Good Advice?
10/06/2009In the current economic situation it seems that everybody is trying to dole out advice. Some of this is actually helpful and necessary (see Time’s article on unemployment benefits here), some of this is interesting (see our News page), and some is just insulting to our intelligence (see GMTV’s article, including a definition of the term ‘recession’, here). The latest in this rapidly increasing trend is Time Magazine’s list of “10 Jobs for the Recession”. To save you the trouble of having to click through 11 pages in order to discover all ten fabulous recession jobs, we’ve compiled the full list below:
- Accountant
- Entrepreneur
- Police Officer
- Network and Computer Systems
- Nurse
- Nutritionist
- Physical Therapist
- Teacher
- Mathematician
- Government Manager
When I first spotted this article I had started to give up on the job hunt as I was getting seriously frustrated by a lack of response. This article made me pause, offering insight into ‘pockets of employment, both for new grads and midlifers reinventing themselves, that offer decent pay with great benefits and security’. Reading this, I thought perhaps I’ve been looking at the wrong industry. Maybe what I really want isn’t what I’ll likely find and I should expand my search. I decided to take the time, click through the 11 pages of content, and try to get some advice on where to look for a job.
The problem here is that 4 of the jobs listed require a postgraduate degree simply to get an entry-level position. Which means going back to school, taking out thousands of dollars in loans, driving myself further into debt, simply in the hopes it will pay off with a job in an uncertain market. Two of the jobs require a degree in Maths (oops…fall short there), 1 requires managerial experience (which admin definitely isn’t), and 1 I find completely boring (no offence to techies). This leaves me two options: Entrepreneur or Police Officer. Sadly I don’t think I have any skills to market, goods to offer, or business savvy. So…cop? fuzz? Could you see me walking the beat?
What about you? Read any good advice lately? Or bad advice for that matter?