May Day is celebrated on the first day of May each year. Depending on where you live, May Day can mean a lot of things. It can just be a day of festivals and pagan dancing around the Maypole. The Maypole is created by covering a tall wooden poll with flowers and greenery. Then the pole is raised up and the celebration begins with dancers frolicking around the pole with colorful ribbons. Another May Day tradition is leaving a basket of flowers or candy on the doorstep of someone you are interested in.

However, May Day isn’t all fun and games; it is also a day of solidarity of the labor force.

Many cities have marches where workers are encouraged to take the day off and join in solidarity against “The Man.” In various labor movements around the world, May Day is synonymous with International Workers’ Day - a day of celebrations, marches and other organized activities of workers and labor unions.

Over the last few years, there have been some problems with the May Day marches in some major cities, like Los Angeles. In 2007, the May Day pro-illegal immigration rally in MacArthur Park in L.A. turned into a melee between a group of about 50 protesters and LAPD. The protesters threw water bottles and oranges at the police. The melee was broken up when the officers began firing foam rubber projectiles at the protesters.

Though there are May Day activities scheduled in Los Angeles again this year, the police are expected to be on alert.

Photo credit: Flickr

Northrop Grumman Corp. was awarded a contract worth more than a billion dollars from the United States Navy to build unmanned spy planes. The company will hire workers in many cities across the United States to help in the project, including 1,700 workers in San Diego, California.

While there will be many high paying jobs in the project, the work is only guaranteed until 2014. At that point, the contract between Northrop Grumman Corp. and the Navy will expire. Over the life of the contract, the Navy hopes that around 70 unmanned spy planes can be produced.

If you would like to work on a spy plane project and you think you have the qualifications, now is the time to send in your resume. You should also make sure that the relatively short lifespan of the job would work for you. While six years of work is a long time, you may instead prefer a job that has better long-term job security.

In addition to San Diego, other cities in the United States that will be hiring workers for this project include St. Augustine, Florida and Bethpage, New York.

Photo credit: Northrop Grumman

If you work for United Airlines, you couldn’t have liked the news from earlier this week when UAL Corp., United Airlines’ parent company, posted a first quarter loss of more than $500 million. With the company’s market value plummeting, more than a thousand job cuts were announced.

United Airlines pointed to mounting fuel costs as one of the main reasons for the loss. In addition to cutting jobs, the airline also plans to cut the number of flights they serve on a daily basis. The job cuts and flight changes are tentatively planned to take place before the end of 2008.

The next step for United Airlines could be merging with another airline if they can’t find a way to slow their losses. In recent years, a number of airlines have either been forced to merge or close their doors. Southwest Airlines is currently the only airline that consistently turns a profit.

Are you employed by United Airlines? If so, it’d be wise to start coming up with a fallback plan. Start looking for jobs now or at least decide which fields you would be interested in joining. If you can plan in advance, you can be ready to make the transition if you get laid off.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

This week is Administrative Professionals’ Week and today (Wednesday) is Administrative Professionals’ Day.

Administrative Professionals’ Week is observed the last full week in April each year. Companies and bosses are expected to recognize the work of their secretaries, assistants and other administrative support staff.

Administrative Professionals’ Day was formerly Secretary’s Day but the definition and name expanded years ago.

National Secretaries Week was created all the way back in 1952 through the work of Harry F. Klemfuss of Young & Rubicam, in conjunction with the National Secretaries Association. This association might be known to you now as the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP).

If you are a employer, take time out to recognize your administrative staff this week with a special lunch, candy, flowers or better yet … some time off!

Photo credit: stock.xchng

Do you love sports? Do you live, breath and eat sports? If so, you may consider getting a job in the sports field. Sports, while it may look like fun and games, is a multi-billion dollar industry that is hiring new people everyday.

If you aren’t fast enough, can’t jump high enough and don’t the have hand-eye coordination to be an athlete, there are other ways to enter the sporting world. The only bad part is that due to high competition for sports related jobs, you will likely have to start at the bottom and work your way up. What are some entry level jobs in the sports world to try to get?

Ticket Sales
Almost every sport in existence relies on selling tickets to their events. And while selling tickets isn’t a glamorous job, it’s a way to get your foot in the door. Once you are inside, you can work your way up to positions such as promotions manager, fan relation manager or even entering the business side as a financial manager.

Scouting
The best scouts in the sporting industry make millions of dollars a year. However, a lot of scouts have had to start off working for little or no pay. When you begin scouting, all it takes is one good find and then your job prospects for the future will get a lot better. Have a good eye for talent? Consider getting into scouting.

