How to Get Jobs in 2010 and After: USA Forecast

How to Get Jobs in 2010 and After: USA Forecast

If you’re gearing up for a job search now as an undergraduate or returning student, there are several bright spots where new jobs and promising career paths are expected to emerge in the next few years.

Technology, health care and education will continue to be hot job sectors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ outlook for job growth between 2008 and 2018. But those and other fields will yield new opportunities, and even some tried-and-true fields will bring some new jobs that will combine a variety of skill sets.

The degrees employers say they’ll most look for include finance, engineering and computer science, says Andrea Koncz, employment-information manager at the National Association of Colleges and Employers. But to land the jobs that will see some of the most growth, job seekers will need

Career experts say the key to securing jobs in growing fields will be coupling an in-demand degree with expertise in emerging trends. For example, communications pros will have to master social media and the analytics that come with it; nursing students will have to learn about risk management and electronic records; and techies will need to keep up with the latest in Web marketing, user-experience design and other Web-related skills.
Technology Twists

More than two million new technology-related jobs are expected to be created by 2018, according to the BLS. Jobs that are expected to grow faster than average include computer-network administrators, data-communications analysts and Web developers. Recruiters anticipate that data-loss prevention, information technology, online security and risk management will also show strong growth.

A computer-science degree and a working knowledge of data security are critical to landing these jobs. Common areas of undergraduate study for these fields include some of the usual suspects, such as computer science, information science and management-information systems.

But those might not be enough. That’s because not all of those jobs will be purely techie in nature. David Foote, chief executive officer of IT research firm Foote Partners, advises current computer-science students to couple their degrees with studies in marketing, accounting or finance. “Before, people widely believed that all you needed to have were deep, nerdy skills,” Mr. Foote says. “But companies are looking for people with multiple skill sets who can move fluidly with marketing or operations.”

Social media has opened the door to the growth of new kinds of jobs. As companies turn to sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to promote their brands, capture new customers and even post job openings, they will need to hire people skilled in harnessing these tools, Mr. Foote says. In most cases, these duties will be folded into a marketing position, although large companies such as Coca-Cola Co. are creating entire teams devoted exclusively to social media.

Similarly, employment for public-relations positions should increase 24% by 2018. Job titles—like interactive creative director—will reflect the duality of the required skill sets.
Back to School

Students will have to study strategy to maximize relationships between third-party content providers and their company’s Web team. Other key skills will be search-engine optimization to maximize Web traffic and marketing analytics to decipher the company’s target demographic, says Donna Farrugia, executive director of Creative Group, a marketing and advertising staffing agency in Menlo Park, Calif.

Many universities and community colleges are offering certification programs focused on burgeoning sectors. For example, the University of California at Los Angeles’s extension program offers a certificate in information design.

That, program, like similar certificate studies at other schools, aims to give students an edge in Web site search optimization—a major attraction for Web-based companies who want to boost user traffic, says Cathy Sandeen, dean of UCLA’s extension program.

User-experience design—a sort of architecture for information that Web viewers see—is another emerging field. Jobs there include experience specialists and product designers at firms ranging from computer-game companies to e-commerce Web sites.

Ms. Sandeen says the school will offer a certificate program for user-experience design as well, at a cost of about $3,000 to $5,000. The program will run one to two years, depending on a student’s schedule, and will couple product design with consumer psychology and behavior.

“Our students [will] learn to think like anthropologists, evaluating how easy it is to utilize the products,” she says.

Not surprisingly, green technology, including solar and wind energy and green construction, are also booming areas. Engineers who can mastermind high-voltage electric grids, for example, will have a great advantage over other job applicants, says Greg Netland, who oversees recruiting for the U.S., Latin America and Canada for Sapphire Technologies, an IT staffing firm in Woburn, Mass.

“Global sustainability will become more important to employers,” Mr. Netland says. “It cuts costs, making experts in the field highly attractive to employers.”

