CNBC Blogs There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere

Ever have one of those days where you're so stressed out that you snap at someone — or you tear your desk apart because you can't find your keys and you know they're there somewhere?!

You're not alone.

More than one in five employees (22 percent) say one of their top resolutions for 2014 is finding a new job, according to a recent survey from job site Glassdoor.com.

The question is — are you ready for the interview? Sure, you expect questions like "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" and "Where do you see yourself in five years?" but you've got to be ready for anything.

If someone asked you, "Why are tennis balls fuzzy?" you can't freeze like a deer in headlights.

Stress—gaaaaaaaah! It's everywhere these days. And nowhere do we get more stressed out than at work.

Forty percent of American workers say their job is very or extremely stressful, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

Stress—gaaaaaaaah! It's everywhere these days. And nowhere do we get more stressed out than at work.

Forty percent of American workers say their job is very or extremely stressful, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Well, job site CareerCast is out with its annual list of the 10 most stressful and 10 least stressful jobs for 2014.

"We look at things like: Is it a job in which your own life is at risk or the lives of others?" said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com and JobsRated.com.

In all, there are 11 different criteria that determine the most and least stressful jobs. But, it's not just dangerous jobs or jobs with great physical demands. Some jobs also make the list because there are constant deadlines, responsibility for others or the job involves a lot of work in the public eye, he said. They also factor in job outlook, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If the outlook is weak, that adds to the stress level.

The good news is that stress levels seem to be on the decline from a year ago.

"That's primarily due to economic conditions. As the country continues to recover, stress levels continue to fall, the hiring outlook improves a little, workload improves a little and overall job stress improves a little," Lee said.

So, did your job make the list? Click ahead for the 10 most stressful jobs for 2014.

By CNBC's Cindy Perman
Posted 7 Jan. 2014

Let's face it, we are a stressed-out nation. Search for the term "stress" and it generates 152 MILLION results. Add a job in front of that and "job stress" generates 286 million results.

Well, if you have had it UPTOHERE with stress, you may want to take a look at this next list.

Job site CareerCast is out with its annual list of the 10 least stressful jobs for 2014. (See also the 10 most stressful jobs.)

So how does a job qualify as "least stressful?"

"They have more control over their day, they're not being as stressed to perform in the public eye, they don't have a lot of physical demands, and nobody's life is at risk," said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com and JobsRated.com.

In all, there are 11 criteria, including job outlook, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While you might think it's an honor to be on the "least stressful" list, every year, without fail, there is backlash from people in these jobs saying, "How dare you! We have stress, too."

True, hairdressers and librarians of the world do have stress, too, but the key here is comparison. Compared to high-stress jobs, such as police officer and firefighter, these jobs rank as less stressful.

"How much time did you spend under deadline or with your life at risk?" Lee said. "It's data driven—not subjective."

To be clear, this is not to say that least stressful jobs don't work hard. That's a common misconception.

"It's not about not working—it's about working under conditions that make a job stressful"—or less stressful, Lee said. "There's no such thing as NO stress."

Without further adieu, here are the 10 least stressful jobs for 2014.

Read more:
The 10 most stressful jobs for 2014

—By Cindy Perman
Posted 7 Jan 2014