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.
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