100 Best Careers for the 21st Century

It's the great contemporary struggle — finding work that satisfies the soul and fills the purse. In the old days, you'd have mended shoes, tempered iron, or tilled the fields, and if there was food on the table and your children were healthy, you'd count yourself a success. But those times are long past. Now there's the pernicious concept of job satisfaction to deal with, plus requisite baubles like 27-inch televisions, Pentium-chip computers, and name-brand sneakers to purchase, and so the pressure mounts.

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Finding a Career That Works for You: A Step-by-Step Guide to choosing a Career and finding a Job

Discover What You're Best at

Major in Success: Make College Easier, Fire up Your Dreams, and Get a Very Cool Job

An old adage, paraphrased, says: if you do the work you love in life, you will make as much as you want. Some jobs may not afford you a mansion on the beach, but the work itself is so near and dear to your heart that the pay just doesn't matter.

If you're one of the many who wants to find a job that fills your soul and not just your wallet, then read on for some ABC's to some of the best occupations out there that, to some, may not seem like work at all.

• Amuse Them by Clowning Around.
Imagine your job as a constant cycle of hilarity and amusement. Your mission: to make people laugh. Could you be down like a clown for this job?

• Born for Ballet? Almost every little girl longs for the opportunity to adorn pink tights and leap in front of hundreds of people. How many actually become ballet dancers?

• Care for Critters as a Pet Sitter.
The animal lover's dream. Pet sitters get paid to play with animals they love. It just doesn't sound fair, does it?

• Deliver the Dance as a DJ. You're stuck in the hot summer traffic while the disc jockey brings you the tunes from his air-conditioned booth. Maybe, with luck, he delivers opinions.

• Fight Flames as a Firefighter.
Respected, important, courageous, and intelligent only begin to describe firefighters. These boys and girls in red and yellow save lives for a living — some even do it for free.

• Hounding the Winds as a Hurricane Hunter. Hunting hurricanes must be a rush, and I don't mean just from the wind. Hurricane hunters surf the sky challenging the daunting forces of nature. Who knew scientific discoverers didn't always end up in stuffy labs?

• Pry Around as a P.I. Well gumshoe, who done it? Was it Mr. Mustard, in the kitchen, with a knife? Private investigators consistently get hired to investigate civil and criminal matters, and they always get their information — sometimes a dame comes along the way too.

• Rock Out as a Roadie. Roadies tour the world doing grunt work for the world's greatest bands. In one summer, a roadie can experience a lifetime of memories. Did I mention working with the world's greatest bands?

• Teach Toddlers as a Kindergarten Teacher. Remember the innocence of Kindergarten? Kindergarten teachers relive the glory days of nap time and finger painting nine months a year. We also entrust them with our children's futures.

• Write your way around the world.
I admit an affinity for this job. Writers scour the Earth in search of interesting tales and truths unknown. Use your creative juices and a sturdy pen hand to give the world the gift of literature.


Written by Jacob McCrea

Do you have a job you'd never give up, no matter how much money you were offered?
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