[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]
John Schoen (MSNBC) has written an interesting article about the chances of a recession kicking in this year - "Fed says recession risk trumps inflation fears." Well, all we can do is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Earlier we had created a handy post on understanding recession along with a list practical steps to deal with it: "Riding the Recession with Awareness, Planning & Investment."
While change is a constant factor in our lives, we've got to realize that one of the most important things that keeps our financial house in order is our career. It would perhaps pay off to think ahead about the effects of a period of economic crisis on our jobs.
- Which occupations would thrive?
- Will the recession create new opportunities?
- To keep costs low, will corporate America ship more jobs overseas? If yes, which set of occupations are more resistant to outsourcing?
BioTech: After decades of research, this sector is finally poised to take off with a viable set of commercial products and services that are easily accessible to the masses. Perhaps soon we will see biotech companies (like Genentech [DNA]) offering custom packages to decode our genomes at affordable prices. So it might pay to keep an eye on the needs of this industry, starting from specialized techie and bio tech positions to human resource managers. This sector usually sees a marriage of experts in the domains of computer science and bio-technology.
Environment: At present, there is quite a good deal of emphasis on supporting environment friendly aka green products and technologies. More so in the area of replacing fossil fuel with some viable renewable energy alternatives. In addition, the new bill boosting car fuel economy, will provide a considerable impetus for growth both from auto makers as well as our government. Hopefully, this year will see a rise in jobs related to this sector and its research.
Off Shore Resistant Careers: Some great careers with a good job market outlook and lower chances of being outsourced are:- firefighters,
- optometrists,
- hair stylists,
- clergy persons,
- law enforcement officers,
- nurses,
- real estate appraisers,
- repair specialists of various types of niche machines (belonging to different industries like high tech, bio tech, medicine, surgery, auto, etc).
Life Style Related Careers: Sooner or later most of us will realize that we cannot shop our ways to peace and contentment. Also, the rat race prevalent in today's corporate life is extremely stressful which eventually takes it toll on our health - both body and mind. In this respect some interesting occupations which might be on the fore-front are:- health care and fitness professionals - will aid people to eat healthy food, exercise regularly, be more aware about ergonomics in an increasing tech dominated world inducing sedentary life styles.
- spiritual teachers, life trainers, yoga instructors - shall provide effective practical measures to tame the mind through spiritual practices, meditation, yogic postures - in short a balanced life style.
Language & Culture Experts: With more and more US companies opening shops in Asia and Europe to tap into their huge markets, the need for professionals who can train people to pick up different languages and cultural traditions may be on the rise. Also, in the domestic US market, the increasing percentage of non-English speaking population will perhaps create a need for professionals fluent in different languages to market and develop products targeted at different ethnicities.
Web Professionals & Free Lancers: The internet is unleashing the reins on creativity like no other medium. Today bloggers, free lancers, social networks, online shopping and auction companies, techies, musicians and many more web related services are changing the ways of marketing and selling products. Traditional businesses like journalism, music companies, brick and mortar shops, etc are slowly observing an increasing dependence on free lancers, the internet and social networking platforms for conducting their business and spreading the buzz. So we are keeping our fingers crossed about a good rate of growth of jobs and new opportunities in this sector.
Elder Care Specialists: Now a days the life expectancy of human beings have increased. Currently we live longer than our fore-parents did a few generations ago. Also, in US, people in the age group of 60 to 70, in spite of having healthy retirement nest eggs, are continuing to work in part time professions to keep themselves occupied and feel useful. Thus they have a good flow of disposable income. As a result, there might be an increase in jobs in the areas of long term care, housing for elders, aging related services and products and more.
Image Source(s): iStockPhoto
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