Top 10 Careers for Ultimate Job Security

Who doesn't want job security? These last few years of recession, layoffs, and unemployment have proved just how fickle the job market can be. As a result, more and more people are opting for career training or degree programs that lead to positions with greater job security. Though of course there are no guarantees in a shaky job market, some professions are much more stable than others. These ten jobs are as recession-proof as you can get.

1. Teacher: The demand for secondary school teachers is always strong, especially in the public school system. Teachers with a strong background in mathematics, bilingual education, and science will be in highest demand. Public school teachers must complete a bachelor's degree program, as well as an approved teaching program, before becoming licensed (median salary: $52,200).

2. Accountant: Working for a government agency offers job security for people with a degree in accounting. Government accountants start out with a bachelor's degree in accounting or a related discipline, and might hold a master's degree or higher (median salary: $60,340).

3. Registered nurse: Over the past decade, a nursing shortage has placed a great deal of strain on the health care industry. As a result, registered nurses are always in demand. There are three paths to becoming a registered nurse--earning an associate's degree, a bachelor's degree, or a diploma from an approved nursing program (median salary: $63,750).

4. College professor: Becoming a professor can lead to a long-term position with a college or university, and that can lead to tenure, which is one of the ultimate sorts of job security you can have. To ride the tenure track, most colleges require a doctorate in your chosen field of study (median salary: $58,830, though the salary can vary widely by field).

5. Federal judge: Most federal judges were attorneys before they made it to the bench. A bachelor's degree comes first, then three years of law school. Becoming a federal judge requires a firm grasp of the law, extensive legal experience, and a bit of political maneuvering thrown in for good measure (median salary: $112,830).

6. Environmental engineer: The push for green technology and a kinder approach to the natural world will put environmental engineers on the fast-track to success. Get your foot in the door with a bachelor's degree in environmental science or a related field (median salary: $77,040).

7. Pharmacist: As the world of health care continues to change rapidly, pharmacists will be needed to keep up with patient demand. Pharmacists must complete at least two years of undergraduate study before applying to a Pharm.D. program. Licensing is a must (median salary: $109,180).

8. Truck driver: With over 3.2 million truckers on the road, it's safe to say that becoming a truck driver is a popular career path. It is also a stable career, as there is no shortage of work for people who carry goods up and down the interstate. Career training for truck drivers begins with earning a commercial driver's license through a trade or vocational school (median salary: $37,730).

9. Telecommunications expert: As the virtual world grows larger and more complex, telecommunications experts will be needed to handle its intricate connections. Most jobs require a high school diploma, some offer on-the-job career training, and others require at least an associate's degree (median salary: $53,976).

10. Customer service representative: Good customer service is required in virtually every industry. A customer service representative might work from home, make connections through a call bank, or work for a small business that requires face-to-face assistance for customers. A high school diploma is required, and career training often takes place on the job. Earning a degree can lead to managerial and supervisory positions (median salary: $30,290).

Career training for job security
For the best job security, start with the best preparation. An accredited degree program can give you the edge you need in the competitive job market. Ongoing career training is the best way to stay on top of your game and move forward in your promising new career.

20 of the Best Resources to Get Your Startup Off the Ground

Let’s face it: as an entrepreneur, the odds are stacked against you. Most businesses fail after the first few years, and even if you do manage to survive, that doesn’t mean your business will redefine an industry, become profitable, or change the world. Getting off on the right foot is essential to navigating a startup from its infancy to profitability.

Luckily, there have been countless entrepreneurs that have gone through the same toils building their own businesses, and most of them are happy to share their experiences to better prepare you for the journey ahead. In addition, there is now an array of social media and web apps that no entrepreneur has ever had access to before. Together, these resources can give you the edge in a fast-changing business world.

While we can’t highlight the thousands of resources at your disposal, we have put together twenty of our favorite guides, web apps, and tools that can help you build and launch a startup. This guide is divided into six sections, covering everything from coming up with the right idea to the steps you need to take and tools you’ll want to have to secure funding for your early-stage company. In total, you will find that this guide is a comprehensive resource for anybody who’s trying to realize his or her entrepreneurial dreams.

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Guides to Getting Started

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Before you dive into your startup (or maybe after you’re neck-deep), you should get yourself a crash course education in starting a business. There is no education like doing, but reading up on incorporating, collecting some checklists, and understanding just what it takes to get your specific business off the ground will save you plenty of headaches later on.

