It is no surprise that one of the fastest growing areas of employment in recent years relates to computer technology. Technological advance and the continued integration of IT and digital communications into the workplace throughout the private, public and voluntary sectors ensures that this trend will continue for some time. Systems analysts, designers and developers, computer programmers, web developers, consultants and information managers reflect the range of these career areas. Hardware engineers are also needed, working in infrastructure construction and repair, fibre, cable, satellites, etc.
Another guaranteed growth area is the healthcare sector. The increasing number of healthcare jobs is directly attributable to the growing age of the population – people are living longer so there are more people in the older age groups – and the expansion of treatments available for medical conditions, whether delivered in the primary healthcare sector or within hospitals. Consequently, there is also an expansion in the number of administrative and support roles needing to be filled.
Other careers deemed to be 'hot' future career prospects relate to areas of scientific advance, and in particular the "bio" sciences, such as biotechnology. Tissue engineers and gene programmers have been highlighted, but all skill levels are included – as companies grow, so does their administration infrastructure. Other new scientific areas include nanotechnology and energy technology.
Demographic changes are leading to other needs in addition to healthcare. Teaching and tourism, training and development, and care of the elderly are all areas where openings are set to increase, as are financial advisors.
Services that already exist will grow further as the population ages. Standard professions include the legal sector, police, teachers, tutors, etc. Meanwhile, there is a general return amongst certain income sectors of paying for domestic support with the services of maids and cleaners, drivers, etc. This is increasingly common as the higher divorce levels yield more one-parent families.
New services are developing that are opening out into recognised career fields. Many of these are provided directly to the consumer. Counselling and variouscomplementary therapies are obvious examples, as well as physical training instructors and coaches.
It's important that you keep up with future career trends within your own profession as well as what's happening in the wider world. If your skill set becomes outdated, then it will be more difficult for you to find a job in the future. CV writing will also become harder for you and you may struggle to write a professional CV that gets you the interviews you want.