How Do I Choose an Industry For My Career?
"The industries that today's kindergarten students will go into do not exist yet."
Being in the right industry at the right time can make a dumb person look smart, and being in the wrong industry at the wrong time can make a smart person look dumb. I learned this the good way when I co-founded a web development company during the dot-com boom and the hard way when I co-founded a book publishing company at a time when the industry is beginning to decline.
All too often, it seems that students pick careers based on what is "hot" at a given time. The problems with this strategy are:
- There is immense job competition, which makes it more difficult to get in and which gives employers the upper-hand.
- You may be going into a job that you're not passionate about and that is not based on your strengths. This means that you may not enjoy yourself and that others will probably be able to out-compete you.
- While the industry might be good right now, it may be a fad or at its maturation point.
Another strategy for picking industries is picking emerging ones (see chart below).
According to the The President's High Growth Job Training Initiative, the emerging industries are:
- advanced manufacturing
- automotive
- biotechnology
- construction
- energy
- financial services
- geospatial technology
- health care
- hospitality
- information technology
- retail
- transportation
For more information on these industries and where the opportunities inside of them are, visit
Career Voyages. For information on quickly growing occupations, check out the
Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Posted at November 23, 2005 12:36 PM
This is why I have always felt its 1000 times better to go with your passions than to pick based on whats hot. Now they may not work out, but you'll feel better.
Bonus points if you fuse your passion with an emerging field though!!
I think the real question is not what industry will you go into but, will you go into that industry as an employee or as an entrepeneur. Haveing had a nursing career and now a successful homebased business. I can definitely say that I enjoy the entrepeneurial side of the money wheel alot better. Great blog, I enjoyed this post.
