I’ve known office workers whose draconian bosses actually reprimanded them for talking too much. Not for job performance problems or deadline issues. No, they were good workers; they just got in trouble for talking — as if they were first-graders during a  school assembly. Oy.

Not everyone likes to gab, so a quiet workplace doesn’t bother some people. But for workers who can’t keep their lips sealed, silence is torturous. To help those of us who thrive on jibber jabber, here are six careers to consider. These jobs require more skills and education than just the ability to gab, but talking plays an important role that will make your day that much better:

Nurses
You can’t possibly list every responsibility nurses have. Whether in an emergency room, physician’s office or a number of other settings, nurses are working one-on-one with patients, ensuring tests are ordered, updating charts and staying calm. Patients who are sick or about to undergo surgery are often temperamental, nervous or just having a good old-fashioned  freak-out. The best nurses stay on task while talking to patients, whether finding out more information about their malady or just trying to keep everyone calm. Here, the gift of gab can be a patient’s dream.

Emergency dispatchers
Dispatchers obviously rely on their speaking skills to find out information about  emergencies, so that’s a no-brainer. Among their many skills, a knack for conversation is just as important as the ability to extract and report information. In  emergencies, people (e.g., witnesses, victims) get unnerved and often frantic. Dispatchers maintain conversations with the callers until help arrives, and that’s no easy task as they have to be calm and think quickly under stress.

Salespeople
If you’re going to sell anything — a pair of jeans, a car, a business plan — words are your best friends. Anyone who works in sales has to know when being aggressive is appropriate and when toning it down is better. Not every technique works every time, so understanding how to talk most effectively to the customer is a skill not everyone is blessed with.

Dentists
I know I’m not the only person who has been at a dental appointment, wearing the fashionable paper bib and protective glasses, while the dentist chips away at my teeth and asks how my job is. Luckily, most dentists have the good sense to time their questions when I’m about to get a break from all the oral construction going on so I can respond. Good dentists know how to fill the silence of a dental visit without peppering the patient with questions he or she can’t answer. At the same time, they understand that we don’t want to hear 30 minutes of personal ramblings while we’re a captive audience (with a numb mouth).

Hairstylists
For many people, hairstylists are the human equivalent of a Leatherman knife — you know the kind that is basically a pocket-size MacGyver. Hairstylists serve as some clients’ confidante and therapist as well as their stylist. While they’re clipping hair and mixing dyes, stylists are forming bonds with their clients as they discuss their lives and jobs. Anyone who’s experienced an awkwardly silent haircut knows how strange it is to be inches from the person holding the scissors and looking at you in the mirror, and yet you have nothing to say to each other for the full hour.

Perhaps most important for the stylist is the ability to communicate what he or she will be doing to the client. If the client asks for a trim and the stylist says, “Sure, we can do that,” then proceeds to chop off 6 inches — well, that’s not good. Effective communication benefits them both (and probably leads to a better tip).

News reporters
News reporters, as far as the public is concerned, are just talking heads, but they do more than just stand in a hurricane and tell you that, yep, it’s wet and windy. Reporters interview people, both in taped segments and on air, and you don’t want a mumbling, incoherent mess doing that job. Amazing news goes unnoticed if the reporters’ speaking abilities are subpar, so their talking prowess needs to be as outstanding as their investigative skills. You want someone who can talk on camera as if he or she is talking to you one-on-one, and that’s not easy.

If you’re a talker and have found a way to earn a paycheck, let us know. We know there are more jobs out there that other chatty readers would love to know about.

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I know, I know — most people don’t devote a whole week to celebrating one holiday — except for me. In my book, big occasions just can’t be celebrated in one day.  Every September, I have a “birthday week.” When my friends get married, it’s their “wedding week.” And now that Halloween is just 5 short days away, it is most certainly “halloween week.”

