Marty Nemko from the U.S. News and World Report offers a brief list of careers that are relatively new, viable, and promise further growth. Click here to read the full article.
Marty Nemko-U.S. News and World Report
From Data Miner to Offshoring Manager, These Jobs Have a Future
Cutting-edge careers are often exciting, and they offer a strong job market. Alas, the cutting edge too often turns out to be the bleeding edge, so U.S. News has identified careers that, while relatively new, are already viable and promise further growth. They emerge from six megatrends:
Growing healthcare demand. The overtaxed U.S. healthcare system will be forced to take on even more patients because of the many aging baby boomers, the influx of immigrants, and the millions of now uninsured Americans who would be covered under a national healthcare plan likely to be enacted in the next president's administration. Jobs should become more available in nearly all specialties, from pre-pregnancy genetic counseling to hospice.
The increasingly digitized world. Americans are doing more of their shopping, reading, and game playing online. The digital enterprise has opened the door to under-the-radar careers like data miner (sifting through high-quality data provided by online customers, for example, so enterprises can individualize their marketing) or simulation developer. The growing ubiquity of broadband connectivity is helping entertainment, education, and training to incorporate simulations of exciting, often dangerous experiences.
Globalization, especially Asia's ascendancy. This should create great demand in emerging careers such as business development specialists, offshoring managers, and immigration specialists of all types, from marketing to education to criminal justice.
The dawn of clinical genomics. Decades of basic research are finally starting to yield clinical implications. Within a decade, we may understand which genes predispose humans to everything from depression to violence, early death to centenarian longevity, retardation to genius. The unsung heroes who will bring this true revolution to pass include computational biologists and behavioral geneticists.
Environmentalism. Alarm about global warming is making environmentalism this generation's dominant initiative. The environmental wave is creating jobs in everything from sales to accounting in companies making green products, regulatory positions in government, and grant writing, fundraising, and litigation work in nonprofits.
Terrorism. Jobs in the antiterrorism field have already mushroomed since 9/11, and if another attack were to occur, even more jobs would surely be generated.
A dozen ahead-of-the-curve careers that grow out of these trends are featured as part of the Best Careers 2008 package at usnews.com. Here's a quick look at eight of them:
Behavioral geneticist
For over 100 years, psychologists have attempted, with modest success, to ameliorate mental problems from depression to low intelligence by changing patients' attitudes and by exploring their childhood angst. Now, pharmacological approaches are used, also with only moderate success. Recent evidence suggests a more fruitful path tied to the fact that human behavior -- sexual orientation, alcoholism, intelligence, the propensity for violence -- has a genetic component. Researchers and, in coming years, clinicians who specialize in developing and implementing ethical gene-related therapies should be in growing demand.
Computational biologist
At a panel discussion among five Nobel Prize winners, one of the few things they agreed on was that the field of the future is computational biology. Sample applications: genetically engineering a plant that would be an excellent energy source or developing a cheaper way to decode a person's full genome. (That now costs $350,000.) The niche of computational biologist offers strong prospects both of landing a job and of making a significant contribution.
Data miner
Data mining is simply the use of statistics to predict or explain customer behavior. Examples: What products should be pitched to each of your previous online customers? How likely is it that certain credit card spending is fraudulent? Data mining is a great career for people who'd enjoy using statistics to unearth patterns in data, working with ever more powerful software. Opportunities are particularly good if you also have business sense.
Emergency planning manager
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the field of emergency planning has grown. Of course, emergency planners prepare for and respond to other disasters, such as fires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, outbreaks of highly infectious diseases, and major accidents. The field has formalized, with 250 bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs in place or in the works.
Green-collar consultant
The new wave of environmentalism is creating a panoply of research, corporate, government regulatory, and consulting jobs. The last may be particularly interesting. Some specializations: industrial carbon footprint reduction, green new construction and retrofits, municipality strategic planning for sustainability, wetlands delineation and restoration, ecotourism, and "smart growth" land-use planning.
Health informatics specialist/manager
"The job market for health informatics people is absolutely out of sight," says Merida Johns, founding director of the graduate program in health informatics at the University of Alabama?Birmingham. And it's no surprise: Hospitals, insurers, and regional collaboratives are switching to electronic medical records. Nurses and doctors are using computerized systems to guide diagnoses and treatment recommendations. Healthcare providers are also collecting more data to evaluate quality of care.
Health informatics is an umbrella term for a range of careers, many for techies but others for people persons. For example, as a health information systems analyst, you speak with physicians, nurses, and others to identify their needs and develop a blueprint to hand to the programmers for implementation. A bachelor's or master's in health information management will be needed.
Offshoring manager
Offshoring Version 1.0 had its kinks, but many lessons have now been learned, such as the importance of on-site management of the offshored facility. And there's a better grasp of what sorts of projects should be "farshored" (for example, to India or China), "nearshored" (to Mexico or low-cost parts of the United States), or "homeshored" to individuals working from home. Offshoring well remains difficult, requiring excellent managers with superb organizational, leadership, and multicultural communication skills.
Simulation developer
Governments use simulations to predict terrorist strategies. Scientists use them to predict how a synthesized molecule will work. Surgeons use them to learn a new technique without endangering patients. Corporations and, to a lesser extent, schools are moving from the instructor who attempts to keep people awake by telling anecdotes and jokes to immersive simulations of critical real-world situations. The wide availability of broadband and mobile Internet access will enable you to receive, on your BlackBerry or other device, training filled with video scenarios in which you are the protagonist -- all while you're actually lying on the beach in Hawaii.
