A couple of days ago, I was in my car and turned on my favorite talk radio station, only to hear Dave Ramsey, the Total Money Makeover guy, screaming at the top of his lungs, ranting and repeating the word, “Stupid!” He was referring to people who take out hundreds of dollars in student loans to get college degrees and then find out that there are no jobs that they are qualified for. His angle was the financial side of the situation, but it got me thinking. It’s great to take courses in underwater basket weaving and 2nd century iambic pentameter analysis, but if you can’t get a job later on, what’s the point! Stupid! A recent article predicted that even long standing jobs like newspaper reporter or postal worker will be extinct, due to the shift to email, social media and apps that bring the latest news 24/7 to your phone.
As the academic year ends for hundreds of thousands of high school seniors, many are frantically applying for colleges so they can get an education and get a great job, earn lots of money, buy all the toys they want and then retire at the age of 35. Great goal, but what great job will be waiting for them in 2016 or 2017 when they graduate? The future may actually be at the end of their thumbs, furiously flying over their Smartphone keypad.
You don’t need a crystal ball to predict your future. You only need to look around your house, your backpack or purse. What are the things you use every day? Cell phones, MP3 players, flat screen TVs, laptops, IPads, to name a few. What things do you like to do? Play video games or Wii. Spend hours online with your friends via social media sites. Look for jobs, furniture, clothing, vacations—just about anything—online. What are the latest trends or social concerns? You can join a bike race, 10k, or other challenge for your favorite charity or cause online. Chances are, if it can be converted to an app or accessed online, there’s a job out there to create and maintain it.
A quick, unscientific online job search on these keywords pulled up over a thousand jobs in the following areas:
Computers
Programmers
Social Media
Cell Phones
Under those categories were a variety of jobs in all aspects of the industry. Instead of searching college catalogs, I suggest a prospective high school graduate search an online jobsite to see where jobs are trending. They should look at their own habits and the products they use. Then choose a course of study that will prepare them to snag one of those hot jobs. You can still be a newspaper reporter or a poet—just an online version, accessible through an app, 24/7.
What do you predict will be a hot future job? Share your ideas in the Comments Section below.
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