In-demand Jobs that Pay $40 an hour

Imagine one hour of work getting you a decent meal for two, a tank of gas, or two twenties in your pocket. Careers that let you rake down $40 an hour aren’t as few or far between as you may think.

Many of these careers are in growing fields, like health care, which means that companies across the country are hiring. With the right education — and a bit of career training — just about anyone can land a $40-an-hour job. Consider these great careers (with salary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics):

Art Director

This is a fast-paced, creative position. As an art director, you’ll design, position, and make art dance to your marketing tune. It’s all about eye-catching presentation of information, and with typography making a big comeback, this career puts you on the cutting edge of art and marketing at the same time.

An associate’s degree in computer graphics or design could get you started in the art field, but to make it to the coveted position of art director, you’re probably looking at an art degree with coursework in business. Career training for this job is intense, rewarding, and lets you move up the ladder.

Median Hourly Wage for Art Directors in 2007: $40.01 ($80,230 yearly)

Geoscientist

Too grounded for the arts? Geoscientists are some of the earthiest people around, and they work in one of the many fields about to take off, thanks to stimulus moneys coming down the pike. From searching for natural resources to cleaning up environmental disasters, geoscientists make going green possible for the rest of us. A bachelor’s degree in geology or geophysics is a necessity in this field, and many employers prefer a master’s degree.

This is a diverse field, which means that geoscientists can find work in a great many niches, both public and private. With so many specializations in this field (mineralologist, sedimentologist, paleontologist, volcanologist, and geochemist to name a few) career training is vital to landing the job you want.

Median Hourly Wage for Geoscientists in 2007: $40.43 ($84,100 yearly)

Computer Software Engineer

Computers are everywhere — and spreading. This means that computer software engineers can look forward to continued growth in the field, especially in health care niches. Programs need to be written to keep up with exponentially progressing technology and shifting markets and needs.

A degree in either computer science or computer engineering is required to enter this field. After getting that degree, computer software engineers still need to stay up to the minute with certifications and career training.

Median Hourly Wage for Computer Software Engineers in 2007: $41.18 ($85,660 yearly)

Mathematician

This career has numbers on its side. In their sweeping study of jobs in America, CareerCast found that mathematicians are at the very top — that’s right, mathematician is the best career in America right now. Mathematicians are extremely satisfied with their jobs, happy with their lives, and, of course, don’t mind that $40+ an hour.

A bachelor’s degree can get you started, but getting any further usually requires a post-graduate degree. From finance to physics, mathematicians find careers in any industry that deals with numbers.

Median Hourly Wage for Mathematicians in 2007: $43.72 ($90,930 yearly)

Pharmacist

Careers in health care (the only industry to show sustained growth — 30,000 jobs added a month on average in 2008) are a safe bet. Take a moment to count all of the pharmacies you pass the next time you’re out and about. Nearly every grocery store employs at least one full-time pharmacist. Add on the drug stores and hospitals, and you won’t be able to keep track on your fingers anymore.

Two years of college study is all that’s needed to be accepted to a number of pharmacy schools. A doctor of pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.) gets you to the important part: an exam for a pharmacist license. All pharmacists must become licensed to practice and pass state exams.

Median Hourly Wage for Pharmacists in 2007: $47.58 ($98,960 yearly)

With such a wide variety of $40-an-hour jobs out there, anyone can put their nose to the grindstone and land one of these highly lucrative careers. Get started on your degree — or finish it up — and start pulling down some great salaries in one of these hot careers.

by Karl Fendelander, FindtheRightSchool.com

When You Should ‘Dumb Down’ Your Resume

Kristin Konopka sent out nearly 100 copies of her résumé in January in search of receptionist work, but got only one callback. That’s when Ms. Konopka, a 29-year-old New York actress and yoga teacher, took her master’s degree and academic teaching experience off her résumé.

The calls started coming in. The slimmer version of her résumé landed in 30 in-boxes and earned her three callbacks and two interviews. “It definitely picked up the interest,” says Ms. Konopka, who realized quickly that people don’t “want to hire anyone who is overqualified.”

