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Kathryn (Kate) Davison
Saint Clairsville High School
Saint Clairsville, Ohio
Hot Jobs in the Coming Years
According to Next Step Magazine, up and coming jobs are, not surprisingly, in healthcare: pharmacists, dentists, medical scientists, optometrists, physician assistants, and home health aides, to name a few. When choosing a career in healthcare, consider how attainable it is. How long will it take to complete the program? Also consider the pay, status, and quality of life the profession has to offer. Some jobs require long hours, weekends, and holidays while other positions have more regular hours.
Another profession expecting growth is the field of audiology. Audiologists will be dealing with the hearing problems of the aging baby boomer population. (All of those decades of blasting rock music are taking their toll).
STEM careers (science, technology, engineering, math): All fields involving engineering, science, and computers are high on the list of best jobs for the future. Some developing fields in the future include such exciting new areas as robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and gene therapy.
Do you love books? Surprisingly, librarian is one of the professions predicted to grow quickly in the next few years. "Librarians will be needed more and more to help us navigate all that digital information," says Marty Nemko, of U.S. News and World Report.
For those seeking professions in non-profit organizations and government agencies, consider: school psychologists, urban planners, and higher education administrators and professors, which should be plentiful.
For work that involves human interaction, consider occupational therapy, speech/language therapy, school counselor, or physical therapy.
Some other hot fields include: actuary, architect, editor, fund raiser, landscape architect, management consultant, politician, registered nurse, and systems analyst.
Understand that some careers improve with specialization. A chef, for example, typically involves late hours and weekends. Why not consider becoming a personal chef for busy or wealthy families? A career in law often includes long evenings working on lengthy documents. An alternative would be to work in arbitration or with adoption agencies where work hours are more predictable.
A jobs total compensation package can be important too. It's not just about the salary being paid for the work. Today it's about healthcare benefits, paid vacation, retirement plans, stock options, and other perks often available to educated and specially-trained individuals.
Keeping options open, even if the career decision seems obvious, can work to one's advantage. Continue to research the profession's job responsibilities. To avoid disappointment, think ahead, and try to anticipate where the voids will be in the career market.
| Editor's Note: In college, be sure to take advantage of the career counseling services provided by your university. Most colleges have terrific resources available. |