Working in the Future

This week I came across the top ten careers you may not have heard of but that are on the fast track to becoming more popular and more in demand.  As our economy and society change, propelled by manufacturing jobs going overseas and a new move toward more earth friendly products and services, there's a change in what careers will be big in the next few years.  Some of these, I'd never heard of before.  Some of them are older professions that you may not have realized were about to become more important to our technological based economy. Here are the top ten hot careers.

1....Nursing Informatics:  These are people involved in computerizing hospitals.  Moving the health care industry from paper record keeping to digital record keeping which will help reduce preventable medical errors.  The health care system is lagging behind and they need technologically advanced people who also have some understanding of health care.

2...Experience Designer:  More and more companies are realizing that a good customer experience can be the difference between success and failure in the marketplace.   So companies are turning to "experience designers" to create that customer experience in their stores.  Places like Starbucks have taken a great deal of time and effort to create that experience and now others are following their lead.

3...Viral Marketers:  When a YouTube video suddenly takes off and becomes immensely popular they call it "going viral".  Now the old profession of  conventional marketing is being turned on it's head with guerilla marketing and viral marketing.   People who look at new ways to market products and services through the internet via social networking sites and sites like YouTube.

4...Bloggers:  While lots of people have tried blogging, keeping an on-line diary for all to read, a few have become quite successful.  Entertainment writer Perez Hilton got his start by being a popular blogger.  Now the popular bloggers are being hired by companies to blog about their products and are even selling ads for the sites that host their blogs. 

5...HVACR Technicians: Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technicians have been around for a long time but now it's hot.  The field is growing rapidly as more and more people look to save money by making homes and office buildings more energy efficient to help fight Global Warming.

6...Carbon Management Consultant:  These are specialists in helping businesses reduce their carbon footprint. Plus being a consultant is always a good gig because you don't have to do anything other than, telling other people what to do.  Kind of like being the boss.

7...International Logistics Manager:  These are the folks who organize the logistics for a company that sells and buys around the globe.  They have to arrange for permits and customs issues and transportation issues in foreign countries.  The global marketplace is a real thing and as companies look to take advantage of that, they'll need people to guide them through the details of moving goods in and out of countries.

8...Conservation Scientist:  These are the folks who study our forests and wetlands and it's a booming industry as those areas become more and more important as we fight Global Warming. 

9...Welders:  The old profession has been given new life in high tech industries.  Old style welding as well as new forms of welding have become very important and big technology manufacturers are having problems finding enough people who can do it.  In the U.S. they estimate that by 2014 there will be 450,000 new welding positions open up.

10...Personal Chef:  It used to be that only celebrities and CEO's could afford one but now personal chefs are offering their services to just run of the mill well off folks who'd like to pay to not have to cook dinner but still want control over what goes in it and how healthy it is.  The idea of fast food is quickly fading for many as a quick way to get dinner because it's not healthy enough.  So why not hire a personal chef to deliver a healthy meal right to your door.  Although I would guess that job would entail, watching a lot of the Food Network and I don't know if I could do that.

So there are the hot ten careers in the near future.  The bigger the demand for these jobs the better they'll pay and you might want to consider a switch to one of these if you're still barely hanging on, as a typewriter repairman. Until We Type Again, Take It Ease !