How Much Are You Worth?

Want to know how your salary compares to the national average? Below is a list of salaries of more than one hundred careers, courtesy of Salary.com. Keep in mind that salaries can differ based on an individual's geographic location and work experience.

(Note: A "II" after the job title indicates a salary based on two to four years of experience.)

SALARIES (as of December 2006)

Accounting
Accountant II: $47,768

Advertising
Account executive: $69,089
Copywriter II: $49,157
Creative director: $96,949

Engineering
Aerospace II: $62,273
Mechanical II: $65,848
Chemical II: $61,744
Civil II: $61,158
Electrical II: $63,673
Environmental (no levels given): $64,945
Industrial II: $59,670
Nuclear II: $69,048

Architecture
Architect II: $40,438
Interior designer II: $40,247

Arts and Entertainment
Actor/performer: $49,559
Director: $29,864
Producer: $45,921
Set designer: $44,126
Talent director: $59,470

Aviation and Airlines
Pilot: $101,402
Flight attendant: $53,796

Banking
Branch manager II: $90,183
Lending officer II: $60,306
Biotechnology
Biologist II: $48,581
Clinical research associate II: $65,250

Construction
Building inspector: $44,827
Carpenter: $38,900
Electrician: $39,924
Consulting
Business development associate: $69,614

Education
Athletic coach: $48,844
School principal: $86,119
College professor: $78,390
Grade school teacher: $49,007
Financial aid counselor: $34,929
Environment
Botanist: $60,524
Geologist II: $49,281
Forester: $59,747
Financial Services
Financial analyst II: $55,589
Stock Broker: $48,205

Law Enforcement, Security, Fire
Fire fighter: $40,463
Police officer: $47,729
Correction officer: $35,000
Sheriff/police chief: $85,772

Healthcare
Staff nurse - RN: $57,366
Chiropractor: $84,556
Dentist: $135,043
Dietician: $47,397
Optometrist: $103,302
Paramedic: $37,916
Pharmacist: $94,677
Physical therapist: $61,162
Physician: $155,041
Physician assistant: $77,392
Psychologist: $78,885
Social Worker: $41,622
Surgeon: $268,277

Human Resources
Human resources generalist II: $52,940
Insurance
Claims adjuster: $41,461

New Media/IT
Web designer: $65,175
Programmer II: $59,826
Applications systems analyst II: $63,554

Legal Services
Attorney II: $112,066
Paralegal II: $50,748
Judge/magistrate: $145,300

Library Services
Librarian: $49,235

Marketing
Account executive: $65,308
Media (Broadcast)
Director: $29,864
Producer: $45,921
Production assistant: $26,325
Reporter: $28,592

Media (Print)
Photographer: $54,789
Reporter: $28,592

Military
E1 - Recruit: $13,511
E3 - Private first class: $16,443
E5 - Sergeant: $19,538
Non-Profit
Fundraising director: $85,346

Printing and Publishing
Editor: $53,800
Technical writer II: $51,944

Public Relations
Company/agency director: $124,686
Speech Writer (under Printing/Publishing): $65,834

Real Estate
Appraiser: $39,968
Mortgage credit analyst: $42,379
Sales agent: $26,358
Restaurant and Food Services
Chef, executive: $87,808
Catering manager: $47,037
Hotel manager: $41,411
Retail/Wholesale
Buyer II: $50,717
Jeweler: $36,302
Visual merchandising director: $111,490

Sales
Account executive: $65,308
Science and Research
Astronomer: $99,259
Biochemist II: $52,682
Biologist II: $48,581
Chemist II: $52,380
Geologist II: $49,281
Physicist II: $68,365
Zoologist: $64,696

Looking for something different? Check out the salaries of these unusual careers.
Motor racer: $25,628
Cartoonist/animator: $57,043
Floral designer: $43,845
Landscape architect: $37,041
Bartender: $19,430
Pastry chef: $56,754
Professional athlete: $28,744
Food scientist: $61,012
Fashion designer: $45,452
Animal groomer: $30,833
Silversmith: $36,073
Private investigator: $40,028

A Monster.com article

by Carrie Greenberg

Five Ways to Stay Positive in Negativity

It's easy to be positive in a positive environment. It's when things are emotionally draining and negative that you're challenged to behave differently. But you have the opportunity to be the beacon of light for others around you. By your actions and responses, you can demonstrate and teach others how to behave in an appropriate, positive and professional manner.