To get all of you as excited about Halloween as I am, I thought we could start this week with “spooky jobs” for other Halloween fanatics. The following jobs deal with matters from corpses to violence to death to the supernatural. Fellow Halloween Lovers, consider one of the following 10 spooky jobs:

Coroner
Why it’s spooky: Coroners observe corpses and investigate the cause, time and manner of death, mostly when it happens under unusual circumstances.
Scary salary: $41,123

Ghost hunter
Why it’s spooky: Ghost hunters use scientific tools to measure and collect evidence of paranormal activity in areas that are said to be haunted. Teams of these people are called paranormal investigation teams.
Scary salary: N/A

Mystery fiction writer
Why it’s spooky: Mystery writers need the creative mind to develop scary plots, suspenseful story lines and twisted characters to comprise compelling novels for their readers.
Scary salary: $57,335

Mortician
Why it’s spooky: Morticians (also known as undertakers or funeral directors) oversee all funeral arrangements for the deceased, including details of body preparation for viewing and preparing the body itself.
Scary salary: $57,247

Witch doctor
Why it’s spooky: Witch doctors are healers through magic and witchcraft. They believe illnesses and injuries are caused by magic and witchcraft and so they are best treated that way.
Scary salary: N/A

Embalmer
Why it’s spooky: Embalmers prepare corpses for burial or cremation by washing, drying and disinfecting the body; releasing excess air from the lungs; draining blood from the circulatory system and replacing it with embalming fluid and applying cosmetics to create a more lifelike appearance.
Scary salary: $46,564

Crime scene cleanup
Why it’s spooky: Crime scene cleaning crews sanitize and clean the aftermaths of crimes on all levels, from murders to domestic violence.
Scary salary: N/A

Grave digger/Cemetery worker
Why it’s spooky: Grave diggers work in cemeteries digging graves before funerals, often times working late into the night or early morning hours. Cemetery workers assist in the upkeep of grave and memorial sites.
Scary salary: $37,505 for grave diggers

Obituary writer
Why it’s spooky: Obituary writers are responsible for writing summaries of the lives of the deceased for such publications as newspapers, magazines and Web sites.
Scary salary: $41,516 for newspaper writers

Crematorium technician
Why it’s spooky: These technicians incinerate corpses and collect the ashes to give to family and loved ones.
Scary salary: $70,294 for managers

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Instead, I’ve opted for a fun little quiz that I found in the Chicago Red Eye earlier this week. As a side bar to an interesting story about internships, there are eight celebrities and the dirty work they did before they made it big.

Can you match the star with the internship? Take the following quiz, as seen in the RedEye:

A. Ryan Adams                   1. Helping with Vogue photo shoots

B. Sean Avery                     2. Intern at the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland

C. Lauren Conrad              3. Mail sorter (for a day) at BlackBook Magazine

D. Bill Gates                        4. Working for celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz

E. Tom Hanks                     5. Page in the U.S. House of Representatives

F. John Krasinski              6. Working with wild cats at the San Diego Zoo

G. Mary-Kate Olsen          7. Running errands on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”

H. Brooke Shields             8. Organizing runway shows for Teen Vogue

How did you score?
Scene-stealer: 6-8
You’re the intern supreme, the go-to guy/gal. The team looks to you because you’re smart, confident and contribute often.

Copy-maker: 3-5
You’re not quite ready to be trusted with the big tasks but you can be relied on for faxing, filing, mailing and typing.

Coffee-maker: 0-2
You don’t have the chops, kid. Diddy called — he needs that cheesecake, stat.

Answer key: B-1, E-2, A-3, G-4, D-5, H-6, F-7, C-8

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I read this article in the Dallas Morning News the other day that gave a little information on the stadium’s construction and was a bit shocked. At its peak, the stadium involved 1,800 construction workers. 1,800! That’s enough men and women to fill some concert halls. Or small towns.

So as I browsed through more factoids, I got to thinking about how many jobs are involved in building the stadium and ensuring it runs smoothly. There are 100 permanent concession stands, 1,733 toilets and urinals, four first aid locations, and scattered EMTs throughout the premises–just to name a few of the amenities requiring workers.

And I know, I know. Plenty of people hate the Cowboys and/ or the stadium. But these workers are at your favorite football stadium, ballpark and arena, making sure your experience is pleasant. So keep that in mind the next time you’re finding your seats on game day.

So here are some jobs necessary to make this or any stadium a pleasant place to be.

