Kitchen
3ChefRun a kitchen: the menu, the orders, the crew and the food. You get there by cooking for years, not by graduating.$62kTypical pay4 to 10 yearsTo qualifyVery highDemandCookRun a station in a working kitchen. Hired on attitude, trained on the line, paid from day one.$37kTypical payup to 2 yearsTo qualifyVery highDemandPastry ChefBread, cakes, plated desserts and chocolate. Early mornings, low starting pay, and a craft you can practice anywhere.$37kTypical payup to 4 yearsTo qualifyGoodDemand
Front of house
5BaristaA job you can start at 16 with no training, and a real craft if you decide to take it seriously.$31kTypical payup to 1 yearTo qualifyGoodDemandBartenderFast hands, a good memory, and legal responsibility for everyone you serve.$34kTypical payup to 1 yearTo qualifyGoodDemandRestaurant ManagerRun the floor, the schedule, the money and the people. You can get here with no degree, and most managers started as servers.$69kTypical payup to 4 yearsTo qualifyGoodDemandRestaurant ServerTake orders, run food, get paid in tips the same night. No school, no degree, and you can start as a teenager.$35kTypical payunder 1 yearTo qualifyGoodDemandSommelierYou own the wine list in a restaurant, buy the bottles and sell them at the table. The exams are famously hard and the pay is mostly tips.$35kTypical pay1 to 5 yearsTo qualifyGoodDemand
Hotels and travel
5Hotel Front Desk AgentCheck guests in, fix what goes wrong, run the desk overnight. You can start the week after high school.$35kTypical payup to 1 yearTo qualifyLimitedDemandHotel ManagerRun the building, the staff and the money, and answer for everything that goes wrong in it.$69kTypical pay4 to 8 yearsTo qualifyModerateDemandOutdoor Adventure GuideTake people down rivers and up mountains for a living. Low pay, seasonal work, and an office nobody else gets.$38kTypical payup to 3 yearsTo qualifyGoodDemandTour GuideWalk groups through a city, a park or a museum and make them care about it. Fun work, uneven money.$38kTypical payup to 2 yearsTo qualifyGoodDemandTravel AgentPlan and sell other people's trips. The job the internet was supposed to kill, and did not quite.$50kTypical payup to 2 yearsTo qualifyLimitedDemand
Events
2Casino DealerRun a table game for eight hours. Weeks of training, a state background check, and most of your pay comes from tips.$34kTypical payup to 1 yearTo qualifyModerateDemandEvent PlannerMonths of spreadsheets and contracts, then three days where everything happens at once.$61kTypical pay2 to 4 yearsTo qualifyGoodDemand