Career Coach: A few jobs to think twice about
One field that's resistant to downsizing and offshoring
Managers get scared when they read about corporations' relentless downsizing, and engineers freak out when they read about engineering jobs getting offshored. Well, according to an article by Chris Axtman in the Christian Science Monitor (December 13), at least one field offers hope for both. He writes that half the workforce in the energy industry will retire in the next 10 years, with the biggest need being for senior managers. Also, "the number of petroleum engineers graduating from U.S. schools is nowhere near what the industry demands. Only 1,500 students are enrolled in petroleum engineering programs this year, down 85 percent from 20 years ago."
Want to make a living as a snoop?
According to James Bernstein in Newsday (December 19), "Growing numbers of former police officers, ex-federal agents, and reporters are becoming private eyes. Many have made the move since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; since then security of all types has become bigger business than ever.Today's private investigators are likely to be highly computer literate and even speak several languages. According to PI magazine, a leading industry publication in Freehold, N.J., there are now about 60,000 licensed private investigators in the United States, a 14.5 percent rise since 2000."
Is chef school a path to celebrity? More likely a path to poverty
To persuade students to pay $70,000 for four-year tuition (not counting room and board), many chef schools invoke images of celebrity chefs. For example, Johnson & Wales University's website boasts a picture of the Food Channel's Emeril Lagasse, and the Culinary Institute of America's website touts Kitchen Confidential author Anthony Bourdain as among its graduates. Chef schools are less likely to mention what was recently reported in the Washington Post (December 13): "Despite what you see or read about celebrity chefs, only 3 percent of food service workers make $17 an hour or more. Two thirds of the 10 million workers in the industry make $8.50 an hour or less."
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