•Air Traffic Controllers: $117,200. Typically, two to four years of training are needed in order to become fully certified, although previous military experience can cut that time down significantly.

•Industrial Production Managers: $77,670. A college degree is preferred, but not necessarily mandatory. They often work in industries such as aviation and automobiles.

•First-Line Police and Detective Supervisors: $69,300. Police officers can advance through the ranks to become supervisors by passing exams and achieving good performance reviews, and advanced training can help win promotions.

•Funeral Director: $49,620. College programs in mortuary science usually last from two to four years. You typically must also serve a one-year apprenticeship, pass an exam and obtain a state license.

•Police and Sheriff Patrol Officers: $47,460. Applicants usually must have at least a high school education, and some departments require a year or two of college or even a degree.

•Advertising Sales Agents: $42,750. 20% has a high school degree or less, and 10% have an Associate’s degree.

•Real Estate Brokers and Sales Agents: $39,760. While advanced coursework is not necessarily required, new entrants must pass an exam and get a state license.

•Occupational Therapist Assistants: $42,060. These workers usually need an associate degree or a certificate.

•Occupational Therapist Aides: $25,000. These employees receive most training on the job.

•Physical Therapist Assistants: $41,360. Assistants, who have greater responsibilities, typically need an associate’s degree.

Start looking for your career training today with CareerExplorer.com!

All salary information is according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Solutions such as expanded makeshift parking lots where more students can park, using rented spaces for additional classroom space, or placing students on waiting lists for the next session have already been employed at some schools. Now, a few community colleges are experimenting with expanded class schedules that mean some students are studying poetry, psychology, and welding in the dead of the night.

Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Massachusetts and Clackamas Community College in Oregon are two schools that are embracing this unorthodox class schedule. Bunker Hill’s midnight class offerings are currently a psychology course and a writing course, while Clackamas students have the option of spending their late-night hours perfecting their welding techniques.

If late-night learning isn’t your thing, a community college near you may be bumping up its class schedule to help students get an earlier start. How does 6 am sound? If you’re an early bird, a community college near you might have extra-early classes that help you fit even more into your already busy schedule.

Would you ever take classes late at night or early in the morning? Do you think these classes would be a convenient fit in your life?

1. Odor Tester: just like it sounds, your job is test the odor from perfumes, deodorants and antiperspirant and more. You definitely need a nose for this job!

2. Hair Boiler: you got it! You boil animal hair until it curls for later use… I still don’t want to know what they use that hair for.

3. Waste Station/Water Treatment Worker: more dirty than weird but it makes the list!

4. Citrus Fruit Dyer: you guessed it! Sometimes those lemons just look too yellow – that’s where a dyer comes in handy. They make the fruit look more vibrant by dying it.

5. Crocodile Wrangler: all Steve Irwin jokes aside – this is a real career. You can learn how to become accustomed to handling dangerous, or not-so-dangerous animals in this exciting career.

6. Fortune Cookie Writer: your day will brighten up with this career! Just thought a computer cranked out your fortunes? Nope. That’s a writer’s job and maybe yours in the future.

7. Pet Detective: since Jim Carey took to the big screen you can bet there are real life Ace Venturas on the job! Take your passion for detectives and animals and turn them into a rewarding career.

8. Cheese Sprayer: do you have what it takes to coat various food items with cheese? Then, this job just might be for you.

9. IMAX Screen Cleaner: it sounds just like what you would be doing: cleaning the giant IMAX screen.

10. Chimney Sweeper: too old school? No way. Chimneys might not be used like they used to be, but that doesn’t mean this career has gone up in smoke!

Does one of these careers pique your interests? Learn more about your career opportunities, whether they be weird or not, with CareerExplorer.com!

More time in college doesn’t necessarily mean “more fun” to some students. It literally can mean “time is money.” And they’re losing a lot of both. In some schools, wait-listed students actually take turns standing closest to a lecture hall door so they could hear the lesson and not fall too far behind. That is, if there was any way they could get in the class in the first place.

Tough times means plenty of tough lessons
College budget cuts are becoming a bigger problem, because they hit core entry-level courses hardest, first. Students struggle to reserve seats in the core entry-level classes such as math 101 because the part-time instructors who typically teach those courses are the first to be laid off when budgets run low. Other students are shut out of crowded core courses in their majors by upperclassmen, which are usually preferred for first spots.

