College Courses.com Education & Career Blog

I’m sure that over the past week or so, you’ve come across more “best of” and “year end” lists than you can stomach. So allow me to force a few more upon you:

Here you can read about 31 careers expected to have bright futures, particularly in 2008.

And here are a dozen more ahead-of-the-curve careers that are poised for future growth.

This final list outlines 13 overrated careers, or popular professions whose downsides are often overlooked.

I know that you are probably sick of lists and summaries and articles regarding everything about this year and the potential for next, but these U.S. News & World Report overviews are worth a look, especially if you are in the market for a new degree, a new career, or a long-anticipated job change. (New Year’s resolutions anyone?) Veteran career coach and author Marty Nemko compiled the career guides for anyone and everyone, and I enjoyed his fresh take on what can often times be a stale concept.

The first list highlights the best careers overall for the upcoming year, with some obvious inclusions such as registered nurses, pharmacists, engineers, investment bankers, and management consultants. The list was determined using both quantitative and qualitative information; the careers were ranked according to job satisfaction among workers, training difficulty, prestige, pay, and job market outlook according to data from professional organizations (like the U.S. Department of Labor).

The research for this primary list uncovered several emerging trends, all of which influenced the outcome of this year’s rankings. For instance, some blue-collar jobs (e.g., firefighters, cosmetologists and hairstylists, and locksmiths) are gaining momentum within a job market that traditionally venerates white-collar careers. These professions necessitate basic training, although degree programs are emerging in many of these fields for workers who want to secure higher-paying positions.

Government jobs are an optimal choice in 2008, based on their benefit packages, retirement options, and stable wages. You should consider a position’s resistance to offshoring as well. Careers that ranked well in this area, and that therefore made the list, include training specialists, ghostwriters, mediators, and user experience specialists.

The second list features a group of cutting-edge professions that are on their way towards becoming the best careers available. These jobs are expected to perform well in the above-mentioned criteria areas, mainly because of the following trends: growth in health care demand, globalization, digitization, terrorism prevention, and environmentalism. I’d like to point out that two of the careers–green collar consulting and emergency planning management–and the industries they’re focused in were discussed in previous CollegeCourses.com blog posts. That’s right, we can spot a promising career trend from a mile away.

The final list labels a handful of popular careers as overrated, which I can respect, because it encourages job seekers to challenge the conventional notion of a good job and look a little bit deeper. A few of these overrated jobs include working as an architect, an attorney, a chiropractor, a medical scientist, a chef, and a real estate agent. Nemko isn’t attempting to say that these are bad careers; they simply have drawbacks that are overlooked because of the prestige or the salary that the positions offer.

In the end, it’s all about doing something that makes you feel accomplished and happy. If you’re feeling confused, read the descriptions of the featured careers first. A bunch of these overviews come with recommended books and websites that can give you a better grasp of each profession. If you find yourself interested in a specific career after this additional research, Nemko suggests talking with a professionals who work in that field and shadowing one of them at his or her job for a week or so.

As always, CollegeCourses.com is here to help you, with various links and information regarding schools and training programs in your area, online, or in your intended profession.

So I was searching for a relevant topic to post about today, preferably one that related to college and the new year that is fast approaching, and I stumbled upon this press release from Sallie Mae. There is some obvious promotion and product suggestions laced throughout it, but overall, I found the piece to be surprisingly informative and, well, appropriate for the CollegeCourses.com Education & Career Blog.

It’s all about nontraditional students, or rather, the group of people gradually becoming the majority within the college student population. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 2.4 million men and women aged 25 and older were enrolled in degree-granting institutions throughout the U.S. in 1970. In 2000, these “nontraditional” students were 6 million strong in the country’s schools. By 2012, the number of enrolled college students over the age of 25 is expected to approach 7 million. This means that within four years, nontraditional learners could actually outnumber “traditional” students under the age of 25. Who’s nontraditional now?

In order to appeal to this growing demographic segment (with regard to higher education), colleges and universities are creating programs that cater to the needs and the responsibilities of students over the age of 25. For instance, most schools are expanding their online, night, and weekend class offerings; while others are providing on-site child care, introducing life experience credit offerings, and organizing study groups and carpooling services for their adult students.

