With 9.6% unemployment, the job market seems to be an unending black hole but there are many bright pockets. Even the Federal Reserve has admitted that government policies will not fix the unemployment situation. I thought I would share my opinion about where the job opportunities are.
Federal Government Jobs
With all the money that’s is being poured into our federal government and the thousands of new federal agencies that are being created, this is where your opportunities are. Almost a million jobs have been created in the past few years. Even if the cream of the new jobs are given to long time government employees, they would still need to fill the old positions that are being discarded. Washington DC is the hot spot.
Federal government workers have been increasing at a steep trajectory for the past five years and the trend is not abating any time soon.
This is where you can look for government job postings. Just remember the reality that it is who you know that will land you the jobs and the federal government is no different. The best way to identify openings is to read the two latest laws that was passed, the Health Care Reform Law and the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform. Both have specified massive amounts of new agencies to be created in multiple areas.
A guaranteed place to find job openings is at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Money has been poured into the IRS for enforcers to collect from taxpayers. The Health Care Reform Law specified a large amount of new IRS enforcers to be hired just to collect on the penalties that will be levied by the law.
Note that I do not recommend state government jobs. States are hurting and laying off workers as well. This is not the place to look.
Law Firms
All the new laws and regulations, such as the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform law, bring complexity to the business environment. The interpretation and lobbying around this Act alone will occupy an army of lawyers.
Accounting
Collecting taxes is the government’s top priority recently. Figuring out how to navigate the tax rule jungle and keeping up with penalties and requirements will ensure that businesses hire a lot of accounting and tax professionals.
Health Care
We already have a shortfall of doctors and nurses. With the additional millions of uninsured people who will be supported and enrolled into the health care system by the new Health Care Law, the shortage will become even more acute.
Engineers
Yes, Virginia, engineers are in high demand. Computer programmers and engineers who are versed in the latest technology and codes have been in high demand for years. The media just doesn’t talk about it. Take the case of an Irvine, CA company that just sold the business for over $100 Million dollars. Over 60% of their programming staff is in Armenia.
Note, you do need to be a competent programmer to win the job.
Social Media
Social media, blogging, and many other to be discovered methods of communication or selling will be valuable as the internet becomes more mature. These new platforms are redefining the rules of marketing and people with these skills will be in high demand.
Politics
Revenue for lobbyists went up 5% last year to $3.5 Billion dollars. This was shared among 13,000 lobbyists. Salaries at private companies for former staffers to senators and congressmen starts at $300,000 / year. The senior staffers can get up to $1 Million a year.
Politics is a recession proof business. The revenue cited does not take into account all the billions in spending that is done on election efforts by politicians and contenders.
Renaissance Man or Woman
There are opportunities in every industry, even the depressed ones, for those people who are diversified in their expertise. For example, you may be an HVAC installer but if you are excellent at communication and know the industry’s products inside out, you could compete for a inside marketing or sales position.
Highly skilled job applicants will always have options.
China and Europe
Those applicants who are multilingual (speaking another language in addition to English) can find lucrative positions outside the country as firms shift their headquarters outside of the US to avoid all the new regulations or to expand in new markets.
Companies have found it difficult to find qualified applicants to fill certain job positions for years. When times were good, marginal employees were carried or tolerated. Now in a tougher economic climate, companies are being more selective as they prune away unproductive employees.
I believe that everyone should take stock of their skills and revisit what new training they need in order to be competitive in the new economy.
Readers, what are the other areas that you see jobs in?
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