The labor market is shaken up. Big time. The unemployment rate in the US peaked to nearly 20% last year. Fortunately it dropped back to single digits, but it had its impact. Some jobs may not return at all. And a number of jobs already started to disappear before Covid-19.
Check this blog at Yahoo Finance “30 jobs that will disappear this decade” to get a flavor.
So, how do I make sure to choose a future-proof career path ? What are the best bets ?
What jobs to go after, to be future-proof.
A recent report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the trends for the next decade. Note that the effects of Covid are not included yet. But our guess is that Covid will only reinforce the indicated trends.
In a nutshell: Getting into Health Care or Tech will put you onto the best tracks.
The fastest growing career categories include healthcare support occupations, community and social service occupations, and computer and mathematical occupations. They are surely future-proof.
- Healthcare occupations and those associated with healthcare account for 13 of the 30 fastest growing occupations from 2019 to 2029. This is primarily driven by aging baby boomers, along with people who have chronic conditions.
- Several of the fastest growing healthcare occupations–including nurse practitioners, occupational therapy assistants, and physician assistants–are projected to be in greater demand.
- Computer occupations are expected to see fast job growth as strong demand is expected for IT security and software development, and as new products associated with the Internet of Things (IoT) are developed. These occupations include software developers as well as information security analysts.
So, I should get into Health or Tech ?
Don’t make the mistake of just choosing a career path because of the best job prospects. If a job is future-proof, it surely is a factor to take into account, but there are more. Having said that, both career fields are very broad and offer a large variety of career paths. They require different education backgrounds, varying from high school diploma’s to lengthy education tracks, like the medical paths to become a doctor.
What other career paths are future-proof?
Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website we indicated which career paths are most promising. The easiest way to find out is to just click this link, which lists all jobs with promising futures at FindMino.com. You can double-click them to find detailed career information about them.
But first of all, let’s find out what steps you should take.
How do I weigh in job prospects when choosing my career path?
We developed a 4-step approach to find your career path. It’s described into detail in our blog ‘The daunting reality of career choice. Time to turn things around.‘
- Identify your competencies, interests and talents.
- Take a real ‘look inside’ careers.
- Meet people to check your ideas.
- Meet people who know: job holders, students.
Job prospects in our eyes should be the ‘sanity check‘ in the end. When jobs or career paths are in decline, you should question yourself if it’s worthwhile pursuing them. They will require investments in time and/or money. You would generally be better of investing your time into jobs that have neutral or positive prospects. Jobs that are future-proof would be worthwhile the investment.
For most career paths in FindMino.com you will find what job prospects they have.
How to choose a future-proof career?
In summary, don’t start with this question. Start with finding out what you like most, what best matches your talents and competencies. Then, invest time and effort into exploring the career paths you would consider. Talk things over with people who matter to you, and meet students or job holders.
Along the way, assure yourself that you’re not getting into a career field that’s expected to disappear.
Want to know more?
Sign on to Findmino.com. Free access. No need to download. FindMino is a web app that offers an inspiring place to get sorted on career choice. In a pleasant way FindMino helps to find your competencies, and to make up your mind on where you want to go. And it pre-sorts quality the best online information on careers, especially the latest ones, saving you tons of time to find it yourself.