1. The Entrepreneur.com Startup Kits: Entrepreneur Magazine’s website has a gem for entrepreneurs: startup kits. There are kits for everything from starting a restaurant to a consulting firm, complete with articles, guides, marketing tips, and more.

2. eHow’s Introduction to Entrepreneurship: Collaborative knowledge resource website eHow has hundreds of thousands of great articles, including a strong set of guides and resources for how to open a business, how to incorporate, raising money, and bookkeeping.

3. About.com Starting a Business Hub: Another resource you should not miss is About.com’s Entrepreneurs Hub. They’ve curated some of their best content for starting a business, including checklists, a small business startup kit, and detailed articles on naming and calculating the cost of your startup.

4. Library of Congress’s Entrepreneur’s Reference Guide: Yes, the U.S. Library of Congress has an entrepreneur’s reference guide, while it’s dated (1999), it also lists a lot of great books that are updated yearly. It covers practically every topic related to starting a small business.

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Inspirations for the Idea

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There are few things more important to the success of your startup than having the right idea and continuing to be innovative with your product as it gets built and released to your customers. Ideas don’t just come in cans from the store, though. That’s why we’ve brought together some resources that should help inspire your creative juices and help you nail down the next big idea.

5. Vator.tv: A play on “elevator pitch,” Vator.tv is a place where entrepreneurs can upload short video pitches about their startup. Not only that, but you can follow industry news and specific companies. Watching these pitches will certainly jolt your brain’s creative juices. Also check out VentureBeat Profiles (formerly TradeVibes), which also has a great database of startups and a community discussing each one.

6. Alltop Startups: Reading the latest news and opinions in the startup world can only help jolt your brain and keep you current. Alltop has a great list of blogs and news websites dedicated to the subject (including my personal blog). Take a read, subscribe to the blogs that interest you, and you’ll be guaranteed to be reading about great ideas soon enough.

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Startup Web Apps

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While there is an array of great web tools for entrepreneurs (10 of the best we previously highlighted), there are some tools that just make your life easier when you’re trying to bring order to the chaos of launching your startup. Consider these tools when you’re in the early stages of building a company:

7. Evernote (): Information is king, and there are few web apps that do a better job of collecting information in front of the computer screen or on-the-go than Evernote. The service simply helps you remember everything. You can take pictures of your receipts for easy organization or save key info while you browse, for example, among many other ways to organize and catalog the things you need to remember for your startup.

8. Zoho (): Zoho is a suite of online collaboration tools. Not only does it include email and spreadsheets, but it includes, wiki, chat, customer relationship management (CRM), and web conferencing as well. While it is similar to Google Apps, it is built specifically for businesses.

9. PBWorks: Wikis are amazing for organizing ideas and sharing them with team members. There are few better suited for business than PBWorks, which is not only a wiki but a collaboration tool, document manager, and project management tool.

10. FreshBooks: If your business is client-based, you need to track invoices, teams, and payments constantly. While there are many choices, Freshbooks is one of the best due to its mobile apps, integration with Basecamp (), and reasonable pricing.

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Social Media for Startup Success

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Social media is about connecting with people. Interestingly enough, so is business and entrepreneurship, which is perhaps why there is so much overlap between the two. If you want to get your startup off the ground, you have to network, build up your social circle, and reach out to the right people. These social tools are adept at that task:

11. Plaxo (): There are few tasks more important in business than maintaining and organizing your contacts. You never know when someone you meet will lead you to a big business deal, venture capital, or a new team member. Plaxo acts as a digital address book that efficiently organizes everyone you meet. Plus, it integrates with Outlook, Thunderbird and the Mac OS X Address Book to make importing contacts a snap. You have to be diligent about adding contacts, though.

12. Google Wave (): Google’s () experimental real-time communication platform not only has a consumer version, but also comes in a corporate flavor for users of Google apps. Having your team collaborate on projects through waves is a unique experience, one that we have used with success over here at Mashable (). No other social tool has the same collaboration features.

13. LinkedIn (): This one may be obvious, but its importance in business cannot be overstated. It is the world’s most popular business social network for a reason. Its business features, especially those connecting you to friends of friends, are unmatched, and with over 50 million users, it’s a social media tool you need to be using constantly.