Securing work in a tight economy means more job seekers might find themselves applying for positions below their qualifications. Many unemployed professionals are willing to take paycuts for the promise of a paycheck. But to get a foot in the door, candidates are gearing down their résumés by hiding advanced degrees, changing too-lofty titles, shortening work experience descriptions, and removing awards and accolades.

In the past eight months, Jamaica Eilbes, an information-technology recruiter for Milwaukee employment agency Manpower, has had to weed out more overqualified résumés than usual from the stacks that cross her desk each day. “I’d never feel comfortable putting a really high-level candidate into a lower level position,” says Ms. Eilbes, who recruits for Manpower and other clients. “We don’t want to take you on if we think you are going to jump ship.”

But in recent months, Ms. Eilbes has seen more master’s and doctoral degrees at the bottom of résumés instead of at the top. She’s also seen candidates omitting or trimming job descriptions that showed they had substantial years of work experience. Résumés on which job descriptions taper off as they progress down the page raise Ms. Eilbes’s suspicions. “How do I know I can trust them later down the road if there’s something on their résumé they decided to take off so they could have a better chance at getting that job?” she says.

Still, for some professionals who find themselves constantly rejected despite decades of experience, scaling back the truth — or at the least, some of their experiences — can feel like the only chance at an interview.

Lenora Kaplan, 49, has 26 years of marketing experience but doesn’t want her résumé to show it. When she lost her job as vice president of public relations at a small Las Vegas marketing firm in January, Ms. Kaplan searched for work with little success. At an interview for a shopping-mall marketing-director position in February, she was told that the hiring budget had only enough for a junior-level employee and that her résumé showed she was overqualified.

Many of the jobs she comes across ask for far fewer years of experience than she has. “There is nothing to apply for” at my level, Ms. Kaplan says. She quickly realized her job experience was pricing her out of too many positions. Her solution: To try not to look as senior level as she really was. So she eliminated certain jobs and removed details about speaking engagements and board positions.

In some cases, job seekers are being told by hiring agencies to tone down their résumés if they want to get hired. When Bridget Lee, 29, moved to New York from Shanghai eight months ago and put her application in at three temporary agencies, she was told to play down her work experience before they would send her résumé to potential clients. The temp-agency version of her résumé changed titles like “manager” and “freelance trend researcher” to “staff” and “office support” and omitted entirely her title as partner of a small marketing agency. “It’s been a lesson for how I present myself,” Ms. Lee says.

Career counselors advise against making too many drastic changes. But they also say the demand for this kind of restructuring is on the rise. In the past three months, Tammy Kabell, a Kansas City, Mo., job-search coach, says more clients are requesting her help to “dumb down” their résumés, whether by changing job titles, playing down experience, or altogether omitting some impressive achievements. One recent client, a 61-year-old former chief learning officer at a tech company, insisted on omitting her C-level job title from her résumé. She was fearful her application would be weeded out by the Web search-optimization tools companies use to manage résumés.

Some résumé writers advise reworking a résumé into a functional one stressing transferable skills instead of past job titles and accomplishments. “Instead of focusing on the big achievements that might scare an employer away, you can spell out what you can bring to an employer in the next position,” Ms. Kabell says.

Of course, reducing your résumé to a skeleton of what it truly should be isn’t likely to land you the job you really want. While it took Ms. Lee eight months to get a call back for a job that matched her real experience, this month she landed a position as a temporary account manager — with potential for permanent work — at a New York design firm. The interview and job offer weren’t earned using her dumbed-down résumé, but rather with the original.

“You have to make those creative edits when it comes to short-term work, but in terms of long-term work, you have to stay true to your experience,” says Ms. Lee.

by Jane Porter
Provided By Wall Street Journal

Earn Six Figures Without a PhD or Law Degree

In today’s economy, it can feel as if there are few jobs to be had, much less ones with six-figure salaries attached. However, there are careers to be found in a range of fields that can boost your earning power. What’s more, you can achieve a high income without a doctorate or a law degree.

Of course, achieving a six-figure salary will always require hard work and motivation. There are no free rides or successful get-rich-quick schemes. Sometimes continuing your education is the best way to prepare for a new career.
Below are some steps that may help you take your current salary to new heights.