Positive energy catches on just as quickly as negative energy. Sometimes people are simply stuck in a habit or pattern of behavior and are accustomed to acting a certain way. If the environment is really caustic, then it's what people are used to and may be all they know.

It takes some time and effort as well as a commitment to do something differently to create sustainable change. You must be willing to identify and stop tolerating what's not working, do the right thing even if it's initially unpopular and then teach others to do the same.

Here are five ways you can be a positive force in your workplace:

The First Step Is Awareness
Recognize the negativity around you. Sometimes you can even feel your energy being drained by the words being spoken. If it feels bad or uncomfortable, then it's negative. These feelings are a form of intelligence similar to a tap on the shoulder letting you know something is not right. If you can identify what is happening, you can make good choices about handling it.

It All Starts with You
In what ways are you contributing to the negativity around you? Are you listening to gossip or participating in conversations where the only focus is to denigrate, diminish or criticize? Language matters. Everything you say has an impact; saying something negative not only dishonors the person you're speaking about and the person you're speaking with, but it also makes you feel bad even if you don't realize it. Learn to respect people's humanity and their right to be themselves. Complaining without end does not focus on creating solutions; rather, it perpetuates and magnifies the problem, wasting everyone's precious time and energy.

Speak Up
Tell the other person how you feel by saying, "This doesn't work for me." It's nonjudgmental, since you're making it about you, not them. Also, people often don't realize they are being negative. Point it out in a gentle, caring way: "Do you realize you are complaining?" Just bringing it to their attention can be enough to shift the conversation. Over time, people will learn what they can and cannot discuss with you, and it will stop being an issue. If you say nothing, your silence conveys permission to continue.

Be Constructive, Positive, Meaningful and Beneficial
What is the point or purpose of what you're saying? Is it to hurt or help? And at the end of the conversation, is there an action step to take? Constructive conversations are empowering and leave people a little better off from having participated in them. Become the kind of person who takes your time and words seriously.

Praise and Acknowledge
It's amazing what a few words of praise and acknowledgement can do. You want to be the kind of person people gravitate to because they know they will be uplifted by you, not put down or drained of life-sustaining energy. In short, you want people to feel good after being in your presence.

No matter what is going on around you, you control your inner environment and how you choose to respond to external events and situations. It's your responsibility to become the kind of person you enjoy being and with whom others enjoy being around.

It takes a true leader to walk a path different from the crowd. So when others are negative, stretch your boldness muscles and be positive in spite of what others do or think. It's the only way to create a ripple of change. And if we all do our part, then slowly but surely, we will make a difference in our work environment and the larger community.



By: Julie Fuimano

Can You Afford A House?

The first step in homeownership is to determine how much house you can afford — realistically. In fact, if you can’t afford your dream house, you may have to borrow money from the bank, known as a mortgage. This step can either make or break your homeownership prospects for three reasons:

Your Ability to Pay the Mortgage: Your lender will want to know not only how much money you have, but also how much you will earn in the next 30 years. In addition, the lender has the right to snoop around in your debt history. For example, what’s your credit card situation? Do you have any outstanding debts or loans you’re slow to repay? Property such as a car or boat is also figured into how much the bank will lend you.

Before the mortgage is issued, lenders generally want you to come up with 20 percent of the home value to use as a down payment. Special financing arrangements that may get you into a new home for as little as 3 percent of the asking price.

The lender will also plug your income numbers into a couple of formulas: the front-end ratio (having to do with your mortgage payments) and the back-end ratio (having to do with your debt).

Let's say your gross income is $4,000 a month, and you have $1,000 a month in debt payments. The rule of thumb is that the lender will allow you to pay 29 percent of your gross income toward your mortgage payment every month. This is known as the front-end ratio. In this example, 29 percent of $4,000 is just under $1,200 a month — so the lender will reason that you can put $1,200 toward your mortgage payment.

