Looking for a rock-solid career opportunity to pursue today? You should know by now that nothing is guaranteed, especially in today's tumultuous, caustic economy. But Fast Company, a publisher that tracks the "evolution of business," has charted the most-likely career groups to prosper.
To compile its list Fast Company crunched numbers it gathered from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the branch of the Labor Department that surveys hiring trends, salaries, and educational requirements. The publication also weighed the cost of career-training as well as the percentages of people already working in their professions with college degrees. Most of the fastest-growing professions require applicants to hold at least a bachelor's degree.
If you're drawn to the healthcare, finance, sales, and high tech fields, consider focusing on one of these key six professions, selected from Fast Company's list of 25 top jobs:
Medical and Health Services Manager
With health and medical career groups predicted to produce approximately three million new jobs between 2006 and 2016, how can you miss? Seven of the 20 fastest-growing professions through the decade are predicted to be in healthcare, and all of them should be employed in offices or facilities directed by managers. Consider earning at least an associate's degree in business to direct a physician's office, a bachelor's degree to direct small medical facilities, and a graduate degree in finance, business or management to administer services at hospital-sized facility. Salary range: $57,240 to $94,780, with top salaries in six figures.
Advertising and Promotions Manager
Your employer may count on you to position the company's brand where the world can see it. Whether you're organizing television spots, magazine ads, or giving away mugs, t-shirts, and pens at a trade show, you're the promotional face of your organization. Expect travel, and stress--and top salaries that match heavy responsibilities. Most employers typically expect you to have a bachelor's degree in advertising, marketing, journalism or public relations. An MBA in economics, marketing, finance, or statistics can put you at the head of the hiring line. Salary range: $73,060 to $119,540.
Personal Finance Adviser
The BLS predicts an astonishing 37-percent increase in jobs for personal finance advisors through 2016. More than 30 million Baby Boomers are already past retirement age 65, and more are on the way. You could be the one to offer estate planning, insurance, and investment advising to Boomers and successive generations already mapping out their futures. Most personal advisers traditionally begin with a bachelor's degree in finance and move on to a post-graduate degree to accelerate their earnings. Median salary range: $28,330 to $145,600 and beyond.
Medical Scientist
With increases in funding for treating cancer, AIDS, mental illness, and other diseases, corporate pharmaceutical, biotech, and university research labs need more people to develop vaccines and treatment drugs. Depending on your medical specialty, you'll typically need a master's degree or PhD. Often M.D.-holders choose research work over medical practice. You can begin traveling this path by earning a bachelor's degree in a biological science, and focusing on chemistry, biology, statistics, and research methods. Salaries in private sector biotech firms are typically higher than those offered at the college research level. There are also jobs with government medical-research agencies. Median salary range: $44,830 to $88,130.
Computer Software Engineer
The high-tech age continues in the new millennium. While computers have eliminated or streamlined many jobs, machines need operating software. The BLS identifies computer software engineering occupations among those projected to "grow the fastest and add the most jobs" between 2006 and 2016. Best job prospects should be for graduates of bachelor's degree programs in computer science or software engineering who possess some job experience. Fast Company says the profession can be a "gold mine" for engineers with "unique, specialized skills." Median salary range: $62,830 to $119,770.
Sales Manager
Organizations and businesses traditionally need someone to oversee the direction of sales. Sales managers (predicted 2006-2016 job growth: 12 percent) hire, train, and direct the sales staff, establishing territories, tracking results, and coordinating supply-chains with dealers and distributors. Start your career with a bachelor's degree in business administration, sales, marketing, or finance. For success, you should combine job experience with advanced, post-graduate training in marketing, human-resource management, eCommerce, or finance. Median salary range: $40,161 to $91,560.
Sure, there are no guarantees. But this career list offers prudent choices and rich opportunities for those who are looking for a steady steed to ride into tomorrow's workplace.
This article is sponsored by Lincoln College of Technology
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