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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Leads for On-Going Data Sources About Jobs, January 1, 2001
No perspective written about the job market at one point in time can hope to be accurate for very long. This book offsets that inherent weakness by providing you with lots of places to get up-to-the-minute information. This book will be of most value to those thinking about what programs to follow for vocational training, college, and graduate school. It will also be of some help to younger people in the job market who are thinking about changing careers. The book's main weakness is in placing almost no focus on becoming your own boss by starting a business of your own.Here is the design of this book, including some of the contents of the major sections: Chapter 1: Are You Ready for the 21st Century? -- "Whatever you're doing today will most certainly be history ten years from now." Be "fast on your feet and entrepreneurial." "[D]o what you really love." The chapter also has a quiz to help you test how well you understand the future job environment as described in the book. Chapter 2: Preparation for Turbulence and New Opportunities -- You will require marketable skills, have to change careers, use new career tools and change your focus, and relocate into new areas with better economic growth. Seven key changes are outlined. For example, jobs will be both rapidly created and eliminated (through downsizing and starting of new businesses). The change described about boom or bust growth in new jobs I find questionable. Job growth should be robust for at least the next 8 years due to demographics. Chapter 3: Preparation for 33 Coming Changes -- These focus on where shortages will occur. An example is a forecast of unemployment ranging between 4 and 9 percent, and suggesting that you be wary about periods of high unemployment. As I mentioned above, this is unlikely to occur until after 2008. This is the most interesting part of the book. Most of the observations hold water to me, such as the idea that many skilled and high-technology jobs will move off shore where employment costs are much lower. Chapter 4: Identify the Best Jobs for Tomorrow -- The fastest growing areas are in science, engineering, computer technology and health services. Job satisfaction is highest for sociologists, biologists, and dental hygienists (there's no explanation of why this is true). Many other lists are included to stimulate your imagination. Chapter 5: Best Paying Jobs and Salary Ranges -- 229 occupations are briefly profiled with thumbnail sketches. Chapter 6: Best Places to Live and Work -- The accuracy of thiis information very much depends on what your objectives and preferences are. So take this information with a big dose of skepticism. Chapter 7: Medical and Health Care Careers Chapter 8: Computer and Internet Careers Chapter 9: Science and Engineering Careers Chapter 10: Business and Finance Careers Chapter 11: Education, Government and Legal Careers Chapter 12: Art, Media, and Entertainment Careers Chapter 13: Travel and Hospitality Careers Chapter 14: Resolution, Personal Services, and Transportation Careers Chapters 7-14 are basic overviews of these job areas. These will be helpful only to those who have essentially no knowledge now in a particular area. You get basic descriptions of the work, salaries, and special issues. It isn't made clear how hard it is to qualify for these jobs. Chapter 15: Finding the Best Job for the Future -- This chapter is about places to get more and more up-to-date information. As you can see, this is a resource book more than a "how to" book. It gives you almost no help in figuring out how to fit your career and personal life together, how to understand how a type of job will fit your personality and specific interests, and how to go about testing the potential "fit" before moving into a job or career path. On the other hand, it is the most complete resource book I have seen. So it can play a useful role in your life planning. After you have studied this book, I suggest that you take a psychological test to help you narrow down potential fields by how well their activities relate to your mental and emotional preferences. Then, this book will be much more helpful to you. I also encourage you to read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" to get another perspective on how to organize your life, especially about establishing a business and becoming an investor. Choose a beautiful life for you and those you love! Good luck!
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