Consider the benefits of online education.
Online training programs offer an alternative to traditional in-classroom education that can be very appealing for working students. Pursuing an online degree, whether it’s a bachelor’s, associate’s, or higher, allows you to study from home, at your own pace, so you can keep your current job while training for a better one.

Scenario 1: Earn a two-year associate’s degree.
Believe it or not, there are some high-paying careers out there that you can prepare for with about two years of study. For example, court reporters are known to pull in six-figure salaries, and often train for their careers with just one year to 33 months of study. If you’re surprised to see this career on the list, consider that court reporters often take on freelance work in addition to their regular hours to significantly boost their incomes. While the average salary for a court reporter technically weighs in at about $48,000, many use freelance opportunities to top the $100,000 mark.

Scenario 2: See where a bachelor’s degree can take you.
Train for a career in fine arts, finance, or technology, and find high-paying careers in each area. Art directors average about $83,000 annually, with the top 25 percent earning over $100,000 per year. Many art directors hold a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Some begin their careers as graphic artists in advertising, publishing, design, or film, and work their way up to the position of art director while proving themselves through experience and hard work.

In the financial sector, actuaries pull in hefty salaries assessing risks and their financial impacts while often working for insurance companies. The mean annual salary for an actuary is $95,420. A bachelor’s degree in mathematics, statistics, actuarial science, or business should offer solid footing for you to embark upon this career path.

If your interests lie in technology and IT, consider becoming a Web systems manager. The mean annual salary for this career is $113,880, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The top 25 percent can earn over $136,000 per year. A bachelor’s degree is a common requirement for IT managers, along with a strong knowledge of computers and management practices. A degree in management information systems may be especially helpful.

Scenario 3: Looking beyond a bachelor’s — let education take you higher.
If you already hold a bachelor’s degree and are looking to advance within your current field, consider the options that might be possible with a master’s degree.

Becoming an educational administrator can be a great option for teachers looking to advance their careers with a two-year master’s degree. In most cases, a master’s in educational administration or educational leadership is required, as well as related experience in teaching or school administration.

A high school principal might expect to earn around $92,000 annually, according to the BLS, while a chief academic officer can earn over $140,000 per year.

Look into further career training.
Research your potential new career, what further experience you might need, and how to get it. In today’s fast-paced job market, current job skills are essential, especially if your career involves using computers or technology in any way. Many professionals remain at the top of their careers with short educational stints or extra certifications in their fields.

Do what makes you happy — the money will follow.
You’ve heard it from everyone from your mom to Oprah: Do what makes you truly happy, and the financial side of things will fall into place. While it may be difficult to swallow this notion when you’re about to leap into a career change, you will likely be happy you did, especially if you follow these guidelines.

by Patricia Cecil-Reed, FindtheRightSchool.com

Seemingly Innocent Ways to Ruin a Job Interview

In recent weeks, recruiters for Consolidated Container Co. have seen job candidates arrive up to an hour early for interviews. Other candidates have alluded to financial hardships while in the hot seat, and one person even distributed bound copies of documents describing projects he completed for past employers.

These sorts of tactics aren’t exactly winners.

In today’s ultracompetitive job market, even getting an interview is a feat. Yet recruiters and hiring managers say many unemployed candidates blow the opportunity by appearing desperate or bitter about their situations — often without realizing it.

“People are becoming a lot more aggressive,” says Julie Loubaton, director of recruiting and talent management for Atlanta-based Consolidated Container. “They often wind up hurting themselves.”

At an interview, you want to stand out for the right reasons. To do so, you’ll need to leave your baggage and anxiety at the door. For starters, wait until 10 minutes before your scheduled interview time to announce yourself. Arriving any sooner “shows that you’re not respectful of the time the hiring manager put aside for you,” says Ms. Loubaton, adding that a candidate who arrived an hour early made workers uncomfortable. “Companies really don’t want someone camped out in their lobby.”

Signal confidence by offering a firm handshake, adds Wendy Alfus Rothman, president of Wenroth Consulting Inc., an executive coaching firm in New York. Focus your attention on the interviewer. Avoid looking around the room, tapping your fingers, or other nervous movements.

