Hot trends for 2008
1 year, 5 months agoBy BOB WEINSTEIN, Special Sections correspondent
Published: January 6, 2008
The job forecasts and projections for 2008 never stop coming. It seems that every futurist, economist and business analyst out there has his own take on the future.
So who's right? For the most part, the majority have some good things to say. The trick is to read all of them but not take any one as gospel. Look for common themes running through every forecast. Therein lie the lessons. Unless there is a sudden turn in the global picture, the economy - while not perfect - will stay in pretty good shape. College pundits say that the 1.5 million students graduating from college this year likely are to find jobs in their respective fields.
Employers expect to hire 16 percent more new college graduates than they did last year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers' Job Outlook 2008 Fall Preview survey. The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the 20 jobs with the highest growth rates. As expected, 11 are health care professions: audiologist, dentist, medical researcher, occupational therapist, optometrist, pharmacist, physician, physician's assistant, registered nurse, speech therapist and school psychologist.
The bottom line is that aging baby boomers need more care. Beyond the pure health care jobs, there will be a consistent need for technology workers at every job level - from programmers and tech support people to networking and database specialists to project managers and technical architects.
But health care accounts for only part of next year's job picture. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Nicholas Aretakis, career coach and author of "No More Ramen: The 20-Something's Real World Survival Guide," says the following four hot fields also will be hiring thousands of people at all levels:
Technical sales - Technology firms need articulate salespeople who can explain their products' features to business customers and consumers. To back his claim, Aretakis cites these statistics: About half of DePaul University's graduates with a major in business and a minor in sales have secured a sales job by commencement day; 90 percent are employed within three months.
Last year, top sales performers saw a 3 percent increase in total compensation up to $161,501; while midlevel performers did a bit better, with a 5 percent increase in total compensation up to $99,501. Low-level performers, however, saw the biggest pay hike - up 10 percent to $70,994.
The competition for online ad sales is fierce, according to The Wall Street Journal. The major players include eBay Inc., Yahoo Inc., Google Inc., Dell and Microsoft Corp., to name a few. U.S. online ad revenue increased 30 percent last year to $12.5 billion, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau trade group and consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Combine knowledge of sales with a strong technical background, and you'll have no problem entertaining several job offers.
Marcom (marketing communications) - Marcom embraces everything from advertising and marketing to graphic design and technical writing to project management and event planning. Requirements: a bachelor's degree with a communications major is a good start.
The best way to get into this field is to choose an aspect you love and then research jobs and companies in that field.
New media or open-forum enterprises - A decade ago, "new media" was considered a cool field with endless possibilities. Today, it has arrived. No longer experimental, it encompasses mainstream technology we take for granted. Contrasted with "old" media forms, such as print newspapers and magazines, new media includes Web sites, e-mail, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, online communities, Web advertising and virtual reality environments.
At the moment, the new media performers capturing all the attention are YouTube, Google and Yahoo. Exploding new media enterprises are desperate for content developers and programmers. To learn more about jobs in this field, visit Open Grid Forum (www.ogf.org) and the Open Group (www.opengroup.org).
Corporate accounting - Thanks to stricter accounting laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires publicly-held companies to adhere to strict financial reporting and disclosure rules, a new specialty accounting field has emerged. There always has been a strong and consistent demand for accountants, especially certified public accountants, but now there is a screaming demand for Sarbanes-Oxley specialists.