Who: Construction workers
What do they do: They built the darn thing
How much do they earn: $31,781

Who: Ticket takers
What do they do: Take your ticket.
How much do they earn: $18,692

Who: Merchandise vendors
What do they do: Sell you programs, t-shirts, big foam fingers.
How much do they earn: $19,876

Who: Concession vendors
What do they do: Sell you beer, hot dogs, beer, burgers, beer, nachos, beer.
How much do they earn: $50,968

Who: Emergency medical technicians (EMTs)
What do they do: Use their defibrillators to revive you after you scarf down all that greasy food.
How much do they earn: $29,892

Who: Ushers
What do they do: Show you to your seat because your arms are too full of concessions to look down at the row and seat numbers.
How much do they earn: $18,007

Who: Maintenance staff
What do they do: Keep the bathrooms clean, the seats free of gum, and make sure all the spilled beer is wiped up before the next game; change lights, handle seating changes for different events.
How much do they earn: $22,714

Who: The rowdy fan covered in body paint  sitting next to you
What do they do: Invade your personal space with their flailing arms, spilling beer, and absurdly loud air horn.
How much do they earn: They’re priceless.

*Salary figures based on data from CBsalary.com, powered by SalaryExpert.com

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Then I read that The New York Times created a new position: social media editor. Among the media, this news has brought much ballyhoo, as no one’s certain what she’ll do. The idea seems to be keeping the message going out through social platforms consistent–a job that public relations experts used to do before social media exploded and made it a multi-person job.

All that got me thinking about jobs that we either don’t know about or jobs that didn’t exist until a few years (or, in the case of social media editors, hours) ago. These jobs exist. You  might not see 200 open positions at a time, but they’re out there. And very often, even if the specific position isn’t available, something related is, and working your way up is always a good way to start a career.

Brewmaster – Someone’s got to make all that beer that the world drinks. Brewmasters have that process down to a science. When you open your next bottle of your favorite beer, remember that someone had to mix the perfect ingredients together so you’d enjoy that refreshing taste hitting your tongue.

Food scientist – Do you like food? Do you ever close your eyes and silently weep when you taste a spoonful of heavenly ice cream? Well, someone had to concoct the flavors. If we’re talking about you mom’s homemade ice cream, that was done by her own two hands. But if you eat anything packaged, it had to be designed by food scientists. They know what ingredients, processes, and conditions make a food taste right and last for an appropriate amount of time.

Sommelier – Sommeliers know more about wine than you knew was possible. These experts are trained to know which wines go with what foods, not to mention relevant information about the vineyards that produce each bottle. If you’ve ever looked at a wine list and thought, “Uh…that one sounds like it goes with a cheese pizza,” you need the help of a sommellier. Their job is to improve your dining experience.

Athletic trainer – I realize there are two jobs involving alcohol and one involving food, so a little physical activity couldn’t hurt anyone. Athletic trainers are on the sidelines of any sports team. They ensure that athletes are properly trained for games and they treat any injuries that occur. I’ve seen enough people fall down on the ellipticals at the gyms, so I can only imagine the necessity for top care on a sports team.

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But just because you didn’t make it in the professional athlete arena doesn’t mean you’re destined to life in corporate America. In fact, there are plenty of sports careers not involving physical participation that might be better suited to your interests.

To help you figure out what your sports calling might be, CareerPath.com, a subsidiary of CareerBuilder.com, has created the Sports Career Snapshot, powered by SSI Inc.

How it works
Users respond to 24 pairs of statements, choosing the statement in each pair that’s most appealing to them. In one question, for example, you choose whether you would rather be a landscape architect or a marketing communications specialist. In another, you decide if you work better with plans in place or if you like to figure things out as you go.

After you take the quiz, your interests and behaviors are matched to a color, which leads to a snapshot of what sports profession is best suited to you. From there, you can go on to take a more general career evaluation to determine what careers outside of sports are a good match for your personality.

As always, I had to find out for myself exactly how this all worked — and I was secretly dying to know if I made the right decision when I hung up my softball cleats for a pencil and paper so many years ago.