Jobs in alternative-energy systems, including wind and solar energy, will require a variety of skills: engineers to design systems, consultants who will audit companies’ existing energy needs, and those who will install and maintain the systems.
Financial Opportunities

Despite the slashing of positions seen in the financial sector during the economic crisis, recruiters also expect thousands of new jobs to be created in the compliance field, says Dawn Fay, district New York/New Jersey president of Robert Half International.

Ms. Fay counsels job seekers to look at the misdeeds of the past year or two to identify where new jobs will bloom in the financial sector. “It was a year of Ponzi schemes and banking meltdowns,” she says. “Be strategic and position yourself as someone who can mitigate those risks.”

That makes risk management an emerging specialty with strong growth in jobs expected. Those on track to be financial analysts can get additional certification in risk management through organizations like the Risk Management Association or the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

“Risk management was a mainstay in financial companies, but I believe it will be present in every Fortune 500 company,” says Jeff Joerres, chairman and chief executive officer at staffing firm Manpower Inc.
Hospital Upgrades

Health care is expected to continue to see a surge in hiring, with more than four million new openings estimated by 2018, according to the BLS. Hiring for physical and occupational therapists will likely be strongest. But new specialties are popping up, particularly in case management, says Brad Ellis, a partner with Kaye Bassman International, an executive-search firm based in Plano, Texas.

Case managers do everything from managing the flow of information between practitioner and insurance company to mitigating risk to the hospital.

“If you’re a licensed nurse, for example, getting a certificate in risk management from the state board of health would make you extremely competitive,” Mr. Ellis says.

Harris Miller, president of the Career College Association in Washington, D.C., says IT will be increasingly important in the quest to drive down health-care costs, too. Students specializing in nursing informatics, which combines general nursing with computer and information sciences, at the master’s degree level will swap a clipboard for a smart phone to manage patient data. Schools like Vanderbilt University are offering nursing informatics degrees via distance learning, and certification is offered through American Nurses Credentialing Center, based in Silver Springs, Md.

The strong push toward making medical records and information more accessible through computerized record-keeping means opportunity, Mr. Miller says. “This is going to require people who are skilled in the hardware and software of nursing informatics.”

6 Keys to Effective Resume Letter Writing

Many people wonder what to include and how to format their cover letters. The assistance of word processing programs means you do not need to be a professional writer or wordsmith to craft the letter that accompanies your resume. Here are a few tips to help your resume letter writing stand out from the crowd:

1. Always choose a format that best complements your job history and experiences when doing your resume letter writing. Chronological, functional and combination are the three basic formats. Take the time to review samples and determine which one is right based on your audience, work history, and experiences. Do not take unnecessary risks by choosing a less than compatible format.
2. Contact information must be professional and clear. Moreover, it needs to appear on every page of your resume letter writing. If you have a professionally questionable email address, get a new one. Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail are only a couple of the free opportunities out there. Remember, what you consider a cute e-mail address may encourage resume screeners to make assumptions about you. Avoid the unnecessary risk.
3. If you can not clearly state your career objective(s) or value proposition in two sentences or less, skip the objective and utilize a professional summary. Professional summaries offer more latitude in conveying the important message of how you will add value to their company.
4. Resume letter writing must be kept at or below two pages. If you run over, take a look at the content. Did you include items that could be provided later, like references? Did you include any positions, certifications, licenses that are unrelated to this specific position?
5. Consistent and easy to read formatting is a must for resume letter writing. Set margins at a reasonable 1 to 1.25 inches and consider using line spacing between 1.2 and 1.5. This makes it easier on the eyes without appearing overly spacious. Using indentions and bullet points can be an effective way to draw attention to specific items. Just make certain they are consistent.
6. Use bolding, italicizing and underlining when appropriate to emphasize specific things, such as titles, employers, dates, etc. This will give the eyes of the reader a break and give you a chance to highlight certain areas. However, more is not always better. At some point it all of the specialized formatting becomes a detracting blur.

You have a very short time frame to make a dynamic, first impression on-paper. Use every word wisely. If possible have two different people read it for typographical errors.

Careers in Information Technology Today

"The study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based, information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware", is how the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) defines IT. Novel and innovative progress in the world of Information Technology is the result of man's quest to make advances in every possible way.

