Applying for your first step on the career ladder can be a daunting process, often involving a painstaking number of CV spell-checks and an obsessive habit of refreshing your email inbox.

However, one hopeful group of female job applicants had to clear a rather different hurdle when they applied to work in a nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic – after bosses told them to strip down to their bikinis to compete for internship positions.

Offering the dubious title of “Miss Energy 2017” to the winning applicant, the energy plant called on recent high school graduates to pose in their bikinis and a hardhat (natch) in front of a cooling tower at the plant.

Taking to their Facebook page to announce the competition, the company wrote, “The girl with the greatest number of likes will get the title of ‘Bouncer of Energy’ and spend two weeks of residency with us.”

The company then shared photos of 10 of the hopeful girls, encouraging users to like their favourite one to help them win the residency position.

Unsurprisingly, the social media backlash to the competition was fierce, with men and women alike taking to Facebook to vent their disbelief.

And speaking to local news site aktualne.cz, Human rights lawyer Petra Havlíková described it as “absolutely outside the bounds of ethics”.

“In 2017, I find it incredible that someone could gain a professional advantage for their good looks," she added.

The energy plant eventually backtracked on the contest and issued an apology on their Facebook page, writing, “The purpose of the competition was to promote technical education.

“But if the original vision raised doubts or concerns, we are very sorry.”

Images: iStock / Social Media