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World's Toughest Job: The impossible interview for the perfect job

Could you imagine working at a job 24 hours a day, with no breaks, no vacations, and no pay, all for the service of a ruthless associate? Who would want that position? More people than you might expect.

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Screenshot from YouTube
World's Toughest Job: This screenshot from YouTube shows an image from the new video advertisement for Cardstore.com.

A new ad campaign targeted at consumers just in time for a certain May celebration in the United States (you can guess what it is after you watch the video) has started to make the rounds, and was posted to my Facebook wall Monday night, less than a day after it was published.

At that point, it had already garnered more than 165,000 views on YouTube. As of 9a.m. EDT on Tuesday morning, the video had nearly 1 million views.

The premise for the ad is simple. A company called Rehtom created a fake job, including the following requirements, among others, for the position: Must be able to work 135+ hours a week; Willingness to forgo any breaks; Work mostly standing up and/or bending down, Must be able to lift up to 75 lbs. on a regular basis; Ph.D. in psychology or real-life equivalent; Ability to manage a minimum of 10-15 projects at one time; Ability to coordinate multiple, often conflicting, schedules; Ability to make independent decisions on behalf of others; Ability to work in a chaotic environment; Understanding of social media, mobile devices and video games; Understanding of finance; Selflessly driven.

Removed from the list are some of the requirements that might make the position more obvious to applicants. However, even with the brutal requirements, 24 applicants still applied for the position. Their interviews were taped to capture their reactions, and the result is a sappy, lovable tribute.

Looking at the video's comments on YouTube, there are naysayers that question if the interviewees are actors, but even so, the punchline is what is most valuable to share, so credit goes to the creative team at Mullen, the advertising agency, for creating a campaign that is nearly impossible to not share with friends.   

The bigger question is, will this actually inspire the purchase of more greetings cards, or just the sharing of a fun video? Time will tell, exactly 26 days to be exact, in case you haven't already figured out who is being celebrated.

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