Be the CEO of You, Inc.
America needs to start talking about cold hard facts. We have been in the throes of a recession; our economy is broken. We lost upwards of 20% of our economy in the last decade. Credit, mortgages, securities, banking, real estate, construction, manufacturing and every business and service in between were devastated. Some are gone forever and the people who map out their academic and professional success will have the best chance of navigating this transformation to their financial benefit.
The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts the dots pretty close together. This new economy will be rooted in two career clusters: energy and aging. There is more than enough information available to help the college-bound, the career starters, and the career changers move into the next chapter with purpose.
Martin Kohli, Chief Regional Economist for the BLS, said, "Most of these (vanishing) occupations were concentrated in industries that hemorrhaged jobs during the Great Recession and have not yet bounced back to their job levels of 2002." In reality, due primarily to technological advances, those jobs will never bounce back because this is not the recession of Ronald Regan. This is a transforming economy more along the lines of moving from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy that will likely include other crashes along the way.
There is only one way to protect yourself from the ebbs and flows of a changing economy and that's by becoming the CEO of your own mini-corporation: You, inc., as it were. Whether you are an entrepreneur whose customers are also neighbors or an employee whose customer is your employer, the time to think about your career of choice is now.
According to a report on America's Disappearing Jobs, there are 10 jobs to avoid. Technological advances have cut the need for semi-conductor processors, printers, machine operators, textile workers, word processors, computer operators and marketing professionals. Those are considering to be dying or vanishing jobs by the Department of Labor and, over the last decade, those fields have seen losses in excess of 50%.
Conversely, due primarily to technological advances and the aging Baby Boomers with significant purchasing power, there are also booming career fields. Technology has opened up jobs in human resources, interpreters, petroleum engineers, and energy operators. While the baby boomers are bringing on high demands for skin care, massage therapists, personal care aides, financial advisers, coaches, and artists.
There is no time like today to think, really think about your job. A quick look at the highest paying jobs and the most sought after degrees proves that this economy is about science, technology, engineering, and math. So, for those seeking high power, high wage, or high stress careers, this is a global, energy-based economy requiring significant abilities in math, science and foreign languages. However, all is not lost if you prefer more inter-connected career in health, beauty and hobbies. The Baby Boomers are expected to give rise to a gold rush in helping careers.
