How would you feel if the job you've been doing for most of your life just moved offshore without any warning?

What if you just spent several years getting an education for what you thought would be a very hot job but later turned out to be a very bad choice?

How would you like to know the secrets to choosing a satisfying career that will also be a hot job?

By understanding the major trends that are affecting our lives, you will be able to play an active role in planning and directing your career. By understanding these trends you will have a better chance of seeing the big changes before they hit.

This look into the future will show you the hot jobs that are expected to have high demand and some that aren't. But more importantly this article will show you the basics of "trend spotting" so that you can make your own intelligent career choices.

If you are not interested in "the how and the why" of looking into the future of careers and jobs, simply click here to jump to the list of "Hot Jobs For The Future."

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These traditional businesses will see change, but not overnight obsolescence:

• Upscale jewelry stores
• Custom jewelry manufacturing
• Stores where "service" is the main feature
• Restaurants
• Movie theaters
• Movie making
• Music creation
• Delivery services
• Grocery stores
• Hair Salons
• Auto Repair
• Construction
• Drivers Of The Trends

The need to save time
The need to reduce cost
The need to do things faster
The need to make things easier to use
The need to improve safety and reliability
The need to lessen the impact on the environment
The Automation Trend

We have only seen the first wave of automation in our lives. The effect so far has been to eliminate jobs involving highly repetitive tasks. The net effect has been fewer "unskilled" jobs.

Automation is the result of the need to reduce cost which in turn is driven by a company's need to become more competitive, to be able to grow market share, and to generate higher earnings for investors. Automation, one of the first methods for reducing cost, had been a big trend between 1950 and 2000.

Jobs that were not easily mechanized, such as many Customer Support Jobs, have already been moved to countries where the cost of labor is cheaper. Most of these jobs have been relocated to Mexico, Taiwan, India and China. Ten years from now, as the labor costs in those countries rise, the jobs may move to Africa or North Korea.

The next phase of automation will not occur in the factory, but in our homes, in our lives, and in the information that we use.

The last wave of automation in the home was to mechanize simple repetitive tasks such as dish washing and clothes washing. Home automation is driven by the need to save time.

What are the next opportunities to save time in the home:

• Preparing meals
• Cleaning the house
• Acquiring groceries
• Helping children with homework
• Educating the children
• Ironing the clothes
• Making the bed

A new trend dubbed "Offshoring" which became obvious in ~1998 is for entry level "knowledge worker" jobs such as programming, customer service, tech support, and accounting to be moved to countries with English speaking lower cost workers. This trend is just getting started and it could hollow out the English speaking economies of North America and Europe.

A large portion of programming, tech support, data entry, and accounting jobs can be handled remotely from countries such as India where they speak perfectly polite Queen's English, and where they have excellent educational systems. This puts many lucrative jobs at risk.

Even extremely high tech, high skill jobs such as Analog Integrated Circuit Designers have started moving offshore to India and China. Taiwan already has several home grown integrated circuit design houses. Eventually, Silicon Valley companies will no longer be willing to pay high prices for local circuit design talent, they will use talent in China and India whenever possible.

Unless the government intervenes, English speaking countries with low labor cost and well educated people will pull high paying hot jobs out of the United States and Europe.

What does this mean for someone just now planning their career. Proximity and creativity are the key. You really have two choices:

Look for a job that requires a very high level of skill or creativity such as being a writer, designer, musician, inventor, marketing strategist, or film actor.

Learn a trade or skill that requires hands on presence such as a carpenter, nurse, physician, dental hygienist, or hair stylist. Essentially you want to pick a job that requires your physical presence and that can not easily be done remotely. Combining proximity with creativity in a career gives you added security.

Does this mean you should panic and get out of software development or any other high tech, high paying job? It depends.

The first projects to move offshore are usually the most simple, low risk projects. Adding distance and cultural differences almost always adds time and complexity to any development project. The types of projects that will stay onshore:

Increased Traffic for Delivery Services
As online retail sales continues to climb, UPS, FEDEX and the Postal Service will have to deliver more and more packages. That is good news for drivers, pilots, airplane mechanics etc.

Home delivery has been on the rise and will continue to be driven by the need to save time.

If home grocery delivery ever takes off, and it looks like it will the second time around, the demand for drivers and truck mechanics will increase even more.

