In today's economy where people are losing their jobs and needing to start over, a hot topic is top paying jobs for people with no college degrees.
Topping that list is an employment recruitment specialist; someone who helps companies recruit job candidates. With a two-year degree (associates degree) in hand, the median salary for an employment recruitment specialist with 2-3 years of experience is $38,100.
A career as a financial advisor comes in at number two on a Yahoo! list of 10 paying jobs with no college degree required. In this position, it helps to have an associate’s degree in finance as you usually work at a brokerage firm or a bank. Your job is helping clients make wise investments (hopefully). A personal financial advisor with less than year of experience earns a median base salary of $32,700, but commissions and bonuses can be a big factor in pay as well.
How does your salary compare with two of Yahoo's 10 paying jobs with no college degree? Find out with our salary survey or use the our cost of living calculator to see how much you would need to make to maintain your current standard of living in a different city.
Ten Hot Careers, cont’d
Moving in at number three is a physical therapist assistant. These folks assist physical therapists in helping patients regain and/or improve movement. As baby-boomers age, these workers are more in demand. No college needed, just some basic medical assisting training will help you land this entry level job; the hourly wage for a physical therapist assistant ranges from $18.23 to $21.45 in major cities.
Filling the number four slot is a pharmacy technician jobs. This guy or gal counts pills, labels pill bottles, runs the cash register and basically helps carry the work load of pharmacists. In California, and some other states, pharmacy technicians are actually filling prescriptions. Nationally, a starting pharmacy technician earns an average hourly wage of about $11.00.
More Hot Moneymaking Careers
At number five on the Yahoo! list of 10 paying jobs with no college degree required is a health information technician. They organize personal data of patients for hospitals, pharmacies and health insurance companies. The median hourly wage for health information technicians ranges from $14.45 to $16.85. If you work in Los Angeles, you can make extra money selling celeb medical info to the tabloids… just kidding!
Maybe the medical field isn’t your cup of tea. If you like books, then consider working as a library technician, which comes in at number six. These folks help librarians organize books, tapes and DVDs. Armed with an associate’s degree, they usually work in college libraries, law firms and government agencies. Library technicians earn an average hourly wage of $14.00 to $19.25 in major cities.
Top 10 Hottest Careers, the Rest
Closing out Yahoo’s top ten are:
- Database administrators, who in large cities earns from $70,300 to $81,200; note: while not required, top database administrators often have college degrees
- Flash animators, who earn a median salary between $50,800 and $63,900 in major cities
- Fashion designer, whose pay in metropolitan areas ranges from $52,400 to $66,300; New York City is at the top
- Food service managers, whose pay ranges from $37,000 and up
Which of these jobs is the best option for you? Don’t just look at the job; look at what can come next as well. A great tool to see what jobs follow is GigZig, PayScale’s tool for exploring the career paths taken by real people.
Of course, don’t pick which job to pursue based on the pay ranges above: pay for these (and all) jobs varies greatly by location, employer, experience, skills, etc. Use the PayScale Salary Calculator as a quick and easy way to compare positions. When you want powerful salary data and comparisons customized for your exact position, be sure to build a complete profile by taking PayScale’s full salary survey.
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