Jobs with a future
Globe and Mail
Friday, Oct. 01, 2010
If you’re an Internet enthusiast, and social media fan, there will be plenty of opportunities to carve out niches in the next decade, predicts Greg McKinnon, president of Toronto-based McKinnon Targeted Recruiters, which specializes in emerging businesses and technologies. Here are his picks for jobs that will grow by double-digit rates over the next five to 10 years:
Social media strategist: They help a company develop a following on growing and fast changing social sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Although outsourcing remains common, bigger companies are hiring in-house specialists to create such things as viral ad campaigns to create a buzz about their products.
Web analyst: A developing area of marketing that uses customer information from the “hits” a company gets on its websites to predict trends. This area is growing so fast there will be needs for managers and vice-presidents in big companies in the next couple of years.
Search engine optimization: These specialists find ways to increase a website’s ranking on search engines so the company shows up on the first screen.
Digital media planner: A high-tech version of a media buyer, who decides what kind of ads and what sites will best use the Internet advertising budget.
Senior digital managers: The fast growth of online and mobile applications, online commerce and recruiting will mean opportunities for managers and executives, so techies should also get training in management.
FUTURISTIC CAREERS
Jobs that don’t yet exist but could become major careers by 2030:
Body part makers: We’ll not only need technicians to build them, but body part warehouses and repair shops.
Nano-surgeons: Robotic devices appear likely to transform treatments and surgery of internal organs.
Memory augmentation specialists: Brain stimulation or implants could reverse dementia or add extra memory to people who want to increase their memory.
Science ethicists: As scientific advances speed up in areas like cloning, we may need a new breed of ethical arbiter.
Space pilots and tour guides: The moon and Mars will need staff, as well as architects to design where scientists and tourist will live and work.
Vertical farmers: To increase food supply and meet the demand for locally grown crops, engineers and entrepreneurs may utilize green walls on the outside or inside of buildings.
Climate change reversers: A new breed of engineer-scientists will develop treatments to reduce the effects of climate change on the ecology.
Quarantine enforcers: If a deadly virus starts spreading rapidly, and death rates rise, someone will have to guard the gates.
BUZZWORDS FOR GROWING CAREERS
Governance and compliance: There will be a growing need in positions that ensure the board of directors, management and employees are meeting the rules of regulatory agencies, that company policies and procedures are being followed, and that behaviour in the organization meets the company’s standards of conduct.
Corporate sustainability: These jobs that report to the executive committee include creating and implementing initiatives that ensurethe company is doing what it can to reduce energy costs and use sustainable sources of energy, as well as using personnel in the best way possible to keep the company flexible and viable over time.
Cyber security and data protection: More surveillance will be needed with cyberspace and the increasing use of computing technology in which the equipment is not even in the offices of the company and information is shared in broad networks.
CAREERS GO GREEN
The number of positions in the following ecological jobs are projected to grow at nearly 10 per cent a year, according to environmental career consultancy ECO Canada in Calgary:
Environmental officers: As more environmental regulations come into effect, organizations will need executives at the vice-president level or higher whose job it is to see that the company is meeting standards.
Carbon engineers: To help industries required to calculate and reduce carbon footprints, and negotiate on the market as credits are sold like commodities.
Environmental engineer: Requires training and experience not only in mining and oil and gas, specializing in environmental consequences. There will be specific engineers to assess environmental issues and develop and assess monitoring operations.
Waste managers and remediation experts: Will require specific training in environmental regulation.
Predictive meteorologists: Many industries will need risk-management specialists who can project how long-term changes in climate and weather patterns might affect their plans.
FASTEST GROWING JOBS IN THE NEXT DECADE
- Biomedical engineers: projected increase in positions in North America: 72 per cent
- Network systems and data analysts: up 53 per cent
- Home health aides: up 50 per cent.
- Financial examiners: up 41 per cent
- Medical scientists: up 40 per cent
- Biological chemists and physicists: up 37 per cent
- Physical therapists: up 36 per cent
- Veterinary technicians: up 36 per cent
- Computer network administrators: up 34 per cent
- Compliance officers: up 31 per cent