Athlete Assistants
Athletes typically have a very busy life. Sure, they may make a lot of money, but it’s hard for a lot of athletes to handle everything that needs to be handled. That’s where assistants come in. If you want to become an athlete assistant, unless you know someone, you are going to have to prove your worth. To do so, you’ll likely have to work for free for a period that last anywhere from a month to a year. However, if the athlete comes to depend on you, the amount of money you can make in this line of work is impressive.

Sports Agents
Another job to consider is becoming an agent. The first thing you should do is get your law degree. While in law school, get a lower level job (perhaps even clerical in nature) at a sports agency. Then after you have passed the bar, it will be easier for you to get into an established agency or start up your own practice.

Photo credit: N. Hernandez on Flickr

I was thinking the other day about common jobs that I would never want to do. I’m not talking about gross jobs necessarily (like proctologist). I am referring to jobs that I just personally wouldn’t want, even though they might be considered normal and profitable.

Here’s my top five list of jobs I’d hate to have.

Dentist
I know they make the big bucks and they don’t work long hours, but I don’t like the idea of having my hands in someone else’s mouth all day. It’s just too unsanitary to me, no matter what kind of gloves they wear.

Gynecologist
Like dentists, gynecologists make a pretty good living. I would never want this job. I’m female myself so I don’t mind the vagina. I just don’t want to be looking at them all day, particularly if the women have hygiene issues.

Truck Driver
I know this job is necessary for our economy to function - after all, the products have to be transported. But the long, long hours and time away from home has got to be terrible.

Public School Teacher
This probably sounds horrible, but I could never be a public school teacher these days. Years ago, I actually thought of making teaching a career. However, teachers are really underpaid and overworked. And so many public schools are underfunded. I commend those who have chosen education as their field of choice. I just know that personally I couldn’t do it. You are better women (and men) than I am.

Accountant
I’m really good at math. I took Advanced Placement Calculus in high school. I had lots of math and accounting classes in undergrad and grad school. However, numbers all day, everyday would bore me to tears. I’m not sure how much money you’d have to pay me to be an accountant, financial analyst or something of the sort, but it would have to be huge.

How about you? What jobs would you hate to have?

Photo credit: Flickr

The hot rumor today is that Ashlee Simpson is pregnant with the baby of Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz. It was announced last week that couple is engaged and now Us Weekly is claiming that the 23-year-old is pregnant.

I am not a big Ashlee Simpson fan or anything, but I was thinking that a cool job would be nanny to one of these celebrity kids.

Nanny to the stars has to pay some serious cash. Plus you’d get to hang out at a posh house and travel with the family to cool locations. Sounds good, right? To get in, you probably have to know someone or have years of nanny experience and impecable references.

For your viewing pleasure, Ashlee Simpson’s Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) video …

Yahoo recently put together a beautiful flash presentation of numerous “careers” around the country and how much the workers are paid.  The celebrities are compensated nicely, the American Idol host, Ryan Seacrest makes over 10 million a year.  Surprisingly, a car dealership manager makes over $200,000 a year - but I would probably guess that he is a partial owner.

Lindsay Lohan’s former bodyguard David Kim has filed a lawsuit stating that the star owes him at least $55,600 in lost pay from car expenses, tips and wages he paid out to other security and was never reimbursed. Kim claims he was being paid $4,000 a week to work for Lohan. (Can’t beat that job, right?)

This is the second time the Lohan family has been welching on money owed to their bodyguards. Recently, Lindsay Lohan’s mother (and manager) Dina was ordered to pay Anthony Almedida, another former bodyguard, $300,000 for money he lent her to help start Lindsay’s music career.

I don’t know why the Lohans feel they can screw over bodyguards, but I’m sure Lindsay will being paying Mr. Kim shortly.

Do you want to work for the Feds? I’m not talking about being an informant, becoming an FBI agent or joining the secret service (well, not necessarily.) But the federal government offers an array of interesting jobs.

If you are in the market for a new job and you want job security as well as good compensation, consider applying for federal jobs. You can find an updated list of federal jobs at USAJobs.gov and instructions on how to apply for the jobs.

Even though they have nearly three million employees, the federal government is always posting new jobs. And with the average compensation from a federal job being more than $100,000 per year according to a recent report in The Everett Daily Herald, it’s no wonder why a lot of people aim to get a job on the federal level.

However, you should be aware of the strict hiring procedures of the federal government. The application process is typically much more complex when applying for federal jobs than in the private sector. Expect to give detailed personal information, including your work history and your education history.

Additionally, be patient when applying for a federal job. These jobs get filled at a notoriously slow rate. While you wait, consider taking on a side job since it can take a few months to hear back. Even when you do hear back, expect to have to complete an extensive interview process.

The good news is that once you get a federal job, you should be set for life. With great compensation and terrific job security, they’ll likely be no reason for you to leave!