CNN Money has a great article today about the Best Jobs in America 2009. Any high school student, college student or adult looking for a career change needs to study this list. One of the best things that you can do for your career is to make sure that you pick a profession that is growing and salaries are increasing.
Nurse Practitioner
You don't necessarily have to pick a job that is on the list, but look at the sectors that are hot. Look at the skill sets that are in demand. Once you understand what the market is demanding, then you can explore other jobs that fit those criteria.
Best Jobs In America 2009
Money rates the top 50 careers with great pay and growth prospects.From the November 2009 issue* Job growth is estimated for 2006-2016 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Health Care Jobs
- Physician Assistant
- Nurse Practitioner
- Physical Therapist
- Anesthesiologist
- Pharmacist
- Occupational Therapist
- Nurse Anesthetist
- General Practitioner Physician
- Obstetrician / Gynecologist Physician
- Clinical Psychologist
It is pretty amazing that 20% of the top 50 jobs in the United States are health care related. If you are interested in health care, you can't go wrong with a job in this field. But, don't just go into a job because it is in demand. Make sure that you want to go into that field, like the types of work that particular job does, and understand the whether the job allows for the quality of life you are looking for.
What do you think about the jobs on the top 50 jobs in the United States list? I would love to hear your thoughts about them.
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Well its plain to see why the standard of living in America is becoming lower. Very few of those jobs actually produce wealth, with most of them being service jobs. A country that produces little wealth of its own is destined to become a 3rd world country.
I don’t know that I would just rate the top jobs in salary range because I think that’s a shortsided view of a career. I make good money but I’m less than excited about my job I’d be closely affiliated with job #30, at this point in my life I’d gladly take a lesser pay for a job I love and I’m passionate about.
Paul,
I definitely agree that salary should not be the sole criteria for a career choice. However, I do think that it is an important criteria.
If you want to make over $100,000 a year and want that lifestyle, you need to pick a career that will pay that much.
However, you absolutely need to make sure that you want to do that type of work. Overall job happiness is most important.
With respect to the list above, the top 50 jobs are ranked based on both salary and growth prospects.
I just realized that for the last 10 years of my working career I had the #1 job on this list as a systems engineer for a warehouse automation company. I would not have thought it would be #1, and it was certainly not safe from outsourcing to India.
Very few jobs are safe from outsourcing. As many of you know, I am an attorney and I am seeing more and more legal jobs being outsourced overseas.
The first legal work I started seeing being outsourced was patent work. Indian engineers are writing patent applications and then having U.S. attorneys file the applications.
The Internet and broadband communication technology have given economic freedom to people around the world. I find this both exciting and scary. My company can outsource my job easier today than any time in history. However, the barriers to entry to starting a business are at an all time low.
What if your job actually falls under multiple categories here. My current job title is at least 2 of these and my chosen career path is a couple more. I wonder if I’m doing too much
I also agree that joy is more important than wealth. If you live miserable, even rich, that’s no way to live in my book.
Healthcare is certainly a good general area to enter into given the number of babyboomers hitting the health care needing age. My advice, however, to anyone who is picking out a next career is to look very hard at Information Technology.
The skills for information technology are needed across all industries, healthcare, hospitality, banking, retail, and so on. So, no matter which industry (or sector) goes strong, you can swing over … the skills are completely portable (domain knowledge isn’t, but IT knowledge is).
Outsourcing has been the big “oh no, look out” chicken little cry ringing out scaring people about entering the IT profession. Don’t let this bother you in the least. The fact is that there are plenty of IT jobs, I know because I always have an open spot for qualified folks. I recall back in the 80s when I was picking my career and I was told, “well, by the time you get out there with your degree, all the programming jobs will be gone since everyone is jumping in.” I’m glad I ignored that great advice (from multiple career/school counselors!)
Yes, I am a bit biased in suggesting IT. I’ve spent 20 years doing IT and the growth simply hasn’t stopped. More IT professionals are needed today than 5 years ago, and that was more than was needed 10 years before that. With every new information technology invention, new jobs are created. There is plenty to go around folks. Jump in, the water is warm!