What is More Important to Earn Jobs
By Christine Laue,
PayScale.com
Being degreeless doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll wind up in a low-paying job. Online salary database
PayScale.com
compiled a list of jobs that pay $25 an hour -- or $52,000 a year --
but don’t require a college degree. The list looks at workers with five
to eight years of experience.
That pay level -- which is more than three times the minimum wage --
bests the typical college graduate's starting salary of $39,000, says
Katie Bardaro, PayScale.com’s lead analyst. “If you work hard and move
up to a higher-level job, you have the potential to do better than a
recent college grad,” she says.
Oil Pumper
Oil
pumper Pat Love of Lincolnville, Kansas, drives a truck through a
10,000-acre pasture in the Flint Hills of Kansas to check oil and gas
wells. If they aren’t pumping correctly, he fixes them.
Love, who
doesn’t have a college degree, learned everything he needed to know on
the job and from a few classes. Many employers send workers to training
conducted by heavy-equipment manufacturers.
Love urges anyone
considering work as an oil pumper to be aware that the job is
labor-intensive and dangerous. “They call me ‘accident Pat,’” he says.
“There are plenty of burn scars on my arms.”
Find oil industry jobs.
Retail General Manager
Retail
managers oversee day-to-day operations of a retail store. The work
includes hiring and supervising employees, coordinating sales
promotions, implementing policies and customer relations. Previous sales
experience is essential for someone without a degree.
Alex
Diimig, 25, landed a retail manager job at Jake’s Cigars and Spirits in
Omaha without a degree. He was promoted a year and a half later to
general manager, demonstrating that advancing in retail doesn’t always
require a degree, “as long as you have tenacity and can work hard,” he
says. “I don’t plan to stop where I’m at. I think there is a lot of
opportunity for me in this job.”
Find retail manager jobs.
Director of Housekeeping
The
director of housekeeping coordinates, schedules and supervises janitors
and housekeepers in hotels, restaurants, nursing homes or private
residences. The housekeeping director’s responsibilities include
assigning tasks, inspecting employees’ work and preparing department
expense reports.
While janitors and housekeepers without degrees
can work their way into this role, they might be required to take some
college courses or in-service training to advance to supervisor.
Find director of housekeeping jobs.
Millwright
Mulling
if a millwright job is right for you? A millwright installs, assembles
and dismantles machinery, conveyer systems and material-handling
equipment in factories, power plants and construction sites.
Most
millwrights enter the occupation through apprenticeship programs
typically lasting four years and sponsored by local union chapters,
employers or state labor departments.
That’s how Shane Harris of
Warsaw, Indiana, became a millwright in the mid-1990s. The expanding
wind-power industry is fueling demand today, he says. “Although we were
slow a couple years ago, we are seeing a huge increase in work,” he
says.
Find millwright jobs.
Mobile Crane Operator
Crane
operators use equipment to lift and move materials, machinery and other
heavy objects at warehouses, storage yards, factories and construction
sites.
Little or no formal training is required in most cases.
Many employers require workers to be at least 18 and physically able to
perform the work. Six cities and 17 states require crane operators to be
licensed.
Find crane operator jobs.
Food Service Director
The
food service director hires, trains and supervises the staff for
restaurants or food service facilities. Responsibilities include
ordering supplies and setting work schedules.
Most food service
directors have prior experience in the food or hospitality industries
and some postsecondary training; however, many experienced workers with
less education can be promoted.
Peter Fischbach of Newark, New
Jersey, served as director of food services for Gourmet Dining Services
at the 9,500-student New Jersey Institute of Technology before being
promoted to regional director of culinary development. He now oversees
food service at 11 different colleges and universities.
While
Fischbach entered the field as an executive chef, he says many food
service directors don’t need culinary degrees. Smaller, privately owned
companies especially promote from within and are less likely to require
formal education, he says.
Find food service director jobs.
Source: Salary data provided by online salary database PayScale.com.
Jobs and pay are for full-time workers with five to eight years of
experience. Job descriptions are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
