11 Odd Jobs that Pay the Most without a Degree

This will not be a simple list of odd jobs that pay the most without a degree. If you open your mind you will be able to change career, life or even become rich thanks to this list.

Most of the people are so strongly focused on their careers and their traditional jobs that do not know for jobs not defined by the labor market. Those jobs seem weird at first, but they bring a lot of money and do not demand special degrees or licenses.

When the global crisis started in 2008, no one knew how long it will last and what will happen with people in big companies, with, at that moment, stable jobs. Many people lost their stable jobs. If they could not find a new job, they stayed on old one instead, working less than before, which caused lower salary. Big problem had appeared for young people and college graduates, too, who were faced with a lack of jobs which they are educated for.

Some people learned that there are many high paying jobs for which are needed only high school diploma thus many jobs do not require a degree or experience. Those include even jobs with the government and some paralegal assistant jobs. There are jobs that sound weird and odd at first, but they are still interesting, easy to work and even a fun. Furthermore, they can bring a lot of money!

In those strange times, a woman writer from Vermont, Abigail R. Gehring, has bravely faced with the job market and collected odd and unusual jobs in a book. That book: “Odd Jobs: How to Have Fun and Make Money in a Bad Economy” has been very popular, mostly because of the jobs she recommended and which many people never knew before.  Did you know that making animal balloons can be very profitable?! With only a few working days in a week, you can live comfortably with that monthly income. I am sure that after you read the book and learn about those interesting and well-paid jobs, you will decide to change job or even life, as many people have.

During our researching, we also discovered many intriguing jobs.  Many of them don’t have fixed salary, making our ranking very difficult. If you take a look at our previous list of 16 Weird Jobs that Pay Well, you will see that weird jobs are usually paid by the hour. But now it is even harder to make a ranking. How to put on our list bounty hunter, a person who chases fugitives from law even though he earns 10-40% per bail amount? Prison bails can be very high, so their earning can go over than $10,000 in a single case, but only if they really catch the fugitive and bring him home.

To avoid all confusions, we took those jobs which have more or less clearly indicated earnings for our list of odd jobs that pay the most without a degree. Many of them are used from sites which are connected to economic questions, earnings, part-time jobs, and salaries presuming their experience and knowledge about these questions, like Salary, LifeHack, Forbs and HuffingtonPost. They quoted some jobs from the book mentioned above, too.

We used the salaries reported there. However, if earnings were expressed per hour, we calculated them on an annual basis, taking in mind that common working day lasts 8 hours and every job is worked at least 25 days per month. Then we ranked jobs, as much we could, according to those annual salaries we’ve calculated. We are sure that you will be amazed, as we were, by our list of the odd jobs that pay the most without a degree.

11. Human statue

Annual salary – $60,000

If you have visited one of the popular touristic places, you surely saw the human statues. Those are people who, wearing themed clothing, act a person from particular age in history. Their job is to stay still, almost as a real statue, and not move even when a curious tourists pinch their face. Sometimes they make fun situations with people who did not know that they are alive, surprising them with a laugh or moving the finger. Otherwise, they must not change position or move in any circumstances.

10. Lipstick reader

Annual salary – $62,000

We are tired of the horoscope, natal or tarot cards, so now we need somebody who will literally read our lips. The person who performs this job reads from paper or a napkin previously kissed by a woman with lipstick. The science behind this job says that every person has a unique touch of lips on paper, and thanks to that we can learn about that person if it is read properly.

9. Food scientist (ice cream taster)

Annual salary – $66,031

I bet that your first thought was how mouthwatering job this is! Imagine a job where somebody pays you to try a sample of ice cream, and then write your impressions and ideas how to improve the taste. Even though that sounds great, the job we are describing here is not that easy and delicious. The food scientist, that’s at number 9 on our list of odd jobs that pay the most without a degree, has to recognize every component of ice cream, their characteristics and how they match together, estimate the correct amount and how it effects the taste of ice cream. When all of these steps are done, they have to try literally every version of ice cream while the tongue turns red.

8. Funeral service manager

Annual salary – $79,930

We are mortal and all of us need to be buried in some moment. Families are usually sad and not prepared for those moments, so there should be a person who is professional, knows all it is needed at that moment and keeps an eye on everything, from the coffin to the right music. They can also be included in food catering, transport, and whole funeral organization. All of this they must perform quietly and calmly, which is the reason why this job can do only a serious person. Keep in mind that this job implies daily looking at dead bodies and filling condolences.

7. Voice recording

Annual salary – $80,000

Have you ever thought that you could be the person who talks in commercial, or announces TV program? If you have, then this job, that ranks 7th on the list of odd jobs that pay the most without a degree could be interesting for you, mostly because that person earns a lot of money, only for reading the previously written text. They can also participate in cartoons, movies, or TV shows, speaking behind the scene. Those who show a talent for this job could have the great future in the movie industry, where they can get a job like acting in movies or cartoons as a real character. But, at the start, they must have a perfect voice, great diction and read slow but not too much, without unnatural pauses.

6. Oil and gas diver

Annual salary – $82,000

We are continuing our list of odd jobs that pay the most without a degree with the job that implies working on oil platform. That has always been treated as one of the extremely dangerous jobs. However, it is well paid, too, so we put it on the list of the odd jobs that pay the most without a degree. This job actually contains many different variations, according to knowledge and experience person has. The highest paid positions, on the other hand, mean daily facing with dangerous situations.

5. Focus group participant

Annual salary – $96,000

Basically, they are involved in market testing, interviewing, and many other types of market research. They sometimes have a task to watch a new TV show pilot and express their opinion, while other time they fill the form with questions or vote by show of hand for the best marketing solution. A person who works this job that is next on the list of odd jobs that pay the most without a degree can be included in focus groups for different brands or stay in a particular field. Nobody actually knows how much those people earn because their earning depends on many circumstances. They are usually paid per hour or per job, so it is hard to calculate annual salary. For this list, we took an average number of hours and days per month and calculated it.

4. Body part model

Annual salary – $6,000-100,000

People usually know for the skinny models on runways, who wear awkward clothes and weird hair styles. However, many people do not know much about body part models, who also show wardrobe, accessories or makeup on their bodies. Some agencies claim that hand models earn even $2,000 daily, but only highly professional and perfect ones. Some hand models play as doublers for the famous movie stars in scenes with hands in close-up.

3. Mysterious shopper (and a personal shopper)

Annual salary – $25,000-100,000

Large store owners cannot spy their employees every day. They will always be polite and nice when their boss is around; even they turn out in frowning and the nervous salesman who drives out people from the store when he is gone. The mysterious shopper buys in the store, acting an annoying and bore person, to show how saleswoman behaves in those occasions. A personal shopper buys for a person who is not capable of buying alone (clothes for those who don’t know fashion or grocery for disabled people). Now, let’s see the top two entries on our list of odd jobs that pay the most without a degree.

2. Hot dog vendor

Annual salary – $30,000-100,000

Have you ever imagined that person who sells hot dogs on the street could earn so much money? They are not just sellers; they make hot dogs and many other things besides that. Keep in mind that they are on the street during cold and snowing mornings. On the other hand, they can be there only in days and months when selling outdoors is possible, struggling with tiredness and pain in legs and defending of potential robbers.

1. Submarine cook

Annual salary – $200,000

Yes, soldiers in submarine have to eat and there are especially skilled people who cook for them. That includes training for living and spending a long time in a submarine. They also must know everything about food and ingredients good for soldiers. When we take in mind many months they spend under the sea, this salary is really deserved. High annual amount submarine cook earns actually puts this job in the first place of odd jobs that pay the most without a degree.