A perfect example of this would be the 23-campus California State higher education system. In response to a 20% budget cut, officials have raised tuition more than 30%, increased class sizes by up to a third, and quickly laid off hundreds of teachers, while slashing curriculum.

It’s about more than just money
Money isn’t necessarily the only problem. Some experts argue that traditional colleges and universities focus too much on prestigious but unessential graduate programs at the expense of the undergrad basics. Because many schools have now pushed their professors to their working limits and every class spot has been taken, some students say they are out of choices.

Sherrie Canedo, a fifth-year senior at Cal State-East Bay, was recently told she could finish her ethnic studies degree through independent study because most of the courses she needs were eliminated.

“I don’t feel that’s an acceptable way to learn,” Canedo told Terence Chea of the Associated Press, and added that she’s working two jobs and trying to string together enough financial aid to finish her education. “I’m paying to be taught in a classroom.”

Is your local college enduring budget cuts that make it harder for you to get an education? Use the powerful search engine at Career Explorer to find local career colleges that may accept your transfer credits. We’re here to help!

Earning an advanced education can feel overwhelming in today’s economic climate. As job losses occur across almost every business sector, making serious time and financial commitments to an education might seem out of the question.

But today’s students now have a new option. StraighterLine was established to give students a new option for earning required college credits, and for making a college education more accessible. Burck Smith is StraighterLine’s founder and he’s serious about helping out today’s college student. Like many other educational experts, he recognized early on the power of technology to change the face of higher learning. With advances that are constantly being made in the online world, colleges can now provide an online education at almost no cost. In fact, the financial cost to most institutions may only be the cost of labor – paying the instructor who passes his or her expertise on to students.

So, are these institutions passing their savings on to the students? Most of the time, the answer is no. This is where Burck Smith saw an opening for StraighterLine. With a flat charge of only $99 a month, students can take online classes through StraighterLine to fulfill their college course requirements. As most college students will tell you, that $99 monthly rate is significantly cheaper than a typical university’s asking price.

Know anyone who’s used StraighterLine to earn their college credits? How do you feel about such dramatically increased accessibility and affordability in the education world?

Now, in a somewhat unlikely place, after unfortunate circumstances, a town is giving all-green a shot. That town is Greensburg, Kansas. After a monstrous tornado wiped out this town in May 2007, residents were devastated, but they also had a chance to start fresh.

For Greensburg, that meant reconstructing the town with a clean slate – as “the greenest town in rural America.” For instance, the local John Deere dealership just earned the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certification, the highest designation. Together, windmill power, solar photo voltaic panels, and geothermal heating and cooling systems put some of the latest technology to work to power buildings and homes in Greensburg.

As residents continue to work to rebuild their town, they make new developments in green construction. Greensburg, Kansas is definitely a town that you’ll want to keep your eyes on – especially if you’re pursuing a career that will let you make our world a greener place to live.

The state government set some pretty lofty green energy goals for Kansas businesses. Former Governor Kathleen Sebelius and current Governor Mark Parkinson set a goal of producing 10% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2010. The business community recently met this ambitious goal much earlier than expected, and is showing signs of making even further progress.

Quick facts about Kansas Green Energy:
•    Kansas’ wind generating capacity recently surpassed 1,000 megawatts
•    Kansas’ wind generating capacity has more than tripled since the beginning of 2008
•    Hutchinson, Kansas is the site of a huge turbine factory expected to create and install 650 wind turbines by 2010
•    The state’s rapid increase in wind power infrastructure has positioned Kansas as 3rd out of all states for wind energy production

The Hutchinson factory operation is expected to create an estimated 400 Green Collar jobs, along with all of the community support services, construction and amenities jobs attached to any large-scale production facility. Even better, the new facility has an adjacent 80,000 square-foot service and repair facility. The Green Collar industry is exploding in Kansas, and it only took a few years to get it off the ground.

Types of jobs that are created to service the Green Energy industry:
•    Construction
•    Electrical infrastructure
•    HVAC
•    Trucking and Transportation
•    Real Estate
•    Medical and health care
•    Emergency Medical Response teams (EMT)
•    Business and project management

Green Energy is an excellent and profitable industry that creates new jobs for emerging technology, but also boosts traditional industries looking to expand into new markets.