The turn of the century has brought with it extensive change. The generation of today and the ones before are no more similar than chalk and cheese. In the present times, it is close to impossible to survive in the absence of the "digital thinking machine"; that is, the computer. What drives people towards electronic-systemization is the fact that all processes can be automated and programmed, to ease the burden as one is incessantly hard-pressed for time. Not to mention that almost all business processes of corporate giants are founded on the intricate server-client relationship and vast network administration.

What is IT to you?

Recent studies show that, all IT companies want to hire only professionals who have been working with maximum exposure to the current technologies. This is possible only by being engaged in training programs, seminars, workshops, etc. The key points in the success of one's career are:

A Degree
Certifications
Relevant experience

The hunt for an ideal career is foremost on a youth's mind. The degree of security that the job can offer professionally as well as monetarily is another thought. Some of the various areas under constant progress in the IT sector include:

Software
Java
PHP
Perl

Technical
Linux Server Administration
Windows Server and Network Administration

Certification programs
RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer)
CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Administration)

Candidates trained in one or more of these above-mentioned courses are bound to have an edge over others who have not. This opens doors for a more satisfying career and higher remuneration, owing to the added qualifications in software, technical department or certification programs.

On-The-Job Training:

An added advantage would be having a hands-on or on-the-job training, wherein the candidates are guided and trained under well-experienced and seasoned IT professionals who have been in the field a good many years. In such a case, the candidate is able to attain the required experience, both theoretically and practically. Practical experience is what counts to a large extent when in the pursuit of a new job. Hands-on exposure is one of the biggest criteria as it allows one to utilize the latest in software and application.

Information Technology is one of the largest fields in the world today and offers a vast variety of career opportunities. There are some noted private IT-parks, such as Spectrum Softtech Solutions, which offer on-the-job training. For a reasonable fee, these companies train and eventually absorb the trainees. This gives them the opportunity to work with the latest in technology and software, which would otherwise be unavailable to them. Spectrum has been in the IT sector for a long time and has been in keeping with the advances in technology. Hands-on training in such companies is the best way to obtain the training and experience that a fresher requires, or for someone who is looking to jump-start a waning career. Such programs gives one a fresh perspective on various career-related issues and is most helpful in gaining an insight into technical details which were unclear before

How to Secure Your Dream Job

You had the required training, education and cleared all you exams with so much effort. So it's time to put all that learning and effort into securing your dream job.

We get jealous of others who have that perfect job which they always dreamed of. You might be doing a job but may not be satisfied with it, you feel out of place. If you have some other goal and desire to achieve something in life than you can own your desired job if you know the way to do it.

Even before you start searching for the job, be very clear about the kind of job you want to do. Few people go in search of job without knowing or having idea about job title. Few points that need to be kept in mind are:

a. Desired job - It is very important to know the job you are interested in. you should not go around beating the bush. You should be focused on the kind of job you are looking for which makes the search for the job much easier and precise. There will be so many designations in the same kind of job so it should be clear enough for which one you are opting for. There are so many jobs of the same kind that one tends to get confused.

b. Research and analysis - you should make all the possible research and analysis about your dream job and the industry you want to work for. Find the details of qualifications and skill sets required for that particular job. Take the advice of people who already are in that field. This will help prepare you to pass the expectation in that job.

c. Networking - Let others like your friends, relatives know about your interest. Talk to people who are working in your Dream Company or job and tell them about your interest, they may help you to know about openings and also can give reference which can be a big help.

d. Courses related to the job - Try getting enrolled in the courses which are related to the job of your interest. Get involved into workshops so that when you appear for interviews the employer can see your genuine interest in the job and the efforts you have put in to achieve it.

e. Get experience - This plays an important role and a winning edge to secure your dream job. It might be difficult to have experience for a fresher but you can work on pat time, temporary or on contract to get experienced. It will be all the more better if you get a chance to do internship in a company, which belongs to the industry which you are interested in. It will give you an added benefit.

f. Targeting companies - Once you're sure about your dream job than start targeting the companies that can give you the path to achieve that dream career. But before you go for interview be prepared about the company details so that it can create good impression on the employer.