A few years ago my cousin Chuck challenged me to help him identify the "happy hunting ground" - the "best" industries - for his next career. I laid out some ideas and options for him, and he ended up migrating from real estate to banking, where he's been very happy so far. This is an updated version of that information which includes the best industries for career changers plus the best industries for high school and college students.

Develop Your Criteria for Picking an Industry

As a layoff survivor, my criteria for choosing a new employer are different than they were before I was laid off. I think I'm smarter - now.

These are the criteria I used for Chuck and they are still appropriate:

• An industry which has a stable future where jobs will be difficult to out-source or off-shore
  
• An industry which is growing - the demographics indicate long term demand will grow or at least not shrink
  
• An industry which is everywhere - so you could change locations but still find a job

[For detailed information about which jobs are most plentiful in over 500 U.S. cities (plus the average annual salary), check out Job-Hunt's Careers by State section to pick your state's page which has the data for each major city in the state.]

Which Industries Meet the Criteria

Using the U.S. Department of Labor's Career Guide to Industries as my information source, I was able to look at many industries to pick the ones which looked the most promising. The Career Guide to Industries covers many more industries than the ones below, but I've picked out the largest, most stable, and best growth forecasted.

As you look at this list, remember that these industries don't need only the usual industry professionals we all immediately think of (e.g. doctors, dentists, and nurses in health care), they also need all the usual support and administrative services (finance, HR, IT, facilities, marketing, sales, etc.), too.

For career changers, these industries offer the best opportunities across the USA:

1. Health care, senior care, and dentistry - the largest industry in the U.S. and also the most rapidly growing. Most workers in this industry have jobs that require less than 4 years of college education.
   
   The health related industries are growing, whether they want to or not, because the population is growing. An increasing (and aging) population means increased demand, particularly in the field of taking care of seniors. At least the health care benefits should be good when you work for one of these employers! See the Health Services analysis in the U.S. Department of Labor's Career Guide to Industries for more details.
   
   
2. Educational services, colleges, universities, and K-12 schools - the second largest industry, projected to grow at about half the rate of the health care industry. Nearly 50% of the workers in this industry have a 4 year college degree or better.
   
   Teaching jobs are becoming more plentiful, according to the Educational Services analysis in the Career Guide to Industries, because of retirements. And, colleges, universities, and k-12 schools offer opportunities for many positions in addition to teaching and education. Harvard University has jobs for glass blowers, campus police, cooks, landscapers, programmers, HR, etc.
   
   
3. Financial services, banks and financial institutions, insurance companies - 66% of the jobs in this industry are office and administrative support positions which offer good opportunities for advancement.
   
   These are the employers with the money, and also where the "bean counters" live. According to the analysis of the Banking Industry in the Career Guide to Industries, employment in the banking industry is projected to grow more slowly than average due to consolidation (big banks buying smaller ones) and increased automation. As usual, don't assume that the only jobs available are for professional "bankers" - the traditional support services and administration, etc. are also in very great demand and are excellent entry points.
   
   
4. Government (federal, state, local, but NOT the Postal Service) - 90% of government workers do NOT work in Washington, D.C. so don't assume that you'd have to move, but do expect quite a bit of competition for these jobs since they are usually stable and well-paying with excellent benefits.
   
   We can't live without them, but it government budgets are not growing in most departments and functions so it doesn't look like a growth sector, according to the analysis of Government in the Career Guide to Industries.
   

For high school and college students, the following industries offer good opportunities to earn money and gather experience:

1. Food service and drinking industry - this is the # 1 industry for employees in the 16 to 24 age range and projected growth through 2016 with 20% of employees between 16 and 19, and 40% of employees are part-time (twice the proportion for all industries). Average earnings are in the $8.00 to $10.00/hour range. See the analysis of Food Service and Drinking Places in the Career Guide to Industries.
   
   
2. Transportation and warehouse - truck drivers hold 45% of the jobs in this industry, requiring only a high school education plus the appropriate commercial driver's license. Other jobs include clerks, packers, and movers. Average earnings are in the $10.00 to $25.00/hour range, depending on the level of skill and experience. The rising price of fuel may have a negative impact on the number of jobs and the salaries in this industry. See Transportation and Warehousing in the Career Guide to Industries for more detailed information.
   
   
3. Retail - sales jobs make up over 40% jobs in this industry, and they do not require a 4 year college degree. Most of the jobs are for employers with 10 or fewer employees, definitely small businesses. Salaries range from $8.00/hour for cashiers to $15.00/hour for the store managers. See Clothing, Accessory, and General Merchandise in the Career Guide to Industries for more detailed information.

For much more information on this topic and many more industries, visit the U.S. Department of Labor's Career Guide to Industries.

Small Employers vs. Large Ones

Having worked mostly for large companies, I appreciated the wide range of opportunities they offered - changing departments, job functions, and even locations while retaining the same salary, benefits, and (a mixed blessing!) senior management. However, employment growth for the last few decades has been in small to mid-sized companies.

Larger organizations typically require people to specialize, which is both good a bad. Usually specialists are paid well, but if something changes in the industry or profession, they can be caught in a deadend, unable to find a job with a different employer, or just plain unemployed if their specialty is replaced by automation or becomes irrelevant.

In my experience, small companies typically offer their employees a wider range of opportunities to try different tasks and build experience for their resumes. Fewer employees mean that those employees need to do a wider range of tasks. So you can end up with a little experience in a lot of different fields by working for a small employer.

My experience with small employers is that the internal "politics" will usually be more visible than they are in a larger employer where the size of the organization limits your ability to know who is doing what, where. In a smaller organization, the politics will probably be more visible, but they can also be more stressful since everyone typically knows what everyone else is doing. It's like the difference between in living in a small town vs. living in a large town.

From a layoff-avoidance perspective, neither is particularly safe, but the larger employers do have a long track record of "off-shoring" (moving jobs to a different country where labor costs are cheaper).

So, the large employer vs. small employer is a trade-off.

---------------------------------------------
About the author...

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff "graduate" who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

Return to Job-Hunt Home.