No matter how you’re feeling, keep your personal woes out of the interview process, asserts Ms. Alfus Rothman. Instead, always exude an upbeat attitude. For example, if you were laid off, instead of lamenting the situation, you might say the experience prompted you to reassess your skills, and that’s what led you here. “You want to demonstrate resilience in the face of unpredictable obstacles,” she says.

Meanwhile, show you’ve done your homework on the company by explaining how your background and track record relates to its current needs, adds Deborah Markus, founder of Columbus Advisors LLC, an executive-search firm in New York. This is particularly important if the firm is in a different industry than the one you worked in before. To stand out, you’ll need to look up more than just basics on company leadership and core businesses. You’ll also need to find out — and understand — how recent changes in the marketplace have affected the firm, its competitors and industry overall. Read recent company press releases, annual reports, media coverage and industry blogs, and consult with trusted members of your network. “Companies that may have been performing well just a few months ago might be in survival mode now,” says Ms. Markus. “You want to understand how [they're] positioned today.”

Also, be sure to show you’re a strong fit for the particular position you’re seeking, adds Kathy Marsico, senior vice president of human resources at PDI Inc., a Saddle River, N.J., provider of sales and marketing services for pharmaceutical companies. Offer examples of past accomplishments — not just responsibilities you’ve held — and describe how they’re relevant to the opportunity. “You must differentiate yourself like never before,” she says. “You need to customize yourself and make yourself memorable.”

Sherry R. Brickman, a partner at executive-search firm Martin Partners LLC, says a candidate recently impressed her with this sort of preparation. “He knew the company’s product line and what markets it was already in,” she says of the man, who was interviewing for an executive post at a midsize industrial manufacturer. “He clearly and effectively explained how he could cut costs, increase sales and expand market share based on what he’d done in his current job.” The candidate was hired.

Be careful not to go too far, though, in your quest to stand out. For example, it may be tempting to offer to work temporarily for free or to take a lesser salary than what a job pays. But experts say such bold moves often backfire on candidates. “Employers want value,” says Lee Miller, author of Get More Money on Your Next Job … In Any Economy. “They don’t want cheap.”

Your best bet is to wait until you’re extended a job offer before talking pay. “In a recession, employers are going to be very price sensitive,” says Mr. Miller. “The salary you ask for may impact their decision to move forward.” Come prepared having researched the average pay range for a position in case you’re pressured to name your price, he adds. You might say, for example, that money isn’t a primary concern for you and that you’re just looking for something fair, suggests Mr. Miller. You can try turning the tables by asking interviewers what the company has budgeted for the position.

In some cases, you may be looking just for a job to get you through so you might consider a less-than-perfect fit. But if you aren’t really excited about an opportunity, keep it to yourself, warns David Gaspin, director of human resources at 5W Public Relations in New York. “I’ve had times where people come in and it’s clear that if they really had their preference, they’d be doing something different,” he says. “You don’t want to put that out on the table. Nobody wants to hire someone who’s going to run for the door when times get better.”

After an interview, take caution with your follow-up. If you’re in the running for multiple jobs at once, make sure to address thank-yous to the right people, career experts advise. Also look closely for spelling and grammatical errors. In a competitive job market, employers have the luxury of choice, and even a minor faux pas can hurt your chances.

If all has gone well, don’t stalk the interviewer. Wait at least a week before checking on your candidacy, adds Jose Tamez, managing partner at Austin-Michael LP, an executive-search firm in Golden, Colo. Call recruiters only at their office, even if their business card lists a home or cell number. Leave a message if you get voicemail. These days, recruiters typically have caller ID and can tell if you’ve tried reaching them multiple times without leaving a voicemail. “There’s a fine line between enthusiasm and overenthusiasm,” he says.

by Sarah E. Needleman - Provided By The Wall Street Journal

Some Companies Say Layoffs are not an Option

Revenue may be down and the pressure to slash costs intense, but some companies say job cuts are not an option.

Companies that have avoided layoffs amid this recession are the exception, not the rule. Employers have cut 5.1 million jobs since the recession began, including 663,000 last month alone. But some are looking to shave costs while keeping their work forces intact, so that when the economy does turn around, they’ll be ready to ratchet up production again.

Economists say that’s a wise move.