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Raising Money

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Bringing your startup to the next level takes more than willpower, determination, and grit. In most cases, you need startup capital to build the product, hire the right team members, and maintain the product after it launches. That’s why it’s vital to do your homework on how to effectively raise money.

These are a few resources that will give you a crash course education in venture capital and raising money to grow your startup:

14. Introduction to Venture Capital: If you’re clueless about how venture capital works (most people are), this short presentation by Will Price, former venture capitalist and the current CEO of Widgetbox, explains all of the basics. It was given at Stanford University in 2007:

15. TheFunded: This entrepreneurship community is very unique in that it is focused on helping you raise money. How? By giving you ratings and inside details of the practices of countless venture capital and angel investor funds. The information, once you’re in, is invaluable to choosing the firm that will help propel your business to the next level.

16. How to Fund a Startup: This guide by Y Combinator co-founder and early-stage investor Paul Graham is shockingly detailed on the different ways to raise money, the disadvantages of each approach, how venture capital firms operate, and the reality of bringing investors into your company. A must-read for any startup founder before raising capital.

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Startup Social Communities

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You cannot and should not build your business alone. The world’s greatest entrepreneurs not only had co-founders, but they had friends, family, and a community of entrepreneurs and advisors that helped them with difficult decisions, overcoming adversity, and fixing mistakes.

With the rise of social media and the web, a crop of incredible startup communities have popped up, each one with a unique character but with a wealth of community knowledge that you’d be crazy to pass up on your journey to build a great company.

17. StartupNation: The recently redesigned startup community network has extensive and active forums, useful knowledge hubs, community groups, and plenty more.

18. Hacker News (): The seed investment firm Y Combinator has built a thriving and active startup community known as Hacker News. Users add relevant and interesting stories on the topics of programming and startup entrepreneurship and consistently hold thought-provoking discussions. It’s an incredible place for insight and advice on startups.

19. Young Entrepreneur: Focused around discussion forums, Young Entrepreneur is a great place to ask any startup question on your mind or just to read the over 240,000 posts made over the years on the site.

20. PartnerUp: PartnerUp is a community that really focuses on one thing: helping you find business partners. In business, finding the right co-founders is often the difference between stellar success and a quick, painful startup death. PartnerUp is a community ideal for finding and networking with people that will shore up your weaknesses and help you answer those nagging questions about the partnership side of business.

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Series supported by Grasshopper

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Sound more professional and stay connected with Grasshopper, the Virtual Phone System designed for entrepreneurs. Grasshopper works just like a traditional phone system, but requires no hardware to purchase – it’s all managed online or by phone. Callers reach you whether you’re in the office, on your cell, or at home.

Get a toll free or local number, create extensions for employees, forward calls, get voicemails via email, and more – starting at only $9.95 a month.

7 Things to Stop Doing Now on Facebook

Millions peoples are using Facebook daily in routine, but most of peoples are not aware that how they can protect his account and profile on Facebook. Here we give some use full tips that how you can protect you account and profile. If you can avoid from these things then your account and Profile are safe and you can enjoy from Facebook for a Long Time.

Using a Weak Password

Avoid simple names or words you can find in a dictionary, even with numbers tacked on the end. Instead, mix upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols. A password should have at least eight characters. One good technique is to insert numbers or symbols in the middle of a word, such as this variant on the word "houses": hO27usEs!

Leaving Your Full Birth Date in Your Profile

It's an ideal target for identity thieves, who could use it to obtain more information about you and potentially gain access to your bank or credit card account. If you've already entered a birth date, go to your profile page and click on the Info tab, then on Edit Information. Under the Basic Information section, choose to show only the month and day or no birthday at all.

Overlooking Useful Privacy Controls

For almost everything in your Facebook profile, you can limit access to only your friends, friends of friends, or yourself. Restrict access to photos, birth date, religious views, and family information, among other things. You can give only certain people or groups access to items such as photos, or block particular people from seeing them. Consider leaving out contact info, such as phone number and address, since you probably don't want anyone to have access to that information anyway.

Posting Your Child's Name in a Caption

Don't use a child's name in photo tags or captions. If someone else does, delete it by clicking on Remove Tag. If your child isn't on Facebook and someone includes his or her name in a caption, ask that person to remove the name.

Mentioning That You'll Be Away From Home

That's like putting a "no one's home" sign on your door. Wait until you get home to tell everyone how awesome your vacation was and be vague about the date of any trip.