This trend should continue until someone invents a Star Trek - like teleportation system or replicator system. So don't hold your breath, delivery services look very, very good for a long time to come.

Entertainment and Content Creation Look Very, Very Good
Cultural differences, and language barriers should effectively protect most of the entertainment industry from moving offshore.

Someone still needs to write the books, the screen plays, the TV shows, the music etc. Positions requiring a high level of creativity and originality should still be highly valued.

The impact of computer simulation on actors is still an unknown and does present some risk. As compute power grows over the next decade, the ability to completely and believably simulate an actor will become widely available.

Reality TV will have a minor impact on the demand for actors. Unique personalities and talented people will always catch our interests and will be in high demand, at least until we tire of them.

Less Demand For Most Retail Jobs and Cashiers
Retail store positions will decline gradually as home shopping and Internet shopping continue to grow. There will always be retail stores and retail positions, just fewer of them.

One of the more positive trends in retail was started by Walmart. Employing older, retired people to man the store floor was a brilliant move and a win-win for everyone.

Demand for cashiers will gradually decline as stores install self service scanners and checkout. Home Depot and certain grocery stores began widespread use of automated self checkout in ~2002 to 2003. There will always be cashier positions, just less of them.

What about stocking clerks, those folks that come in at night to load up the shelves? Same as most retail store positions. It's work that has to be done, even in the giant warehouse stores. But if you can buy it online and get it faster and cheaper, then watch out.

Marketing Looks Very Good
We think that with increased competition, companies will find they have to do a much better job of differentiating their products and services. Marketing positions should see good demand, but only for the best. Marketing is one of those fields where the mediocre don't survive.

We think Strategic Marketing will become even more critical as companies find they need new and better strategies to succeed.

The Aging Population Trend The trend towards a growing older population that is living longer is already creating high demand in products and services tailored to this demographic. Home healthcare and nursing homes are just two areas to benefit.

We see healthcare as a great field for many years to come. Insurance companies, politicians and trial lawyers will unfortunately continue their negative impact on this critical field for some time. None the less, even with breakthrough medical technologies, people will continue to need healthcare workers.

One threat however is if the politicians reduce the licensing requirements for medical professionals, allowing less educated, possibly poorly trained people into this field. Healthcare needs to be high quality.

The Vanishing Middleman
The middleman in many business transactions will gradually disappear largely as a result of technology and competition. With increased competition, neither the manufacturer nor the customer will be willing to pay for the added cost of the middleman unless he adds substantial value.

Who are the middlemen? Middlemen are found between the manufacturer and the end customer. Usually this is sales people and retailers. For instance, if you can purchase your car over the Internet, why go through a car salesman. If you can purchase airplane tickets over the Internet, directly from the airline, why use a travel agent.

If you must be a middleman be sure you know how to add value and how to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Energy Shortages
Expect energy prices to rise, especially in the United States. This will change the infrastructure and underlying economy in many ways. With rising energy prices, all materials will cost more to produce. Recycling will be performed for economic reasons more than environmental reasons.

Expect to see more products that save energy such as solid state electronic lighting and more efficient, but more complicated home appliances.

Alternative forms of energy and energy storage will spawn new industries. Home size fuel cells will become available. Photovoltaic cells may finally become financially attractive.

Fighting over oil reserves will continue until breakthroughs in energy take place.

Increased Leisure Time, Sorry No
Increased leisure time has been reported as a trend for a long, long time. We have just never seen it materialize.

Statistics show that people today are working longer hours than their parents. Thus less leisure time.

Although most people don't have more leisure time they now know that and thus value their free time more highly than ever before.

A More Connected Teen and Sub Teen Generation
Children who are now just barely old enough to use a mouse are now going on-line. Instead of watching TV these kids are playing games, getting educated and watching advertisements on the Net.

In growing up with the internet, they will be more comfortable and more adept with it than any prior generation. Statistics are showing that most students now use the internet as their sole source of research and help when doing homework and term papers. What does this say for going to the library?

The protective barrier of the home now has a crack in it where on-line marketers push their wares to the youngest generation.

Meals On Demand
We are still surprised that no one has yet to come up with a good solution to this universal problem. With most mothers working full time jobs, or running their own businesses, who has time to prepare quality meals for the family. The wealthy may have maids, cooks and nanny's, but what about the other 98% of the population. You can't use pizza delivery every night of the week.

