How do you decide on a major? Some high schools offer career counseling that includes aptitude tests. If you like food and enjoy working with people in a fast-paced environment, you might be encouraged to pursue a career in the food-service industry. But do you really want to hope for good tippers so you can pay your mortgage? Probably not. While academic acumen and personality propensities can certainly help narrow the field, don’t be fooled into thinking that you’re not capable of handling a high-paying career.
If you grew up in a typical American home or classroom, you’re probably fairly dedicated to the “follow your dreams” idea. While I don’t mean to deter you from your fantasy of home decorating for the rich and famous (and living like them, as a result), I do want to recommend that you consult reality. If you really feel passionate about social work, go for it, but don’t expect a 6-figure salary. In fact, if what you really like is something fairly popular among your peers, you might not be realistic to expect a job, at all.
While in America, our freedoms to choose just about anything in our lives can end up being a source of difficulty, particularly when it comes to our careers. In some countries, the government can decide how much education a person will receive as well as what he or she will study and even where you’ll work after you’re done. While this idea may go against every grain of our freedom-loving beings, it does hold some security.
You might want to consider exercising your freedom to pursue the career of your choice by looking up careers that have high demand, with more retiring out of them than going into them. You could also consider training for one of the jobs that pay the most.
The top 5 careers in 2011, according to earnings, are as follows:
1. Petroleum Engineering
• Starting salary: $93,000
• Mid-career salary: $157,000
• Basic Responsibilities: Improving oil and gas production and overseeing drilling projects
2. Aerospace Engineering
• Starting salary: $59,400
• Mid-career salary: $108,000
• Basic Responsibilities: Designing, operating, and troubleshooting equipment needed for space and air travel, as well as recording and analyzing test flight data
3. Chemical Engineering
• Starting salary: $64,000
• Mid-career salary: $108,000
• Basic Responsibilities: Manufacturing chemicals and chemical products and applying techniques from the fields of engineering, physics, and chemistry in order to design processes for making those materials and improving related plant equipment
4. Electrical Engineering
• Starting salary: $60,800
• Mid-career salary: $104,000
• Basic Responsibilities: Designing, operating, and troubleshooting electrical systems and equipment for a broad range of organizations, from industrial to government, commercial, or scientific groups
5. Nuclear Engineering
• Starting salary: $63,900
• Mid-career salary: $104,000
• Basic Responsibilities: Using engineering and nuclear science theory to research and troubleshoot nuclear systems
Once you’ve made your fortune, you’ll be all set to fund your humanitarian work in Haiti or wait tables, just for kicks.
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