Dying Careers You Should Avoid

Yahoo ^ | Terence Loose

[BenLurkin]

It's been said that if you're not growing, you're dying. Well, that seems true when it comes to careers, too. Unfortunately, in today's fast-paced, technology-driven world, sometimes it's hard to predict which jobs will be winners and which will be losers. But understanding the likely trajectory of your chosen field will be crucial to your professional success.

"People need to ensure that they're in an industry, or working to enter one, that has long-term potential and security," says Debra Wheatman, a certified professional career coach and president of Careers Done Write. She says that if you're not careful, you could find yourself putting your best earning years into a dead-end job.

Or worse: By the time you do see the light, you might be stuck. "A career change often times means you have to start over at a more junior level," says Wheatman, "If you have a family or other debt obligations, it could be really difficult. These things have to be considered."

With your professional future in mind, we combed the U.S. Department of Labor, the authority on the nation's job trends, to find five common careers that may not be so common by 2020. And while they might not be completely phased out by then, they'll likely be either on their last legs or barely staying afloat.

And yet there is a silver lining. We also identified five alternatives that the Department of Labor says have a more promising future. Read on to see if your career goals are destined for success, or headed to the unemployment line.

[mnehring]

Didn’t another recent article list Underwriter as one of the best careers?

[napscoordinator]

All of those sound boring (the old and alternative), however, I am sure that there are tons of folks who love these jobs.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

Dying Career #2: Reporter
Alternative Career: [Democrat] Public Relations Specialist

It's worked for so many liberal reporters, why not?

[muir_redwoods]

One of my early jobs was as an offset cameraman. It essentially doesn’t exist anymore. For any work done with offset plates in small job shops, ( and perhaps big ones) the image goes directly from computer to plate.

[Buckeye McFrog]

surprising that Non-Attorney Spokesperson was not on the list.

[redhead]

Dying career? Try teletype operator. Yep. My area of expertise for years.

[freedumb2003]

>>Didn’t another recent article list Underwriter as one of the best careers?<<

I was thinking Undertaker might be a good career. Lots of customers and you know when you are finished you have a democratic voter!

[Tenacious 1]

We also identified five alternatives that the Department of Labor says have a more promising future.

1. Administrative lackey at the Department of Labor

2. Volunteer at the local Soup Kitchen

3. Census taker (They'll be needed again someday)

4. Government subsidy recipient

5. Politician

[Paladin2]

Linux still has tty commands. ;-)

[xrmusn]

Hmmm

One of MY options as a High Speed Morse Code Operator was to become a TTY Op.....

So much for progress....<: <: <:

[Lx]

There goes my buggy whip and gas lamp business.

[freedumb2003]

DBA as an alternative to semiconductor processor?

Those careers don’t posses a single atom of overlap. You might as well suggest deep sea diving as an alternate career.

[I cannot think of a name]

Dying Career #.01: Conservative, Heterosexual, Christian, male

Alternative Career: Well armed, mountain dwelling, survivalist

[plain talk]

Right. I think they started with dying jobs and then found a new equivalent of the old one. It definitely pays to watch these trends

[Puppage]

Obama Food Taster

[Cheerio]

An article with NO DATE just drives me crazy. I guess that is so they can recycle the article over and over - lazy #$%#^

[Aria]

I work in the tax dept of a Fortune 500 company and one of our vendors who does corporte tax consulting (20k property tax returns a year!) told me his dad told him to either become a mortician or a taxman. Good advice - this guy has an absolutely gorgeous house.

Have to say I feel pretty secure in the tax dept and it isn’t as bad as I originally thought.

[xrmusn]

I was thinking Undertaker might be a good career. Lots of customers
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Don’t know about that.
Had a ‘nightmare’ that consisted of my (finally) making it and cornering the market on ALL Funeral Homes and Cemeteries in the country and some fool came along with a pill to ‘allow’ people to live forever.

[Red Badger]

I remember tons of ads in the paper for ‘Key Punch Operators’ back in the early 70’s.............