Hot Jobs for the Future Based on macro trends seen today, the careers listed below should be in relatively high demand throughout the next 10 years. Almost all jobs, no matter how secure, will experience ups and downs due to the economy and unexpected changes in technology. Thus there is no guarantee. The key to survival and winning in the career game is to be the best at what you do. Even in tough times, the people who have a reputation for being the best in their field will do better than most.

The key to being the best in your field is to do the type of work that you are truly passionate about.

Field	Job	Outlook
Business	Marketing Managers	Up
Business	Security & Financial Service Rep	Up
Business	Internet Marketing Specialists	Up
Business	Advertising Executive	Up
Business	Buyer / Merchandiser	Up
Business	Sales Person	Up
Business	Real Estate Agent	Up
Business	Business Development Manager	Up
Business	Market Researcher	Up
Business	Recruiter	Up
Business	MARCOM Specialist	Up
Education	Teachers	Up
Education	Teachers Aides	Up
Education	Adult Education Instructor	Up
Education	Math and Science Teacher	Up
Entertainment	Dancers	Up
Entertainment	Producers	Up
Entertainment	Directors	Up
Entertainment	Actors	Up
Entertainment	Content Creators in General	Up
Entertainment	Musicians	Up
Entertainment	Artists & Commercial Artists	Up
Entertainment	Writer	Up
Entertainment	Technical Writer	Up
Entertainment	News Paper Reporter	Up
Entertainment	News Anchor Person	Up
Health Care	Emergency Medical Technicians	Up
Health Care	Surgeon	Up
Health Care	Chiropractor	Up
Health Care	Dental Hygienists	Up
Health Care	Registered Nurses	Up
Health Care	Medical Assistants	Up
Health Care	Therapists	Up
Health Care	Respiratory Therapists	Up
Health Care	Home Health Aide	Up
Health Care	Primary Care Physician	Up
Health Care	Medical Lab Technician	Up
Health Care	Radiology Technician	Up
Health Care	Physical Therapist	Up
Health Care	Dental Assistant	Up
Health Care	Nurses Aide	Up
Information Technology	Computer Systems Analysts	Up
Information Technology	Computer Engineers	Up
Information Technology	WEB Specialists	Up
Information Technology	Network Support Technicians	Up
Information Technology	Java Programmer	Up
Information Technology	IT Manager	Up
Information Technology	Web Developer	Up
Information Technology	Data Base Administrator	Up
Information Technology	Network Engineer	Up
Law / Law Enforcement	Correction Officers	Up
Law / Law Enforcement	Law Officers	Up
Law / Law Enforcement	Anti-Terrorists Specialists	Up
Law / Law Enforcement	Security Guard	Up
Law / Law Enforcement	Tax / Estate Attorney	Up
Law / Law Enforcement	Intellectual Property Attorney	Up
Services	Veterinarian	Up
Services	Social Workers	Up
Services	Hair Stylist	Up
Services	Telephone Repair Technician	Up
Services	Aircraft Mechanic	Up
Services	Guidance Counselor	Up
Services	Occupational Therapist	Up
Services	Child Care Assistant	Up
Services	Baker	Up
Services	Landscape Architects	Up
Services	Pest Controller	Up
Services	Chef	Up
Services	Caterer	Up
Services	Waiter - Waitress	Up
Sports	Athletes	Up
Sports	Coaches	Up
Sports	Umpires	Up
Sports	Physical Trainer	Up
Technology	Electrical Engineers	Up
Technology	Biological Scientists	Up
Technology	Electronic Technician	Up
Technology	CAD Operator	Up
Technology	Product Designer	Up
Technology	Sales Engineer	Up
Technology	Applications Engineer	Up
Technology	Product Marketing Engineer	Up
Technology	Technical Support Manager	Up
Technology	Product Development Manager	Up
Trades	Carpenter	Up
Trades	Plumber	Up
Trades	Electrician	Up
Travel & Transportation	Package Delivery Person	Up
Travel & Transportation	Flight Attendants	Up
Travel & Transportation	Hotel / Restaurant Managers	Up
Travel & Transportation	Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs	Up
Travel & Transportation	Drivers	Up

Source: CareerPlanner.com