The press release goes on to discuss how to finance your higher education, courtesy of Sallie Mae. This obviously isn’t a site devoted to college scholarships and loans, but the strategy that the press release suggests is sensible (or obvious, depending upon your knowledge of finance). First seek out financial aid that doesn’t need to be repaid (e.g., scholarships and grants), followed by federal student loans with forgiving interest rates, and lastly, use private student loans as a final payment option. Another suggestion for working professionals, which is a personal favorite of mine, is to speak with your employer about any reimbursement that you can receive to help with your education costs. Companies want qualified employees, and earning an advanced degree is certainly one way gain that status. Some employers will finance an entire degree program.

You may already be aware of the things I’ve mentioned above. But I figure that it’s never a bad idea to remind everyone of this simple fact: a postsecondary education is waiting for you whenever you are ready and willing to take advantage of it. New Year’s resolutions will be made in two weeks, and broken in about three or four, but if you are ready to make a serious change in your professional life, it’s never too early to start doing some research.

Here is an excerpt that I found particularly fitting from the press release:

“There are a myriad of reasons for the rise in nontraditional students. Some are first timers, attending college at a later-than-average stage in life; others are returning to the classroom to improve their skills set and thereby their earnings potential in the workplace. Still others are retirees, using their newfound free time to prepare for a new business venture or simply to take advantage of lifelong learning.”

What are your reasons for wanting to continue your education?

It’s the first Friday of the month, which means that I get to spoil you all with a recap of November’s employment situation report. I know, I know, I’m excited too, but try to contain your enthusiasm for a bit, because I’ve got some work to do right now.

Last month, I promised that my post for November would be extra long and insightful if the initial payroll numbers for October made it through the month unrevised; so this is the part where I eat my words, sort of. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its payroll numbers for November right on time this morning, and overall, the report was solid. U.S. employment continued to rise last month, with the country adding another 94,000 jobs overall.

As some of you may already know, the BLS can be a little revision-happy at times, so I assumed that the numbers for October (released on Nov. 2) would have changed by the time that the November report was drafted. And I was right. It was initially reported that the country gained 166,000 jobs in October, but the latest employment situation report reveals that we added 170,000 positions. This, of course, is a good thing, because I assumed that the numbers would go down. Lucky for us, we actually gained 4,000 more jobs than the BLS initially estimated.

Score for U.S. payroll employment: 1, Score for Suzy: 0

The real estate and credit markets have been taking a toll on the economy, and we haven’t had employment increases topping 100,000 jobs very often over the past few months, so October is hopefully a sign of good things to come.

Although the numbers for October held strong over the month, it appears that payroll employment for September has been revised again. The employment situation report for October placed September’s payroll growth at 96,000 new positions, but November’s report cut this number in half, with revised numbers indicating that the country only gained 44,000 jobs in September. Confused yet? It’s okay.

Basically all you need to know is that job growth trended up slightly in September, a whole lot in October, and a solid amount in November. If we keep this pace up, we’ll gain an average of 100,000 jobs a month, which isn’t as strong as what we were averaging toward the beginning of the year (147,000 positions a month), but it’s acceptable given the circumstances.

Aside from the monthly gains and revisions, some interesting things happened within the industries themselves in November. As I mentioned above, the nation added 94,000 jobs overall this past month. Health care and food services both contributed to this increase, but not as much as you would think. The health care industry has been adding an average of 34,000 jobs each month over the past year, but positions in this sector only increased by 15,000 in November. Food services and drinking places have been posting similar numbers to health care since the summer, but the industry only gained 17,000 jobs this past month.

Social assistance increased by 10,000 positions in November, jobs in accommodations were up 11,000, and employment in professional and technical services (e.g., computer systems design, management and consulting services) grew by 24,000 positions. The retail trade industry also brightened the overall employment picture for the nation, adding 24,000 jobs in clothing stores, health and personal care stores, and electronics and home furnishing stores.

The losses that occurred over the course of November were related mostly to home building and financing. Construction employment suffered a loss of 24,000 positions, the manufacturing industry cut 11,000 jobs, and credit intermediation lost another 13,000. Real estate employment declined by 8,000 positions last month as well.

In terms of wages and hours, the workweek remained unchanged in November (at 33.8 hours) and earnings increased by an average of eight cents an hour (or 0.5 percent). The latter number is a noticeable increase over previous months and leaves the average weekly earnings of American workers at $595.89.

That’s about all that I found to be of interest when I scanned the BLS report this morning. I think I lived up to my end of the bargain, because I know this post was long and, hopefully for you, insightful. Until next time, I’m sure we’ll be dreaming about the employment situation reports together. (Okay, maybe not you, but I very well could be.)