Many websites will try
to tell you which careers offer the best prospects for the future. Their
choices are usually based on percentage growth statistics for recent years,
which are a clear indicator of where the numbers of jobs are increasing.
However, this does not
reflect other concerns such as which careers pay best, which jobs are easiest
to obtain, which need the longest periods of undergraduate and postgraduate
study, and so on. Despite this, some general trends hold true on a general
level.
Future career trends
It is no surprise that
one of the fastest growing areas of employment in recent years relates to computer
technology. Technological advance and the continued integration of IT and
digital communications into the workplace throughout the private, public and
voluntary sectors ensures that this trend will continue for some time. Systems
analysts, designers and developers, computer programmers, web developers,
consultants and information managers reflect the range of these career areas.
Hardware engineers are also needed, working in infrastructure construction and
repair, fibre, cable, satellites, etc.
Another guaranteed
growth area is the healthcare sector. The increasing number of healthcare
jobs is directly attributable to the growing age of the population – people are
living longer so there are more people in the older age groups – and the
expansion of treatments available for medical conditions, whether delivered in
the primary healthcare sector or within hospitals. Consequently, there is also
an expansion in the number of administrative and support roles needing to be
filled.
Other careers deemed to
be ‘hot’ future career prospects relate to areas of scientific advance, and in
particular the “bio” sciences, such as biotechnology. Tissue engineers and
gene programmers have been highlighted, but all skill levels are included – as
companies grow, so does their administration infrastructure. Other new
scientific areas include nanotechnology and energy technology.
Demographic changes are
leading to other needs in addition to healthcare. Teaching and tourism,training
and development, and care of the elderly are all areas where openings
are set to increase, as are financial advisors.
Services that already
exist will grow further as the population ages. Standard professions include
thelegal sector, police, teachers, tutors, etc. Meanwhile, there
is a general return amongst certain income sectors of paying for domestic
support with the services of maids and cleaners, drivers, etc. This is
increasingly common as the higher divorce levels yield more one-parent
families.
New services are
developing that are opening out into recognized career fields. Many of these
are provided directly to the consumer. Counselling and various complementary
therapies are obvious examples, as well as physical training
instructors and coaches.
Graduates: What is the best career for the
future?
Unsurprisingly, growing
numbers of openings for graduates exist in the areas identified above. IT
careers include network systems and data communications analysts, software
engineers, network and computer systems administrators, and database
administrators.
Healthcare careers include
physician assistants, physical therapists and dental hygienists. Additionally,
the relatively new area of forensic science technician is also a ‘hot’
prospect. With additional vocational qualifications, graduates could consider
entering the healthcare sector as a registered nurse, nursing aide or orderly,
or a licensed practical or vocational nurse.
Preschool teaching is
also a healthy employment area, as is hairdressing and cosmetology. Paralegaland
legal assistant openings are also set to grow in number.
Graduate openings that
currently offer most new jobs (as opposed to future career trends) are:
- Accountants and auditors.
- Applications software
engineers.
- Computer systems analysts.
- Secondary school teachers.
- Systems engineers.
- Systems analysts.
- Network administrators.
- Employment and recruitment
specialists.
Declining Careers
Unsurprisingly, the
technological revolution has led to a downturn in a number of work areas.
Declining careers include traditional printing jobs, such as typesetting, which
have been largely replaced by electronic processes. Likewise, many secretarial
posts have been lost to more general personal assistant or administrator roles.
Work relating to fax machines, telephone and telex operations has also
declined, as so many communication tasks are now fulfilled via the PC.
The opening up of the
global marketplace has also brought about a decline in certain low-skill
technology jobs that are now based overseas. These declining careers include
programming, customer call centres, technical support and other services that
can be provided by telephone or online workers. The same is occurring with data
entry and straightforward accounting or banking jobs. Much work is going to
countries such as India or Taiwan, where overheads and salaries are far lower.
Your choice of future career
Identification of future
career trends is of some help when you are seeking a career direction. You now
know that it will help you to look for a career that requires a high skill
level but which cannot be done remotely. Therefore, you would be safest
learning a skill or profession that requires your physical presence such as a
nurse, physician, dental hygienist, or hair stylist. Within the IT sector, it
is safe to assume that the majority of more complex jobs will stay onshore.
Ultimately, your choice
of career must depend primarily on an assessment of your own skills, abilities,
personal qualities, interests, availability and geographical location. This is
essential if you want to be successful, no matter how good the prospects are in
that area of employment.
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