Overnight Jobs

Let’s face it. Most people go to work because they need money, not because they love going to work. And for many of these people, they don’t even care what they are doing just so that they make the most money possible. For those of you who fall into this category, what follows is a list of some of the more higher paying jobs for college and non college folks. Hopefully, you’ll find something that pays you what you’re looking for.

For those of you who don’t have a college degree, don’t fret, There are actually some pretty high paying jobs out there that don’t require you to have a formal education.

If you’re interested in cars and know your way around the insides of one, you may want to consider becoming an auto mechanic. This job pays an average of about $14.71 per hour depending on where you live of course. That’s well over $550 for a 40 hour work week. Just plan on going home good and dirty each night.

If you’re not good with fixing cars but are great at driving them, you might want to consider becoming a truck driver. You average truck driver makes about $15.97 per hour. One good thing about the job is that you’re pretty much on your own for the day and don’t have to worry about your boss being all over you from 9 to 5.

Believe it or not, one of the higher paying jobs that don’t require a college degree is that of a police officer. The average cop makes about $22.00 per hour. Sure, you have to contend with bullets flying all over the place but after a while even that gets to be pretty mundane. Okay, being a cop is dangerous. But it does pay well. If you like to live dangerously, this may be just the thing for you.

Of course, if you have a college degree, you’re going to get the higher paying jobs.

One of the most common jobs today, especially with the advances in technology, is the job of computer programmer. The average computer programmer makes about $23.19 per hour and this is actually one of the lower paid college required jobs. That’s probably because of the glut of programmers on the market.

Of course if you really want to get technical and make even more money, you can become an engineer, of which there are many kinds such as electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, civil engineers and on and on. The average engineer makes $33.50 per hour. That’s well over $1300 a week or over $65,000 a year. Not too shabby.

But if you’re really looking for big bucks and have 20-20 vision, then maybe you’d like to become an airline pilot. Don’t laugh. Airline pilots make an average of $95.80 per hour. Sure, there’s always the dangers involved, which we won’t even get into here, but that is one great hourly rate for taking people from one place to another.

There are many good high paying jobs in the world. You just have to be qualified to do them. That is the hard part.

Recently, a casting director expressed her frustration on her Facebook wall about actors approaching her through Facebook to request auditions. This post sparked a lively dialogue among some actors and casting directors who all agreed that using Facebook as a marketing tool was rude, amateur, or even desperate.

I have to disagree. Approaching casting directors, producers, agents, filmmakers, directors, and artistic directors is not rude. It’s not amateur. And it’s not desperate. It’s business.

Facebook exists so that people can connect with each other. That’s the whole point. Virtually every business and businessperson today has a Facebook page and uses Facebook for promotional purposes. So, there is nothing wrong – at all- with you doing the same as an actor.

Now, different people have different boundaries on Facebook. If a casting director wishes to keep her Facebook page and her business separate, that is absolutely her prerogative and I support that 100%. But that doesn’t make an actor wrong when he wants to use Facebook for self-promotion. Approaching your industry target list through social media is not the problem here. HOW you approach them is. Trust me, there is a right way and a wrong way to use Facebook for your acting career. Apparently, the actors who approached this particular casting director did so in the wrong way.

Last year, an actress named Eva used Facebook in a powerful way to build a relationship with a casting director that’s still paying off today. Eva saw a role she was perfect for and after exhaustive and unsuccessful research to find the casting director’s phone number or email address, the only contact information Eva could find was the casting director’s Facebook profile.

So, Eva sent him a direct message through Facebook. Rather than requesting an audition, Eva messaged the casting director to find out how comfortable he was with her using Facebook as a marketing tool. She wanted to respect the casting director’s social media boundaries and the best way to do that was by getting a buy in.
“What’s a buy in,” you ask?

A buy-in occurs when you get the consent of whomever you’re targeting before taking action. This may sound silly, but it’s a very simple step that will make a huge difference in the results you produce and in the relationships you build.

Eva’s buy-in to the casting director probably looked something like this:

“Hi Casting Director. I want to respect your privacy, so I’m writing to find out how open you are to receiving audition requests from actors through Facebook. If you’re not open to it, I understand. Just let me know either way.”

Not only was this casting director open to Eva’s request, but he also called her in for the audition she wanted. Since then, Eva auditions at his office regularly and the two of them have forged a healthy working relationship.

The moral of this story – don’t shy away from Facebook in your marketing just because you might offend someone. Instead, your job is to simply get a buy-in from the casting directors, producers, and agents you want to work with before you pitch yourself on Facebook.

Get the buy-in before you need it. That way, you won’t panic when an opportunity arises because you’ll already know how to reach out.

Your buy-in might look something like this:

“Hi Tom. It’s Jessica. I saw you speak at the SAG Foundation last week. I’m writing to find out if Facebook is the right venue to connect about projects or roles I might be right for. I know everyone uses Facebook for different reasons so I wanted to check in with you first to respect your social media boundaries.

If you’d rather not connect about the business on FB, I totally get it and will be sure not to talk shop with you here. Just let me know either way.”

The truth is that you’ll never know who is open to receiving requests from actors through social media. While some people only use Facebook socially, others rely on it heavily for their business.

The trick is to find out which side of the Facebook fence your target people live on before you pitch yourself online. Doing so will give you the confidence you need to use Facebook in a powerful way without offending anyone.

A lot of the advice I’ve seen about researching a career change focuses on talking to people in the target career. There is definitely merit to this: these people know firsthand what the career is like; they can give you ideas on how to get started; they may know the important players and trends in that sector. In other words, talking to people could shortcut a lot of the heavy lifting you might have to do had you researched this on your own.

But therein lies the reason that I strongly counsel my career changing candidates not to start by talking to people. It’s a shortcut, and cutting corners invariably means you may miss something. First of all, people who are doing a job day-to-day may not have a broad perspective on the industry as a whole. Their recommendations of key players and trends reflect their opinion, not necessarily a wide swath of research. Secondly, their ideas for how to get started will likely be influenced by how they or people they know got started. You may have a very different background, and their advice may actually prove counterproductive. Finally, their knowledge of the career path, growth prospects, and day-to-day again reflects their opinion, not necessarily the typical experience. Therefore, by relying on what people say, you are ceding control of your information-gathering to the information that they happened to have gathered along the way.

Instead, I would start with secondary research – printed and published material. The Internet is an obvious place to start: Google keywords for your target sector; use LinkedIn and other social networks to find groups active in the sector. Trade and professional associations that serve your target sector are another great resource. These associations may have publications, employee surveys, salary data and other research material that can give you insight into the players, trends, career path, and other important topics for your search. The Encyclopedia of Associations is a reference book that lists professional associations by keyword and geography. Trade and professional journals are a must-read. Finally, once you find specific companies or organizations to target, visit their websites, read their press releases and any white papers they may have published, and look at their financials (Hoovers.com for public companies, Guidestar.org for non-profits are two good sources).

A key benefit to doing your own research before you speak to people is that it enables you to have intelligent discussions. There are so few people who do this type of secondary research that people in your new sector will view you very favorably if you do. They may become your advocates because you are obviously engaged and willing to work. You can thus use these firsthand encounters to go beyond the secondary research and learn even more. This exhaustive, substantive, next-level research is what you need for a successful career change.