If you were to move to the Hutchinson, Kansas area, what Green Energy jobs would you qualify or be able to train for? It may be easier than you think to join the renewable energy movement!

Overall, things are still pretty grim – while the rate of job loss has slowed, unemployment is still on the rise, at 9.7% in August. Some industries, however, are doing better than others – namely manufacturing, construction and retail trade. The energy sector is also on the rise – particularly with the emphasis on ‘going green’.

While things are still grim, some recruiters tend to be slightly optimistic about the future, expecting job openings to start picking up again at the beginning of 2010.

Some unemployed are using the time to try to update or freshen skills through career training. Others are attempting to take advantage of as much temporary work as possible. And almost everybody is applying everywhere they can – making this a very rough and competitive job market.

Do you feel like things are really getting better??

This report compared online and traditional classroom students and their academic performance levels between the years of 1996 and 2008. Its conclusion? “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” This means an average percentile rank of 59th for online learners compared to 50th for traditional classroom learners.

While this report followed some students at the K-12 level, most of the subjects were college-level students. Could this be the end of classroom learning as we know it? Educational experts don’t think so. But they do think our country’s educational institutions will need to keep up with the online learning trend in the coming years. Today’s online learning environment is especially tailored to meet the student’s needs, and technologies such as email, video messaging, instant messaging and collaboration mean that many students will find unique chances to be engaged in their learning. Schools who stay hip to new technological trends can attract some of the best and brightest students.

Education experts see the exciting potential for learning communities and student collaborations that online education can create. They predict that more and more universities and colleges will offer online programs to their students.

Think learning online is the right choice for you? Search for online colleges and universities on Career Explorer today!

How can you take advantage of the added funds to this new career field? Can you just transition your skills over – or will there be additional training? These are the questions many people are asking themselves, especially when jobs are already scarce.

But, there’s good news! Since the government is willing to fund these new green jobs, that means there are possibilities for your current career or a new one. Take your current skills and apply them to:

• Hybrid auto repair, maintenance and assembly
• Clean coal production
• Green construction
• Green public transit operators
• And more!

There are new careers hitting the green-collar job field that might take additional training and skills. Explore some new areas of green jobs, like:

• Wind energy
• Solar panel production, repair and maintenance
• Green Information Technology
• And more!

Learn more about green careers and training today!

HVAC workers are learning how to work with new materials, such as solar panels, and learning new EPA regulations. And since going green on heating and air conditioning tends to save pennies, a certification in EPA standards can really pay off!

Other jobs that should benefit from a green emphasis? Construction managers, electricians, environmental engineers - and even sales jobs! Eco-friendly products are becoming popular and learning how to market environmentally friendly products can be a real boon.

So if you’re looking toward your future, keep one eye on the future of the planet. You might be surprised by how greatly you’ll benefit!

Many businesses in the emerging Green Collar sector are beginning to receive their grants and stimulus packages to begin making impact locally, regionally and nationally. But if you’re not a business owner and are just a Regular Joe looking to help, where do you find these jobs?

•Networking through social media is no joke
There are lots of strategies for successful networking, especially in the digital age. Find a digital network like LinkedIn.com, set up your page, and then (this is important) participate in the network’s social gatherings in your area. It’ll take shoe leather and a lot of handshakes, but eventually you may make a breakthrough.

There are also professional organizations that welcome new members such as EcoTuesday and GreenDrinks that get businesses and people who want to help together for low-pressure social events. Use this opportunity to listen just as much as you use it to talk to people what kind of work you’re interested in.

•E-mail job listings
There are a number of specialized e-mail lists that distribute green job postings. The good news is, most of them are free to join including EnviroJobs on Yahoo Groups, Green Job List, and Young Non-profit Professionals Network (YNPN.org).

•Green recruiters
Because Green is now operating in the black, there are an increasing number of recruiters that focus on careers based on sustainability. A number of these organizations will post positions for which they are currently seeking candidates. Two places to start would be Commongood Careers and Bright Green Talent.