What’s your calling?
Here are the possible results of the quiz and what careers would be a good fit in the sports industry:

If your results are: red
You enjoy active participation in sports and enjoy the immediate satisfaction of a concrete aspect of the game — a great play, terrific shot or fast pace thrills you. You’re most likely to participate in outdoor sports, regardless of conditions, and tend to like sports that require strength and endurance.
Suggested sports careers: If you like tangible results, you would enjoy the manufacturing or designing of equipment; you might also pursue a position as the general manager of operations for a stadium or sports facility.

If your results are: blue
You take pleasure in many of the more intangible and abstract characteristic of sports; you are drawn to the aesthetics, creative possibilities and strategic thinking in the game. You lean to sports that require finesse or artistry — or you find the artistry in the particular sport where others may not. You’re likely to have as strong an opinion about the event as the look of the team’s uniform or the architecture of the stadium.
Suggested sports careers: Use your creative juices to pursue careers or hobbies that involve sports journalism or photography; you might also consider blogging about your favorite teams or athletes.

If your results are: green
You like interacting with people when participating in sports. As a result, you are drawn to team sports that allow for healthy socialization.
Suggested sports careers: You’ll likely find success in a career that involves relationships. Try coaching, giving lessons in your chosen sport, selling season tickets, fundraising or maybe taking a stab at being the team mascot.

If your results are: yellow
You are drawn to the quantifiable outcomes in sports. You tend to gauge everything on the playing field by how it holds up to dependable benchmarks, like batting .300, rushing for 100 yards or shooting par on the golf course. You enjoy and understand sports by finding a way to track performance.
Suggested sports careers: Try your hand as a statistician, official scorer or timer for events. You’d also make a great referee or official, maintaining rules and fairness in competition.

These are only some of the results you’ll get from the Sports Career Snapshot. For your own free career evaluation, please visit:

http://careerpath.com/career-tests/sportscareersnapshot.aspx.

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Actual reasons for coming in late vary from worker to worker, but traffic was the main culprit with one-third (33 percent) of workers claiming it caused their tardiness. Nearly a quarter (24 percent) said lack of sleep, while 10 percent said getting their kids ready for school or day care was the main reason. Other common reasons included public transportation, wardrobe issues or dealing with pets.

“While some employers tend to be more lenient with worker punctuality, 30 percent say they have terminated an employee for being late,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources for CareerBuilder.com. “Workers need to understand their company’s policies on tardiness and if they are late, make sure they openly communicate with their managers. Employers have heard every excuse in the book, so honesty is the best policy.”

Hiring managers provided the following examples of the most outrageous excuses employees offered for arriving late to work:

• My heat was shut off so I had to stay home to keep my snake warm.
• My husband thinks it’s funny to hide my car keys before he goes to work.
• I walked into a spider web on the way out the door and couldn’t find the spider, so I had to go inside and shower again.
• I got locked in my trunk by my son.
• My left turn signal was out so I had to make all right turns to get to work.
• A gurney fell out of an ambulance and delayed traffic.
• I was attacked by a raccoon and had to stop by the hospital to make sure it wasn’t rabid.
• I feel like I’m in everyone’s way if I show up on time.
• My father didn’t wake me up.
• A groundhog bit my bike tire and made it flat.
• My driveway washed away in the rain last night.
• I had to go to bingo.

What’s the craziest excuse you’ve ever given for being late to work?

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When Christopher Grima, 25, heard about the position, he decided to jump at the opportunity — by jumping off the South Causeway Bridge in Fort Pierce, Fla.

“You had to send in a 60-second video clip about yourself and why you’re the best person for (the) job,” he says. “I figured since there’s thousands of applicants than what better way to start off than jumping off a bridge.”

Not the best logic I’ve ever heard, but you have to give the guy props for trying.

Grima’s extreme tactic was shortlived and unsuccessful, however, when police saw him swimming towards shore. They weren’t amused when Grima explained that he was simply applying for a job that involved living in a beach home for six months, snorkeling, watching whales and blogging about the experience.

“People have done it before and died doing it,” Fort Pierce police Sgt. Dan Flaherty said. “A few years ago there was a teenager that jumped off the bridge and died.”

