But I stayed focused on my goal and got my teaching credential and became a teacher.
If you know what you want to do when you become an adult......good for you! You're 5 steps ahead of most kids in high school.
In another blog entry I'll turn you on to some places you can take Skills Assessment tests and Interest tests to help you figure out where you should start on your career journey. But for right now, let me tell you about a nifty little tool that will tell you where the hot jobs will be in the next 5 - 7 years.
The U.S. Department of Labor has a great website full of employment information. One of the things they make available to the public (that's YOU!) on a yearly basis is the Employment Outlook handbook . So what are the employment projections for 2004 - 2014?
According to the U.S. Dept of Labor, "Employment growth will continue to be concentrated in the service-providing sector of the economy. Educational services, health care and social assistance, and professional and business services represent the industry sectors with the strongest employment growth; these sectors are projected to grow more than twice as fast as the overall economy."
What does this mean? Let me see if I can give you some highlights. But before I do that, I would strongly recommend that you check out the actual document and read through it as much as you can stand without going blind or getting brain dead.
Educational Services = teachers. Yep, lots of those old farts who are teaching you right now are going to retire soon. You're probably thinking that they should have retired years ago ;-) Never fear, many of them will be retiring in the next 5 - 10 years. If you have a gift for inspiring people, sharing knowledge and like having summers off, then look into teaching as a profession.
Health Care = Nurses, Respiratory Therapists, Radiology Technician, Chiropractor, Dietician, and on and on and on! There is already a huge nursing shortage. One of the problems is that the nursing schools are full and it's very difficult to get in. I'll be devoting 1 or 2 blogs to this and how to increase your odds of getting accepted into the nursing school of your choice.
Social Assistance = Consists of four segments—individual and family services; community food and housing, and emergency and other relief services; vocational rehabilitation services; and child day care services. If you're a good communicator and like working with and helping people, then this is an area you should look into. I want to add on Police Officer to this list. Many police departments are in the same crunch as schools and hospitals -- there are a lot of police officers who are retiring and not a lot of new ones filling those holes. Requirements to be a police officer are very stringent. You would be amazed at how many people flunk out of the program because they can't pass the psychological exam. And it goes without saying that if you have a felony on your record, don't even bother applying.
Professional and Business Services = Scientific research and computing jobs as well as public relations and employment services. There will be a lot of research going on for drugs as the population ages. In plain English -- there are going to be tons of old folks out there who will have all sorts of illnesses and someone has to find medicines to help them. Also, and I know this from personal experience, there will be lots of people out there who are not trained or educated enough for good jobs. Someone has to train them and help them find jobs.
To find out more about the occupations with the largest job growth from 2004 - 2014, check out this page of the Dept of Labor's Employment Projections findings. http://www.bls.gov/emp/emptab3.htm
- Note the Quartile rank by 2004 median annual earnings column. This tells you if the pay for the particular job is "VH" = Very High, "H" = High, "L" = Low, "VL" = Very Low. Even though a job may be in high demand, it may not pay very much. But, then again, if there is high demand and low supply, the salaries may increase to get good people.
- The percent column will tell you how much of a projected increase there will be in a certain job category.
- The last column is the source of postsecondary education or training column. This will tell you what kind of degree or certificate you need to get this job. DO NOT take this as the absolute truth. Gasp! - the government has been known to be wrong about things from time-to-time ;-)
I want to be perfectly clear here -- you should only use this information as a guideline. Maybe you aren't suited to be a nurse or a computer programmer. Maybe your interests lie in theater or journalism. If that's where your interests lie, then do something that you like. If you're good at it, you'll make a living at it.
Remember.........
"Career development is a process; a journey for the rest of your life. Always keep your options open."
