Finding Work
With the right skills and a willingness to shift fields, you could strike pay dirt right away
FUTURE PROSPECTS: A majority of Americans think financial planning is more important today than it was at the start of the bear market. No wonder MetLife Financial Services plans to hire about 300 financial planners this year, bringing its total to about 1,300. The brokerage Edward Jones says it will train nearly 200 new investment representatives a month for the foreseeable future. This trend is likely to continue through the decade as the first wave of baby boomers starts to retire in an ever changing--and confusing--landscape of tax laws and retirement rules. Financial planners are required to seek specific licenses if they want to sell mutual funds, individual securities, and life insurance. Some also obtain a "certified financial planner" designation. A survey by the College for Financial Planning last year found that an average planner's annual income before taxes jumped from $60,000 to $100,000 after earning a CFP mark. -Paul J. Lim
Service
Those who do can find work. Those who make typically cannot. Productivity improvements at home and competition from overseas caused manufacturers to cut 700,000 jobs last year. But the service sector almost made up for it, expanding by 500,000 jobs. Growth, however, wasn't in areas like retail or restaurants but in helping others "do" something, like get fit, learn a skill, or gamble.
NOW HIRING: Slot technicians. Plunking quarters into a one-armed bandit is a poor investment. Learning to maintain slot machines, however, is as close as you can get to a sure thing. Staffing in the U.S. gaming industry, which employs about 600,000, is expected to grow by about the same amount as revenue--5 percent--this year. The biggest winners will be slots, says Beth Deighan, president of Casinocareers .com. Casinos are adding machines, and several states are considering opening slot facilities to avoid raising taxes, she notes. After passing a three-month training course, slot techs start at $11 an hour, though experienced techs can earn twice that.
FUTURE PROSPECTS: Fitness trainers. As Americans grow fatter, the need to get in shape grows, too. And with the nation's current epidemic of obesity, opportunities for personal trainers are expected to soar over the next decade. "Because people have greater health problems and motivation problems, they need someone to pull them off the couch," says Gregory Florez, a spokesman for the American Council on Exercise and CEO of FitAdvisor, a health coaching company in Salt Lake City. No one group tracks personal trainers, though Florez estimates that today there are about 85,000 nationwide, and the field is projected to double in size over the next decade.
Certified personal trainers focus on developing fitness programs for clients. Many work in gyms with members who pay an hourly fee--typically $40 to $50, though it can run as high as $100. They develop and monitor personalized exercise programs using weights and machines. Increasingly, trainers are specializing in such areas as pre- and post-rehabilitation, pre- and post-pregnancy, working with competitive athletes, and in specific sports. Annual salaries range from $30,000 and up for gym trainers to more than $100,000 for sole practitioners who specialize. Education varies widely, though better-paid trainers not only have great abs and pecs but a degree in exercise physiology or exercise science, or a related health field. -Kim Clark and Jodi Schneider
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