Letting Search Engines Find You

To help prevent strangers from accessing your page, go to the Search section of Facebook's privacy controls and select Only Friends for Facebook search results. Be sure the box for public search results isn't checked.

Permitting Youngsters to Use Facebook Unsupervised

Facebook limits its members to ages 13 and over, but children younger than that do use it. If you have a young child or teenager on Facebook, the best way to provide oversight is to become one of their online friends. Use your e-mail address as the contact for their account so that you receive their notifications and monitor their activities. "What they think is nothing can actually be pretty serious," says Charles Pavelites, a supervisory special agent at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. For example, a child who posts the comment "Mom will be home soon, I need to do the dishes" every day at the same time is revealing too much about the parents' regular comings and goings.

30 Jobs: That Pay You Big Earning.

Let's be honest: Sometimes you don't care about the job -- you just care about the salary.

But it's awfully hard to look for a job that fits both your salary requirements and your skill set. Not to mention that we always tell you that your work and career should be something you love. Ideally, money is just an added benefit.

That being said, we're also realists. We know that times are tough and at this point, some people just need to get paid. Fortunately, there's a new salary tool available that can help you do just that.

Jobs by Salary, a new salary tool from CBSalary.com, allows you to search for jobs by salary based on where you live or work in the United States. Do you live in Phoenix and want to make $50,000? No problem. Plug in your data, and you'll get a list of jobs that pay that much in your area, plus the necessary requirements.

Because our readers live all over, we thought it unfair to provide a list of jobs that pay a certain dollar amount in one place or another. Plus, we all know that different markets pay different salaries based on a variety of things such as cost of living.

Instead, we went to the Bureau of Labor Statistics to look at the latest (May 2008) salary information for the United States. From there, we found out which occupations pay in the $80,000 range based on national averages.

Here are 30 jobs that pay at least $80,000:

1. Administrative law judges, adjudicators and hearing officers

Do this: Conduct hearings to rule on government-related claims; determine penalties and liability; and help to craft settlements.

Get paid: $80,870

2. Biomedical engineers

Do this: Design and develop devices and procedures to help solve health-related problems. Projects might include information systems, artificial organs or artificial limbs.

Get paid: $81,120

3. Chiropractors

Do this: Diagnose and treat musculoskeletal conditions of the spinal column to prevent disease and alleviate imbalance, pain and pressure believed to be caused by interference with nervous system.

Get paid: $81,340

4. Atmospheric, earth, marine and space sciences teachers, post-secondary

Do this: Teach courses and research topics in the physical sciences, except chemistry and physics.

Get paid: $81,470

5. Agents and business managers of artists, performers and athletes

Do this: Represent and promote their client's business while handling business matters and contract negotiations.

Get paid: $81,550

6. Materials scientists

Do this: Study the chemical composition of various materials and figure out ways to develop new materials and improve existing ones; also determine ways to use materials in products.

Get paid: $81,600

7. Physician assistants

Do this: Perform health-care services and provide treatment plans under a physician's supervision.

Get paid: $81,610

8. Medical scientists, except epidemiologists

Do this: Research and investigate human diseases and how to improve human health.

Get paid: $81,870

9. Physics teachers, post-secondary

Do this: Teach courses and research topics pertaining to the laws of matter and energy.

Get paid: $81,880

10. Atmospheric and space scientists

Do this: Study the effects the atmosphere has on the environment, most commonly through weather forecasting.

Get paid: $82,080

11. Management analysts

Do this: Figure out best practices of management by conducting studies and procedures to help companies figure out how to operate more effectively.

Get paid: $82,920

12. Producers and directors

Do this: Produce or direct, and make all creative decisions for stage, television, radio, video or motion picture productions.

Get paid: $83,030

13. Biological science teachers, post-secondary

Do this: Teach courses and research topics in biological sciences.

Get paid: $83,270

14. Materials engineers

Do this: Develop new uses for recognized materials, and develop new machinery and processes to make materials for use in specialized products.

Get paid: $84,200

15. Transportation, storage and distribution managers

Do this: Oversee transportation, storage or distribution activities in accordance with governmental policies and regulations.

Get paid: $84,520

16. Financial analysts

Do this: Assess the financial situations of an individual or organization.

Get paid: $84,780

17. Electrical engineers

Do this: Design, develop and test the manufacturing and installation of electrical equipment.

