U.S.News & World Report Profiles Recession-Resistant Careers
Washington D.C. -- U.S.News & World Report, the nation’s leading source of news, analysis, and service journalism, announces its Career Guide 2008. This signature issue expands the Best franchise with its online companion, Best Careers 2008 package, available at usnews.com/careers. The cover story and accompanying articles focus on protecting and advancing one’s career during turbulent economic times.
The selected careers are based on job satisfaction, job market outlook, ease of obtaining the necessary training, and pay. The online career guide also provides readers with information and tips to endure and prosper during the job squeeze and potential recession. The 2008 Best Careers are highlighted in the current magazine issue, on stands Monday, March 17.
The Best Careers online package offers comprehensive profiles of the Best Careers, Recession-Resistant Careers, Ahead-of-the-Curve Careers, and Overrated Careers, among others. Careers topping the 2008 Best of the Best list, which scored highest overall on U.S. News criteria, include Optometrist, Landscape Architect, Genetic Counselor, Clergy, and Higher Education Administrator
It is important to note that this year’s list has changed significantly from 2007 Best Careers, which can be attributed, in part, to the number of college graduates growing at the same time as employers are offshoring and the increase of part-time professional positions. As a result, the best of blue-collar jobs are becoming quite attractive. The 2008 list includes four such careers: Biomedical Equipment Technician, Firefighter, Hairstylist/Cosmetologist, and Locksmith/Security System Technician.
Additional highlights of the 2008 Best Careers:
• Recession-Resistant Careers: Optometrist, Clergy, School Psychologist, Physician Assistant, Biomedical Equipment Technician, Locksmith/Security System Technician, Hairstylist/Cosmetologist, Higher Education Administrator.
• Offshore-Resistant: Curriculum/Training Specialist, Genetic Counselor, Ghostwriter, Investment Banker, Mediator, Usability/User Experience Specialist.
• Quick Career Change. People, especially in mid-life, don’t have time for a multi-year back-to-school stint. These Best Careers don’t require one: Ghostwriter, Government Manager, Hairstylist/Cosmetologist, Locksmith/Security System Technician.
• Ahead-of-the-Curve Careers.The Ahead-of-the-Curve careers are too new, small, or narrow to be considered a Best Career, but should hold great appeal to people who want to be on the cutting edge: Patient Advocate, Asian Business Development Specialist, Wellness Coach, Simulation Developer, Data Miner, Computational Biologist, Emergency Planning Manager, Green-Collar Consultant, Health Informatics Specialist.
• Overrated Careers: U.S. News has identified careers that are overrated relative to their popular perception. This list includes four of the most prestigious careers: Physician, Attorney, Medical Scientist, and Architect, plus one of the most undeservedly romanticized: Teacher (large percentages of teachers flee the field in the first few years). Other careers on this think-twice list: Chiropractor, Chef, Real Estate Agent, and Small-Business Owner.
U.S. News Best Careers selection criteria were based on comprehensive data and analysis, including:
• Job satisfaction, defined as spending a high percentage of time on activities that many people would consider rewarding or pleasant.
• Training difficulty, defined by the length of training typically required, adjusted by the amount of science and/or math involved.
• Prestige, based on an informal survey of college-educated adults.
• Job market outlook, based on data from the U.S. Department of Labor and professional organizations, with the career’s resistance to being offshored taken into account.
• Pay, with data provided by payscale.com, which has an extensive database of individual employee compensation profiles.
Marty Nemko, U.S. News Contributing Editor and an award-winning career coach, oversaw the choices of the Best Careers. Nemko is the author of Cool Careers for Dummies, and is available to discuss the 2008 list of Best Careers in more detail. For more information and full profiles on all the careers in the Best Careers 2008 issue, visit usnews.com/careers.
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