Sunday, 19th March, 2006
What's The Luckiest Job?
What's The Luckiest Job?
By Dan Malachowski,
Salary.com
Some people have jobs that seem fun, offer cool perks and
rewards, or make them happy to go to work each day. We sometimes want to
say: "Wow, that person is lucky to have a job like that!" In honor of
St. Patrick's Day 2006, Salary.com and AOL stacked up the luckiest jobs
in the land. Based on a poll of 500 employees, the top 10 luckiest jobs
were discovered at the end of the rainbow. Workers who have jobs like
these are thanking their lucky stars this St. Patrick's Day.
Click on the
lucky job title below to see exactly what the top 10 luckiest workers are
making for salaries. Having a lucky job is not all about good pay. These
workers are doing what they love, have flexible hours, and get cool perks
with their jobs.
It turned out
that the job title of
actor won this year's title of the luckiest job with 23.6% of the vote.
If you're lucky enough to have the natural talent to act, working as an
actor brings time flexibility, fame, travel, perks, and good pay.
However, the truth is that not every actor makes $20 million a movie like
Julia Roberts, or even ends up getting on the big screen. On a national
average, the typical actor, portraying a role in a production or presenting
characterization to an audience, makes around $45,000 per year.
Other lucky
jobs that came close to falling in the Top 10 included
college dean,
test pilot, and
set designer.
What Makes a Job Lucky?
Respondents
to the Salary.com / AOL poll were asked to tell us "What exactly makes a job
lucky?" Write-in responses included the ability to telecommute, high pay,
working for yourself, and being challenged everyday.
The top 5
factors that contribute to a job being lucky are:
#1 Doing What You Love
#2
Flexible Hours
#3
Cool Job Perks (car, expense account, free lunches)
#4
Access to Travel
#5
Fun Place to Work (movie studio, sports arena)
Get In The Green
Are you
feeling like your job isn't so lucky? Perhaps it is time to plan a trip to
go kiss the Blarney Stone. Or perhaps a pay raise will lift your spirits.
Check out Salary.com's salary negotiation tool,
The Personal Salary Report, to find out what you are really worth.
The Top 10 Luckiest Jobs Source: Salary.com / March 2006 | ||
Job Title | % of Vote | Median Salary |
23.6% | ||
12.9% | ||
9.0% | ||
7.7% | ||
6.0% | ||
4.3% | ||
3.9% | ||
3.4% | ||
3.4% | ||
3.0% | ||
Thursday, 30th March, 2006
The Best vs. the Rest: Companies Target Raises to Top Performers
The Best vs. the Rest: Companies Target Raises to Top Performers
By Erin White
From The Wall Street Journal Online
Business is good at the la Madeleine Bakery, Cafe & Bistro chain. The
privately held firm is opening new stores. Profits are growing. And they're
even planning to boost raises for restaurant managers this year -- but mainly
for a slice of high-performing employees.
The Dallas-based company's top performers will get about 3% to 5%, average
performers 2% to 3%, and poor performers 1.5% or less, says human-resources
director Tina Hebert. Last year, "everybody probably got around 3.5%," she
said