Grima was not hurt in the jump, but he was charged with breach of peace and disorderly conduct and may be asked to pay for all the resources used as a result of his stunt.

Click here to read the full story.

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Interestingly enough, when I got to work, I had an e-mail from a co-worker waiting for me. Inside, was a link to the most amazing job description I’ve ever read:

“Position: Island caretaker. Duties: Lazing around Australia’s Great Barrier Reef for six months. Salary: 150,000 Australian dollars ($100,000).”

This is not a joke.

Australia’s tourism department is seeking one lucky person to “stroll the island’s white sand beaches, snorkel, maybe take a dip in the pool — and post photos and videos of his or her experiences on a weekly blog,” while  residing on Hamilton Island, which is part of the Whitsunday Islands, for six months. (Hello, I could do that.) In addition to the lucrative six-figure salary, the position includes free lodging in an oceanside villa and airfare from wherever you currently live.

Applications are open until Feb. 22 and 11 finalists will be flown to Hamilton Island in May for the final selection process. The job begins on July 1.

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Here’s some jobs that are fun and financially fulfilling……

1. Food Stylist
Working with advertising firms and photographers, these artists can make anywhere from $150 a day for junior stylists, to $850 a day for experienced artists. No specific educational or industry requirements are necessary, just the creative ability to make food look attractive and delicious. 

2. Makeup Artist
If you’ve always had a gift for glam and were born with cosmetic karma, you may want to consider this artistic avenue. Working with modeling agencies and photographers, make up artists can earn anywhere from $400 to $600 a day and much more if you make it big on the international scene. This could be a good freelance and networking opportunity for a photographer or actor. 

3. Sommelier
Do you wow your friends at dinner parties with your knowledge of grape varieties and the subtle nuances of different vintages? Then you can put those talents to work as a sommelier. Sommeliers are experts at matching wine with food to enhance the food’s flavor. Earning certification is the only requirement to becoming a sommelier, where salaries average at $28K for limited experience, and $80K-160K if you continue your certification to earn the designation of Master Sommelier. 

4. Park Naturalist
Did your family trip to Yellowstone leave you yearning for the great outdoors? Consider developing and conducting programs that inform the public of historical, natural and scientific features of national, state, or local parks as a park naturalist. You’ll need a bachelor’s degree and two to four years of experience in the field or in a related area, but you could earn between $45,000 and $56,000 a year.

5. Greeting Card Writer
If you’re toiling away in the public relations department of your company, you can put those composition skills to work as a greeting card writer. These professionals average $60 a card, but as much as $100 to $150 per card for experienced writers in large card companies. This could make a great freelance opportunity for a writer who wants to show her creative side.

6. Clown
Looking for a weekend outlet to relieve the stresses of the workweek? Consider clowning around for children’s parties, corporate events, local fun fairs or children’s hospitals. Your knack for silliness can earn you anywhere from $40 to $150 an hour for private shows.

7. Flavorist
Have a chemistry background, but not impressed with the pharmaceutical, environmental or energy industries’ offerings of chemical research positions? Maybe you should look to the food industry. Flavorists, or flavor chemists, blend chemicals to create tastes and smells for various foods and can earn $55,000 and up annually.

8. Pilot
If you’d like to parlay your flying hobby into a career, there are plenty of options to help your dream take wing. Think agricultural, corporate, charter or ferry pilot. These jobs require a four-year college degree, a pilot’s license and some special training. Salaries for pilots vary with the size of the aircraft, but generally start at $20K and go upwards of $100,000 a year, depending on the organization you fly for and the number of hours you put in.

9. Yacht Captain
Are you a boating enthusiast? Turn your love of the high seas into a lucrative career. Captains of 60- to 100-foot vessels can earn between $45K and $85K. Living large pays, with captains of 100- to 200-foot yachts cruising at around $62,500 to $130,500 a year.

10. Videographer
Like looking behind the lens of a camera? A videographer maintains and operates video equipment, edits video footage, and stays current with new technology. You could work for a video production firm, agency or a corporation and make as much as $47,000 to $62,000 annually.

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