Need a new career? This week's top offbeat job openings

The economy is changing. Workers today are learning to reinvent their skills to match the needs of tomorrow — and switching careers can mean upping pay grades and increasing job security.

To encourage all job-searchers to think outside their professional boxes, Monitor staffers each week comb the job listings in search of interesting places to work. The most intriguing jobs we found this week are in Bellevue, Wash.; Washington, D.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Binghamton, N.Y.; Lexington, Ky.; Sioux City, Iowa; Park City, Utah; Montrose, Pa.; Somerville, N.J.; and Verona, Va.

1. Seed research technician
Employer: Weyerhaeuser
Wages/salary: Not listed
Details: Work with a team to improve design of manufactured seeds used to better sustain yields of commercial forest lands. Job involves work in nurseries and sterile environments. (For more information click here.)
Location: Bellevue, Wash. (pop. 117,521; median family income $92,272) considers itself a “city in a park,” because its gleaming downtown high-rises are surrounded by woodsy neighborhoods and extensive green spaces just east of Seattle, between Lakes Washington and Sammamish.

2. Ballpark photographer
Employer: FanFoto
Wages/salary: Not listed (hourly plus commissions)
Details: Take photos of fans at Washington Nationals baseball games. (For more information click here.)
Location: Washington, D.C. (pop. 585,267; median family income $60,970) is famous for its many walk-up attractions, but people also flock to its three most popular ticketed attractions: the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Washington Monument, and the International Spy Museum.

3. Interactive creative director/marketing
Employer: Hallmark Cards
Wages/salary: Not listed
Details: Lead a team of interactive art directors and designers in providing creative and strategic development for all Hallmark digital initiatives, including Hallmark.com. (For more information click here.)
Location: Kansas City, Mo. (pop. 436,562; median family income $52,726) has more barbecue restaurants per capita than any other US city.

4. Nanofabrication facility director
Employer: Binghamton University
Wages/salary: Not listed
Details: Administer the daily operations of a newly constructed $2 million “clean room,” used in nanofabrication, which entails the design and manufacture of devices with dimensions measured in the millionths of a millimeter. (For more information click here.)
Location: Binghamton, N.Y. (pop. 43,059; median family income $35,446) calls itself the “Carousel Capital of the World,” a reputation established by a local shoe tycoon who donated six carousels to area parks. Children ride them from Memorial Day to Labor Day at no charge.

5. Arch expert
Employer: ULTA
Wages/salary: Not listed
Details: Demonstrate and sell products by performing brow and facial waxing services. (For more information click here.)
Location: Lexington, Ky. (pop. 275,726, including Fayette; median family income $64,341) is not only the home of the University of Kentucky, but its population ranks 10th among the most college-educated in the country, with nearly 40 percent of residents having at least a bachelor’s degree.

6. Underground utility locater
Employer: ELM
Wages/salary: $12 to $18 an hour
Details: Use maps to locate underground utilities and work with utility mangers, crews, homeowners, and contractors in discussing utility location issues. Must walk up to five miles a day at least twice a week. (For more information click here.)
Location: Sioux City, Iowa (pop. 82,385; median family income $52,391) is the business hub of a tri-state area where Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota meet.

7. Pet stylist
Employer: Petco
Wages/salary: Not listed
Details: Perform basic grooming services, including brushing, bathing, and conditioning of animals. Follow owner’s instructions on breed standards when clipping, stripping, or trimming an animal’s coat. (For more information click here.)
Location: Park City, Utah (pop. 7,371; median family income $77,137) has gone from being a silver mining capital in the 1800s to a popular skiing destination that claims it has the “greatest snow on earth.” It was the site of Alpine skiing events during the 2002 Winter Olympics.

8. Driller
Employer: General BS Quarries, Inc.
Wages/salary: Not listed
Details: Drive truck-mounted drilling machines to bore large blast-holes to specified depths in open-pit quarry. (For more information click here.)
Location: Montrose, Pa. (pop. 1,547; median family income $46,607) is in Susquehanna county, where Joseph Smith, founder on the Church of Latter-Day Saints translated the Book of Mormon from a homestead.

9. Flavor/fragrance production assistant
Employer: Elite Personnel, Inc.
Wages/salary: $16 to $18 and hour
Details: Assist in the large-scale formulation of some of the world’s leading fragrances. (For more information click here.)
Location: Somerville, N.J. (pop. 12,682; median family income $60,422) is a center for medical, government, and business facilities in its area, which means its population nearly doubles during the day.

10. Salvage coordinator
Employer: Adams & Garth Staffing
Wages/salary: $9 per hour
Details: Supervise the day-to-day operations of the Salvage department for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank network; assist in disposal of product not fit to be salvaged. (For more information click here.)
Location: Verona, Va. (pop. 3,638; median family income $36,263) is in the Shenandoah Valley, where Cyrus McCormick in 1831 invented the first reaper.

For last week's offbeat listings click here.