•Go to school, even if you aren’t enrolled
Academic institutions, community colleges, technical colleges and career colleges are all now on the lookout for Green Collar job postings. So if you’re enrolled currently in a one of these institutions, make sure to specifically ask about them at your career services office. If you aren’t enrolled, many times community colleges will allow anyone looking for work to enroll at their job fairs, so don’t be afraid to ask!

Find out about the next career fair at your school or in the area and make sure you’re on the list. Green Collar is becoming bigger all the time, so there are now many urban and regional job recruitment fairs dedicated specifically to Green Collar jobs for both skilled and unskilled workers.

Now, you can find the industries where projected growth is guaranteed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has compiled a list according to percentage of growth in a 10-year period from 2006-2016.

10. Internet publishing and broadcasting: Expected to increase by 44%.
9. Securities and commodity contracts, brokerages, and exchanges: Expected to increase by 46%
8. Facilities support services: Expected to increase by 46%
7. Other financial investment activities: Expected to increase by 47%
6. Community care facilities for the elderly: Expected to increase by 50%
5. Educational support services, public and private: Expected to increase by 53%
4. Home health care services: Expected to increase by 55%
3. Gambling industries: Expected to increase by 66%
2. Services for the elderly and persons with disabilities: Expected to increase by 74%
1. Management, scientific, and technical consulting services: Expected to increase by 78%

Most of these industries have a number of careers and positions within each sector. Begin searching for a career that has positive growth and stability. Career Explorer can help you achieve your professional and academic goals. Search for programs that could fit into one of the industries and start building a better life!

People young and old, employed or unemployed are finding words of wisdom in these books. In general, it’s a tough time for the book world. This year, overall book sales have been down 4.1%, according to the Association of American Publishers, but many retailers are reporting increased sales in the career improvement and advice category.

No matter your current professional situation or future goals, there’s a book out there designed to motivate and inspire you. Interested in exploring some of your reading options? Here’s a list of some of this summer’s most popular choices:

· What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles. 10 million copies have been sold since it was first published in 1970, and the text is updated with new information annually.

· Knock ‘em Dead: The Ultimate Job Search Guide by Martin Yate.

· Moms who are returning to the professional world should check out Back on the Career Track by Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin.

· Members of the baby-boomer generation might appreciate the advice in Finding Jobs After 50 by Jeannette Woodward.

· Job seeking “green” lovers could find good advice in Green Jobs: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn.

· Classic motivational books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey are a good choice for anyone looking for a boost of confidence.

As you browse the shelves in your local library or bookstore this summer, you’ll find countless other sources of advice and encouragement tailored to fit nearly every situation. And while buying a new book won’t guarantee you an instant job offer, you may learn new strategies or ideas you hadn’t previously considered.

Have you read any career improvement books that really made a difference to you? We’d love to hear about them!

Find out how much other employees in your position are earning. Determine your value by browsing the salaries of comparable positions in your area. Come to your employer with concrete examples of competitive salaries and a tangible, reasonable amount that you deserve to be earning.

Determine how much you can earn. If a competitive salary for your position applies to employees with 10 years experience and you only have 2? You may not be able to leverage your amazing skills as much as you’d hoped. You’re worth it, but you also have to pay your dues.

Make sure that people know your value. Display a helpful, flexible, initiative-taking attitude and it will be noticed. Don’t wait until you go in to ask for a raise to point out all the good you do the company … make sure your boss already knows.

Ask. You’ll never receive anything you’re too afraid to ask for. Schedule a meeting with your supervisor, and begin the conversation with a confident, respectful phrase like: “I’d like to talk to you about a salary adjustment.”

Remind your manager of the strong contributions you’ve made. Stay away from mentioning financial hardship, unfair comparisons and pity parties. Show your employer the ways that you have helped to earn or save the company money.

Don’t give ultimatums. Especially if you’re not prepared to follow through. They come across as manipulative and immature, and your manager just might take you up on your offer to take a position at a (fictitious) company that is willing to offer you more money.

Overall, keep your approach confident, level-headed, and be prepared to back your request for a raise with concrete numbers and reasons why you deserve what you’re asking for. If your request happens to be rejected this time, don’t pout. Instead, see if your employer is willing to meet you in the middle with some non-salary perks like a few extra vacation days.

If all else fails, research some more job training that would put you a little more ahead of everyone else!

What are some ideas that worked for you the first time you asked for a raise?