Sugar lover lands ‘sweetest job in the world’
The country’s biggest family-owned independent sugar confectionery business, behind Love Hearts and Drumstick lollies, had carried out a high-profile search to fill the “sweetest job in the world”.
The successful candidate Michelle Eland, 40, a teaching assistant from Derby, said she has been eating Swizzels sweets since she was a child and considered herself an “expert” on them.
‘I just had to apply’
“When this opportunity came up I just had to apply and am over the moon to be chosen,” she said.
“I’m a teaching assistant and when I shared the news with my class, they were just as excited as me.”
Eland will get a year’s supply of sweets as well as being responsible for tasting new sweets and helping to develop product ideas at the factory in Derbyshire.
“I loved seeing all the sweets coming off the production line at the factory and am looking forward to tasting lots of Swizzels goodies in the future months,” she said.
In her video entry posted on the sweet maker’s website, Eland hits a drum with Drumstick lollies before doing a blind tasting of different sweets. Watch her winning entry below.
More 2,500 applicants
Sarah-Louise Heslop, marketing manager at Swizzels, said they were thrilled to receive more than 2,500 written and video applications for the sweet taster job.
“This made our decision process tough; it was incredibly hard to pick one person from such a strong bunch,” said Heslop.
“We all felt that Michelle was a great candidate who showed passion, enthusiasm and the skills necessary to fulfil the role.
“We’re looking forward to working with her over the next year to produce some exciting new sweet treats.”
Meanwhile, for the latest full-time roles in the food and drink manufacturing, visit FoodManJobs.