Get paid: $85,350

18. Education administrators, elementary and secondary school

Do this: Oversee all activities of public or private elementary or secondary schools.

Get paid: $86,060

19. Industrial-organizational psychologists

Do this: Work with companies to solve problems within the company. You may help with policy planning; employee screening, training and development; and organizational development and analysis.

Get paid: $86,460

20. Computer software engineers, applications

Do this: Build computer applications software and code; ensure that all software projects adhere to a company's technology and business standards.

Get paid: $87,900

21. Economics teachers, post-secondary

Do this: Teach courses and research topics in economics.

Get paid: $88,330

22. Biochemists and biophysicists

Do this: Study the chemical composition and physical principles of living cells and organisms, their electrical and mechanical energy, and related phenomena.

Get paid: $88,450

23. Art directors

Do this: Create design concepts and presentation in artwork, layout design and copywriting for visual communications media.

Get paid: $88,510

24. Electronics engineers except computer

Do this: Design, develop and test a wide range of electronic equipment, from CD players to global positioning systems.

Get paid: $88,670

25. Medical and health services managers

Do this: Supervise medical and health services in hospitals, clinics and similar organizations.

Get paid: $88,750

26. Chemical engineers

Do this: Design chemical plant equipment and create processes for manufacturing chemicals and products.

Get paid: $88,760

27. Geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers

Do this: Study the composition, structure and other physical aspects of the Earth.

Get paid: $89,300

28. Veterinarians

Do this: Provide health care for family pets, livestock and zoo animals. Provide check-ups, treat diseases and advise caretakers on how to best raise their animals.

Get paid: $89,450

29. Construction managers

Do this:Oversee all activities concerned with the construction and maintenance of structures, facilities and systems.

Get paid: $89,770

30. Sales engineers

Do this: Sell business goods or services, the selling of which requires a technical background equivalent to a bachelor's degree in engineering.

Get paid: $89,770

How to Handle the Stress of Finding a New Job

This article is written as a dialogue between Carnegie Coach and Mr. Samuel.

Dear Carnegie Coach:

I've made some horrible mistakes in my career. Most recently I was a salesperson for a large computer company and I was fired because I dropped the ball on an important sale. This is the only time I've been fired but I've left other jobs under bad circumstances, mostly because I wasn't meeting my bosses' expectations. I want to be a good employee but I just seem to get in over my head. When I can't handle a situation, everything starts to go wrong. Now I'm scared to even look for a new job. -- Samuel


Dear Samuel:

You've taken the first step toward overcoming your concern -- you've realized that there is a turning point in your work situations that creates overwhelming stress. Perhaps it occurs when you've had some success so your manager raises expectations for you. Or perhaps you are very good at landing jobs that are just a bit beyond your skill level – once you've been there a few months, your grace period has ended and your manager expects you to perform at a higher level than you can. Some people fear success because it means they have to work at a higher level; instead they find a way to get out of the situation.

I can't tell you what this turning point is for you, but I can tell you that it's manageable. It's very clear that you care about your work. That sincerity is what will carry you through this difficult time. Try these tactics as you're interviewing for your new job:

1. Don't worry about the past. You can't change the past. You can't change what others will think -- or say -- about you because of past mistakes. Forgive yourself and look to the future.

2.Analyze your own mistakes and criticize yourself. As I've hinted, there are reasons you've made these mistakes. Try to figure out what they are then develop a plan for solving the problem. If you lack skills, take training. If you don't want a high-pressure sales job, look into less stressful positions. If you feel your manager tends to move you ahead too fast, plan to discuss the fact that you seem like a quick learner because you pick up on industry idiosyncrasies quickly, but you can't keep up that pace forever.

3. Do not imitate others. Often when we feel insecure we start to mimic the behavior of others. All too often, that is the beginning of a series of events that eventually turn destructive. You can't be someone else. You can't relate to your manager the same way your coworker does. You can't land a sale the same way your manager landed one last year. Instead, as you're looking at how to handle a new situation, turn to your instincts. Certainly listen to
the advice you're being given, but manipulate it into a format that works for you.

4. Count your blessings -- not your troubles. In a world fraught with war, famine, disease and natural disaster, losing a job is far from the worst thing that can happen. Try keeping a list of all your blessings in your wallet --family, friends, health, talents, etc. Then, when you're feeling like a failure, take it out and remember all the people who don't have these advantages.