can remain in the room for more than 10 minutes,” a staff member told Eastern Business News. 

The hiring process also outlined several steps following the morgue room test — including structured interviews, background checks, medical exams, and a six-month probation period. The contractual job will however not provide applicants with bian zhi — a benefit that ensures stable, lifelong work.

It was not immediately clear whether a significant number of people had applied for the job — with several social media users panning the low pay. Others deemed the morgue ‘endurance test’ somewhat unethical even if it was intended to gauge psychological resilience

“I could stay for 10 hours, just give me a book and a bottle of water. But the pay is too low,” wrote one social media user.

“It is not the fear that holds you back, but the salary,” agreed another.