Best paying Chicago jobs w/o degree... (Lincoln: hotels, construction)

[tonythetuna]

A union city job.

[chicagojlo]

As a professional without a degree myself I recommend the temp worker route. If you have any kind of office experience (and finance is the biggest one) then you can get temp work that can lead to a permanent position.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by tonythetuna

A union city job.

Good luck with that. Don't you have to have connections in order to get one of those jobs nowadays?

(I hear garbagemen make something like $90K.)

[chitown85]

Yea you do and more departments are requiring Associates degrees.

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by andrew61

Good luck with that. Don't you have to have connections in order to get one of those jobs nowadays?

The OP did not say "what are the best paying easiest jobs to get without a degree." So I answered the question appropriately.

[freddythefredster]

Thank you all!

The waitstaff all depends on the caliber of restaurant... The high end restaurants aren't just going to hire Joe Schmoe to wait tables or bartend, they want smart/sharp people w/ multiple years experience, they are often well educated and do moonlighting in some other field art/writing/musician/acting/ etc that doesn't pay well or pays sporadically. As for being a bartender, they are generally promoted from within, as that is a coveted position in terms of making $. Certainly many of blue collar jobs pay better than entry level positions in office positions, you would just hope with an office position that you will eventually bring home much more in the rat race.

Working at Waffle House/TGIF could be a death sentence in the culinary world or something to just leave off altogether. That goes for both front end and back end staff. You would probably want to start at a more mom and pop type place, or OK place but less prestigious per se, than Per Se. The restaurant scene in Chicago and a handful of other cities is extremely competitive and there is money to be made. It is also somewhat cliquey, a lot of the managers/chefs know each other in the industry. Outcomes in say, Indianapolis might not go so well.

If I would hope to at some point work at a higher-caliber Chicago restaurant, what would be some more specific Chicago examples of the sort of restaurants that would be good to start off at (the NON-TGIF/Waffle Houses)?

A lot of office jobs in Chicago you don't necessarily need a degree, or a degree in a certain field, if you know the right people either. The degree is often just the foot in the door.

Such as? Thanks!

Take the fire department test. There's always the post office, too.

I am unfamiliar with "the fire department test". Some sort of screening for prospective workers? How would I go about this?

As a professional without a degree myself I recommend the temp worker route. If you have any kind of office experience (and finance is the biggest one) then you can get temp work that can lead to a permanent position.

What sort of office experience will be of assistance to me? Where would be the best place to look for temp work?

(I hear garbagemen make something like $90K.)

This was actually something I was curious about before. Any idea how one would best go about getting a job as a garbageman?

[chicagojlo]

You can become a temp by submitting your resume to any of the thousands of temp agencies online.

You can find out about the firefighter test by looking up your local fire department online.

You can apply for city positions by looking up the job section of the city's website, you guessed it, online.

Google is your friend.

[williepotatoes]

Originally Posted by freddythefredster

Any idea how one would best go about getting a job as a garbageman?

Warning, it can be a truly brutal job. Almost every city trashman I have ever known, used the job as a gateway to a better job elsewhere. Usually in another city department. Pay is pretty good though, a laborer makes around thirty dollars per hour now as I understand it.

A laborers grandest dream is to get a promotion to driver. A drivers grandest dream is to accumulate a good safety record, so that he never gets busted back down to a laborer position.

[Vic_Vega]

Railroad? Operations, Maintenance, Mechanical? Plenty of companies to choose from in the Chicagoland area.

[ImaloneJill]

Sometimes if you possess the right people skills and have the gift of gab, sales can be well paying. You definitely have to be extroverted and high energy for that job to be effective.