Your debt ratio, or back-end ratio, on the other hand, is $1,000/$4,000, or 25 percent. That's not bad. The lender doesn't want more than 41 percent going toward your other debt. (These ratios can vary somewhat; the ones given here are good examples.)

Your Past Financial History: Your credit rating is one of the most important factors to qualify for a mortgage. The three major credit-reporting agencies are Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. You can request your credit report individually from each agency.

Your credit report — a nifty little compilation of your personal financial history — will reveal whether you have a track record of paying your bills on time. If not, there are ways to clean up your credit that will make you more attractive to lenders.

Your Available Collateral: In case you can't repay the loan, the bank can do something really nasty: foreclose on the mortgage and repossess the house. That means it owns the house -- not you. You then find yourself out on the street with your dog and your La-Z-Boy. Your house now belongs to the bank, and it is unlikely anyone will ever loan you money again. Avoid this scenario at all costs.

Your Timeline
In determining whether you should buy a new home, think about how long you're planning to stay in it. It generally doesn't make economic sense to buy if you're planning to stay there for less than four years. Why? Because you will pay fees to buy and sell your house. It would have to appreciate in value very quickly between the buying and selling to make it financially worthwhile. In other words, you'd have to get lucky.

Your Comfort Zone
Before you borrow $90,000 or $200,000, figure out whether you can really afford it. Just because the bank will loan you the money doesn't mean that you will live your life in such a way as to be able to pay it back. Are you planning on having a big family? Would you rather replace your Chevy with a new Mercedes? Your house payment is just one piece of your financial puzzle. What might you need to give up to make that house a reality?

Shopping for a Loan
There are thousands of mortgage lenders across the country, and all have different loan products. From lenders who only sell to the most creditworthy borrowers (at the best rates) to those who will lend 50 percent of a property's value (at high rates), there's a mortgage product for just about everyone.

One place to check is your local bank. This can result in a reasonably good deal for the qualified customer. In many other cases, the bank will not have a program that fits your needs, or you may fall outside the guidelines of its lending ability.

Once you have visited your bank, look in the real estate section of your local paper for rates at other banks. It's a good idea to start the legwork on your own, before bringing in a mortgage broker, so that you'll 1) avoid the hard sell from the get-go and 2) have a better idea of what you could find on your own.

The Internet
The Web lets you comparison-shop. Not only that, but you don't have to hunt down a hundred different banks -- certain aggregator sites have done that for you.
You may well find the cheapest rates in town (or in the country) from the Internet. If, however, you end up working with a real estate agent, you may feel more secure with a lender that has a relationship with your agent. The idea is this: The agent brings business to the lender, so the lender has some sense of responsibility toward honoring commitments with that agent's clients.

Helpful Hint: There is no reason why you shouldn't take out a loan with a bank in California if you live in Virginia, or vice versa.

When Should I Shop for a Mortgage?
Ideally, you should find a mortgage before you ever start looking for a house. Not only will you feel more confident knowing that you'll have a certain amount of money, but you'll be a more serious candidate to sellers.

What Information Should I Get from the Mortgage Company?
There are many questions to ask prospective lenders. You may find yourself feeling a little nervous. After all, you may feel like they have you by the suspenders. But don't think of it that way. You are going to pay them a lot of money for a very long time. They serve you, not the other way around. Don't let them take advantage of you or bully you into a deal that isn't to your advantage.

Reinventing Scanning

Atop from being too busy with work and home, organizing in digital fashion has become another gargantuan task. I must admit that the site of paper trails, office documents and business cards on a cluttered desk wrecks havoc to a nice morning. Anyway, I finally found solace in the thought that backing up these paper hills can be done. It saves on table space but the fact that I won't be losing anything for a long time seems more reassuring.

So, a cameraphone or a digital camera comes in handy after all. Not so much in taking self-protraits or whatever, but actually cleaning up the bulky filing cabinet or that file folder that is daily growing. Digitizing seems easy and not-so-much hard work, and with perks of having multiple copies at that.

Whew, so I thank ScanR for the help that extends. What is it anyway? It's my best friend for now.