“If you overshoot on the downside and lay off workers, it puts the company at a disadvantage when the economy comes back to life,” said Sean Snaith, economics professor at the University of Central Florida.

Costco Wholesale Corp.’s profit is down 27 percent year-over-year, but the discount store has not laid anyone off, choosing instead to freeze hiring at its corporate offices. The only workers let go have been holiday seasonal hires.

The company says it recognizes that labor remains its most valuable — if costliest — resource.

“We’re certainly sharpening our pencil everywhere we can,” said Bob Nelson, Costco’s vice president of financial planning and investor relations. Nelson couldn’t recall any layoffs at Costco since the closing of some stores in the 1980s.

Other steps companies are taking to cut costs are not exactly harmless to workers. Chief among them: capping the number of hours employees can work, cutting or freezing pay and suspending matching payments to 401(k) plans.

Casino operator Wynn Resorts is trimming pay and cutting back on retirement fund matches. Credit agency Equifax Inc. froze pay for all U.S. employees for 2009 and at some of its foreign offices as well.

A survey by job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas this year found 71 percent of companies polled had laid off some workers. More than a quarter had implemented pay freezes or cuts.

Despite the alarming job losses nationwide, John Challenger, the firm’s CEO, said it’s more common now than in past recessions for companies to find other paths to savings than laying people off.

That’s because many companies have concluded that layoffs could be costlier down the road. Employers who have laid people off have to find, hire and train new ones when the economy recovers. Workers with specialized skills or strong customer contacts aren’t easily replaced.

Marvin Windows and Doors, a Minnesota company, hasn’t laid off any of its 5,300 workers — despite the collapse of the housing market. Its sales were flat in 2008 and have fallen this year.

“We can’t easily replace skilled craftspeople and their decades of experience,” said Susan Marvin, president of the company.

Instead, Marvin Windows and Doors has trimmed the time factory workers are on the clock — from 40 hours a week to 32. It’s a sacrifice David Peterson, who is 56 and has worked there for five years, is willing to make.

“You may have your hours cut, and that’s not easy,” said Peterson, who maintains machinery for the company. “But you still have your job, which gives me a lot of peace of mind.”

Layoffs typically mean companies have to pay severance costs, which vary widely by occupation and industry. A retail clerk, for instance, might cost a company $1,000 in severance. A low-level white-collar manager paid $50,000 a year could get $5,000.

And higher-paid professionals who earn well into six figures — accountants and lawyers — could get $50,000 in severance, estimated Terry Connelly, dean of Golden Gate University’s Ageno School of Business in San Francisco.

There also are other costs that are harder to put a price tag on, including the loss of talent and leadership. Layoffs can drag down the morale of those who managed to survive the job cuts but fear they could be next.

And when it comes time to rehire people, a company usually ends up paying a new hire more than what the laid-off worker got paid. That’s because an improved job market gives workers more negotiating power than if they’d remained at the company, Connelly said.

Some companies that have had layoffs say they’ve done so in targeted ways. Many have decided they can’t cut any more. Defense contractor ITT Corp., for example, plans to cut about 1,200 jobs, mostly factory and office staff.

“We are certainly not looking to cut engineering positions, because of how valuable those jobs are and how difficult they are to replace,” said spokesman Andy Hilton.

Manufacturing has been clobbered by the recession. The industry lost 161,000 jobs in March and has lost 1.5 million since the recession began. But “a lot of these companies are hitting the limit of where they’d like to be,” said Craig Giffi, U.S. head of consumer and industrial products at Deloitte LLP.

From lathe operators to specialists in computer-controlled industrial machinery, some manufacturers have made costly investments in skilled workers and want to keep them.

“When you have talent that is really special, and you know what you got — it would be costly to let them go,” said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

Economists say unemployment, now at 8.5 percent nationwide, could climb above 10 percent by year’s end. Some economists say the labor market may not return to normal, meaning a jobless rate of about 5 percent, until 2013.

And once the economy rebounds, companies that didn’t slash payrolls could emerge with an edge.

“You don’t want to lay off 15 percent of your work force, because you want to be prepared to move quickly when the economy turns around, and that will obstruct your ability to do so,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal-leaning Center For Economic Policy and Research.

By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer