By Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer
While the importance of earning a college degree to secure a good job has been engrained in our brains for as long we can remember, it’s becoming more and more evident that a four-year degree is not the only path to a successful career.
Though education is a great way to develop skills and will no doubt enhance your credibility, a college education is no longer a requirement to securing a well-paying salary. Despite the fact that college graduates earn an average of $1 million more during their careers than high school graduates, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, it is possible to land a lucrative position otherwise.
Additionally, workers with a high school education or less have an abundance of positions open to them. In 2006, 66 million jobs — about 44 percent of the total — were available to workers with less than a high school education, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 2016, there is expected to be 71 million jobs available these workers.
Just because these jobs don’t require a college education, however, doesn’t mean that they don’t require hard work or extensive training. Here are 20 of the highest-paying jobs that don’t require a degree, according to CBSalary.com.
1. Margin department supervisor
Salary: $83,579/year
Primary duties: Overseeing the credit department, which manages customer credit accounts and approves or denies credit to customers.
2. Air traffic controller
Salary: $74,922/year
Primary duties: Controlling air traffic around airports according to established procedures and policies to ensure flight safety.
3. Automobile service station manager
Salary: $72,246/year
Primary duties: Supervising gas stations and planning and implementing policy and procedure like hours of operation, workers’ duties and prices for products and services.
4. Real estate broker
Salary: $71,994/year
Primary duties: Securing real-estate transactions, selling real estate, renting properties and arranging loans.
5. Web surfer
Salary: $70,604/year
Primary duties: Scouring through multiple Web sites to analyze and compare information and user experiences to collect information to help companies understand online user behaviors.
6. Lead carpenter
Salary: $63,345/year
Primary duties: Leading the on-site completion of construction projects and performing all types of carpentry work and finishing.
7. Cable supervisor
Salary: $60,887/year
Primary duties: Supervising the activities of workers engaged in installation, maintenance and cable repair.
8. Chemical supervisor
Salary: $57,472/year
Primary duties: Overseeing workers who make chemical products, verifying that chemical processes are followed.
9. Home-care aide supervisor
Salary: $56,157/year
Primary duties: Directing aides who mind for elderly or disabled people in a home environment, and monitoring the quality and quantity of services provided.
10. Medical facility housekeeping manager
Salary: $55,368/year
Primary duties: Managing the workers and housekeeping program in medical facilities to uphold sanitary and orderly conditions.
11. Flight service manager
Salary: $54,350/year
Primary duties: Ensuring that flight attendants conform to personal appearance and preflight requirements; compiling flight reports.
12. Locomotive engineer
Salary: $54,084/year
Primary duties: Driving electric, diesel-electric, or gas-turbine-electric trains to transport passengers or freight.
13. Interior aircraft assembly supervisor
Salary: $53,606/year
Primary duties: Supervising the process of assembling everything on the inside of an aircraft from mechanics to furniture.
14. Painting supervisor
Salary: $51,977/year
Primary duties: Overseeing all painting activities such as mixing paint, preparing surfaces before painting and applying decorative or protective finishes to various structures.
15. Gas plant operator
Salary: $51,676/year
Primary duties: Maintaining certain pressures in pipelines to produce and/or transport natural gas.
16. Payroll supervisor
Salary: $51,410/year
Primary duties: Managing employees working on company payroll, ensuring that pay calculation is in accordance with company policy, government regulations and tax codes.
17. Assembly supervisor
Salary: $50,462/year
Primary duties: Overseeing workers who use power tools and other equipment to assemble products.
18. Credit and collection supervisor
Salary: $50,330/year
Primary duties: Supervising employees engaged in the review of credit risks and collections; may also review client credit history to grant or deny extensions of credit.
19. Data control supervisor
Salary: $50,310/year
Primary duties: Managing data entry workers and assuming responsibility for those workers’ tasks to be complete and accurate; may sometimes assist with assignments.
20. Reimbursement recovery specialist
Salary: $49,246/year
Primary duties: Negotiating cases where third-party liability reimbursement exists by investigating and identifying responsible third parties, then paying out those parties.
Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
