5 People with Great Jobs that Pay Well
-
3
-
Great gigs with decent pay
The path to a great job is rarely well-marked, and it can be different for everyone.
Whether you luck into your dream job through family or friends or claw your way to the top via blood, sweat and tears, it's all the same at the end. But there may be a couple of common themes -- for instance, networking.
For the people who land cool, lucrative jobs, it's not what they know, but who.
We talked to five people who have cool jobs that pay well and asked them how they managed to land the gigs.
-
The airplane salesman -- Dennis Andersen
Imagine making a seven-figure income, rubbing elbows with the richest people in the world and riding in sweet jets whenever you want. Welcome to the world of Dennis Andersen.
Andersen worked his way up, beginning as a mechanic under his father's tutelage. After he tired of repairing planes, he learned to fly them.
"My dad was an airplane mechanic, so I had no choice but to go help after school and I did that for quite some time. Got all my ratings and licenses, and then started flying. Got tired of that and got into sales. You're home more and you get paid better," he says.
After brokering planes for someone else's company, he decided to go out on his own.
The hardest part was coming up with the money in the beginning.
"Anybody can broker them, but we buy them ourselves and sell them," he says.
His company, Florida Jet, buys airplanes from around the world, does repairs and upgrades, and then resells them to corporations and individuals.
-
Vice president of public relations -- Ryan May Read more: 5 People With Great Jobs That Pay Well | Bankrate.com http://www.bank
Ryan May successfully used online networking to leapfrog his way to a better position.
"I was a communications manager for a defense contractor, but they were relocating so it turned into too much travel. I have two kids and my wife was pregnant," May says.
He looked through his LinkedIn.com contacts to see who he could reach out to about a job despite the troubled economy.
"I contacted my current boss about getting a position at Risdall McKinney Public Relations, and she said, 'Nope. We don't have any positions, but thanks for reaching out,'" he says.
"Then two months later, she shot me an e-mail saying, 'Hey let's have lunch.' So we did, and then had lunch again and then before you know it, I had a new job as vice president of public relations at this agency. It was a nice step up," says May.
The average salary for that position is between $80,000 and $115,000. Getting out and talking to people can really pay off.
Bankrate.com is the Web's leading aggregator of information on financial products including mortgages, credit cards, new and used automobile loans, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees. Visit Bankrate.com to get the tools and information that can help you make the best financial decisions.
