Incorrect syntax near '('. Expecting ID

Question

I've looked through several other questions of this type and have not found one that will help me resolve this issue. What I'm trying to do is this: I want to create a table for all employees for the purpose of assigning an EmployeeID that will be used across several other tables. That table and the others work fine. My issue arises when I try to create a new table based off the EmployeeType so I can bring up information based solely on employees of a specific type. On the SELECT statement for all three of the tables I get this error:

Incorrect syntax near '('. Expecting ID.

I've googled and googled for how to resolve it, but nothing I've tried is working. What am I missing?

CREATE TABLE Employees
(
    EmployeeID      int             NOT NULL    PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY,
    EmpFirstName    char(50)        NOT NULL,
    EmpLastName     char(50)        NOT NULL,
    EmpAddress      varchar(50)     NOT NULL,
    EmpCity         char(50)        NOT NULL,
    EmpState        char(2)         NOT NULL,
    EmpZipCode      varchar(10)     NOT NULL,
    EmpPhone        varchar(12)     NOT NULL,
    EmpJobTitle     char(30)        NOT NULL,
    EmployeeType    char(30)        NOT NULL,
    Salary          money           NOT NULL,
    HoursPerWeek    int             NOT NULL,
);

CREATE TABLE Collective AS
    (SELECT
        *
    FROM    
        [dbo].[Employees]
    WHERE
        EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID
        AND EmployeeType = 'Collective');

CREATE TABLE PaidStaff AS
    (SELECT
        EmployeeID AS ReviewerID,
        EmpFirstName,
        EmpLastName,
        EmpAddress,
        EmpCity,
        EmpState,
        EmpZipCode,
        EmpPhone,
        EmpJobTitle
        Salary,
        HoursPerWeek
    FROM    
        Employees
    WHERE
        EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID
        AND EmployeeType = 'PaidStaff');

CREATE TABLE Volunteers AS
    (SELECT
        EmployeeID AS ReviewerID,
        EmpFirstName,
        EmpLastName,
        EmpAddress,
        EmpCity,
        EmpState,
        EmpZipCode,
        EmpPhone,
        EmpJobTitle
    FROM    
        Employees
    WHERE
        EmployeeType = 'Volunteer');

Answer 1

SQL Server doesn't have a CREATE TABLE .... AS (SELECT ... feature. That just isn't valid T-SQL syntax - therefore the error.

If you want to create a new table (which doesn't exist yet!) from a SELECT, you need to use this syntax instead:

SELECT
    EmployeeID AS ReviewerID,
    EmpFirstName,
    EmpLastName,
    EmpAddress,
    EmpCity,
    EmpState,
    EmpZipCode,
    EmpPhone,
    EmpJobTitle
INTO 
    dbo.Volunteers    
FROM    
    dbo.Employees
WHERE
    EmployeeType = 'Volunteer';

This only works if that new table - dbo.Volunteers - does not exist yet.

If you need to insert rows into an existing table, then you need to use this syntax:

INSERT INTO dbo.Volunteers (list-of-columns)
    SELECT (list-of-columns)
    FROM dbo.Employees
    WHERE EmployeeType = 'Volunteer';

Answer 2

I would say you should be using views for that instead of creating extra tables.

CREATE TABLE Employees
(
    EmployeeID      int             NOT NULL    PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY,
    EmpFirstName    char(50)        NOT NULL,
    EmpLastName     char(50)        NOT NULL,
    EmpAddress      varchar(50)     NOT NULL,
    EmpCity         char(50)        NOT NULL,
    EmpState        char(2)         NOT NULL,
    EmpZipCode      varchar(10)     NOT NULL,
    EmpPhone        varchar(12)     NOT NULL,
    EmpJobTitle     char(30)        NOT NULL,
    EmployeeType    char(30)        NOT NULL,
    Salary          money           NOT NULL,
    HoursPerWeek    int             NOT NULL
);
go
CREATE view Collective AS
    (SELECT
        *
    FROM    
        [dbo].[Employees]
    WHERE
        --EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID AND /* this does not do anything */
        EmployeeType = 'Collective');
go
CREATE view PaidStaff AS
    (SELECT
        EmployeeID AS ReviewerID,
        EmpFirstName,
        EmpLastName,
        EmpAddress,
        EmpCity,
        EmpState,
        EmpZipCode,
        EmpPhone,
        EmpJobTitle
        Salary,
        HoursPerWeek
    FROM    
        Employees
    WHERE
        --EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID AND /* this does not do anything */
        EmployeeType = 'PaidStaff');
go
CREATE view Volunteers AS
    (SELECT
        EmployeeID AS ReviewerID,
        EmpFirstName,
        EmpLastName,
        EmpAddress,
        EmpCity,
        EmpState,
        EmpZipCode,
        EmpPhone,
        EmpJobTitle
    FROM    
        Employees
    WHERE
        EmployeeType = 'Volunteer');