See what it takes to prepare for careers in these growing fields.

By Tony Moton

Are you thinking of transitioning to a new career field?

Before you make the big leap to a new profession, be sure you know where the job growth is.

Did you know, for example, that in April 2011, some of the country’s top career fields saw impressive hiring totals?

Among the leading sectors reported in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) “Employment Situation” April findings…

• Health care: Added 37,000 new jobs.
• Professional and business: Expanded with the addition of 51,000 new jobs.
• Leisure and hospitality: Increased by 46,000 new jobs.

Want to prepare for a career in these rising fields? Keep reading to find out!

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Prepare For A Career in a Growing Field

Check out these desk-defying careers that could get you off your seat and on your feet.

By Tony Moton

Tired of being stuck in a cubicle? Dread the sedentary life of office work?

Good news: there are careers out there that can get you out of the office.

And it’s a good thing too – career expert Laurence Shaktin, co-author of the book “175 Best Jobs Not Behind a Desk,” points out that working long hours while seated or immobile can be risky business.

“There’s a lack of physical fitness in the population,” Shatkin says. “It’s documented that sitting at a desk all day is not good for your health.”

But back to the good news…According to Shatkin, the outlook and earnings for people who like to be physically active are good. “This is particularly true in health care because these jobs have a fair amount of physical activity and they pay well,” says Shatkin.

Think a career outside the cube might be for you? Check out the following desk-defying careers.

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Careers That Could Get You Out of The Office

Find out how you can get a job in this in-demand field.

By Tony Moton

A noticeable pattern has developed in the health care industry.

Workers keep getting hired.

Health care providers added 24,000 new jobs in October 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, while averaging an increase of 20,000 jobs per month over the past year.

Health care’s hot track record for hiring isn’t a recent occurrence. It’s actually part of a much more long-term trend, says John Canally, an economist and investment strategist at Boston-based LPL Financial.

“Health care added 700,000 jobs from December 2007, when the recession started, to October 2010,” says Canally. “No other job sector did that.”

Looking for a stable career with a variety of training options? Keep reading to see how you can train for a hot career in health care.

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What’s The Hottest Career Field?

Health Care

Don’t get stuck in a dead career. Check out our list of thriving, high-growth careers.

By Tony Moton

From the mid-19th into the early 20th century, there were plenty of jobs for skilled breaker boys.

What is a breaker boy? A dead job, that’s what.

Breaker boys separated impurities from coal by hand in coal-breaking facilities. The occupation became extinct, mostly due to technological advancements.

The fact is some careers are dead. While some are barely breathing…

Recent lists published by Mainstreet.com and Investopedia.com reveal a few well-known dead or dying careers:

• Telegraph Operator - They were in heavy demand during World War I and World War II … stop. People no longer use Morse code … stop.
• Lamplighter - Back in the dark ages (ahem!), there was steady work for people who lit gas lamps. Then along came electric streetlights, thus dimming lamplighters’ job hopes for good.
• Photo Processor - One-hour photo operations might have already enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame with the growth of digital technology.
• Watch Salesperson - Does anyone still buy a Rolex or Timex from a sales specialist who only sells watches?
• Data Entry Clerk - This one may surprise you. Even though there is much more data floating around, the clerks who copy and enter it are going the way of the slide rule.

Want to make sure your career doesn’t end up in the obit column like these jobs?

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Thriving (and Dying) Careers

If your goal is to have high earning potential, consider one of these 5 career paths.

By Tony Moton

Think making your way to a six figure salary is impossible?

With the right education, and the right career roadmap, you can make it happen.

Take Debbie Tay, a nurse practitioner who started her path to career success by earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing; worked for a year as a registered nurse (RN); then returned to the classroom to earn her master’s degree in nursing. She’s now making $100,000 per year as a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner.

We’re not saying that everyone will find the same success as Tay, but if you’d like to learn more about some career roadmaps with high earning potential, keep reading.

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The Path To A Career with High Earning Potential

5 stable careers that keep workers on solid ground.

By Tony Moton

According to the latest employment projections from the U.S. Department of Labor, good news is on the horizon for job seekers.

Check out five recession-resistant jobs expected to experience employment growth through 2018.

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Recession-Resistant Careers

If you want to land one of the country’s best careers, check out the education and preparation that could help get you there.

By Tony Moton

If you’re in the market for a new career – and willing to do a little training to get there – you might want to look to Money and PayScale’s 2010 “Best Jobs in America” list.

The annual list features 100 top careers that score high in areas such as earning potential, employment outlook, and flexibility.

[Search for colleges and universities now]

But what does it take to actually qualify for one of these jobs?

We took a look at the top 100 and spotlighted seven jobs that almost anyone can work toward. To help you figure out which – if any – of these “Best Jobs” is right for you, check out the list below…

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How To Get America’s “Best” Careers

Get matched with careers that fit your personality.

By Tony Moton

Character traits can go a long way in determining how successful and satisfied you’ll be in your career.

Just ask career experts Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin.

“Your personality type affects your satisfaction with the job, your productivity in it, and the likelihood that you will persist in this type of work,” write Farr and Shatkin in their book “Best Jobs for Your Personality”.

[Prepare for a career that suits your personality. Find schools now.]

This connection between personality and careers became the focus of researcher John L. Holland’s studies in the 1950s, when he developed six personality types as they related to occupations:

• Realistic
• Investigative
• Artistic
• Social
• Enterprising
• Conventional

Keep reading to find your personality type. Then see which careers are a good fit for you.

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Find Good-Fit Careers for Your Personality

Career experts weigh in on jobs that are in-demand and here to stay.

By Tony Moton

The recession, technology, and automation have all affected employment stability in today’s job market.

The good news is that there are plenty of careers that canpotentially withstand the test of hard times, and that will likely be around for years.

Shelly Field, a career expert from Catskills, New York, says there are excellent opportunities for job seekers to have careers that flourish well into the future.

“Jobs that stick around are the ones where technology enhances the job and doesn’t take away from what the job is,” says Field, author of The Unofficial Guide to Hot Careers and 100 Best Careers for the 21st Century.

If you’re interested in finding out which careers could be more likely to stick around, keep reading…

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Careers With Staying Power

Professional services are in. Manufacturing is out. Educated workers to benefit most from new opportunities, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

By Tony Moton

Recent studies by the U.S. Department of Labor indicate that U.S. metropolitan areas – cities with at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants – are experiencing a shift in the top employment sectors.

On the way up: Careers connected to the professional, business, and technical industries. These provide specific services and expertise that help clients and customers.

On the way down: Careers related to manufacturing, trade, transportation, and public utilities – industries that focus primarily on the delivery of goods and products.

“There has been a definite shift over a long period of time, and not just in the last decade,” says Diane Nilsen, a regional economist for the U.S. Department of Labor. “The service-producing industries are getting larger and larger all the time.”

One of Nilsen’s studies discovered that rust-belt capital Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s biggest employment sectors had shifted to education and health care services during the 10-year period from 1998 to 2008.

Careers in the professional and business industries generally offer higher earning potential, but getting the right education and preparation is often necessary to land them. Among wide-ranging careers in this category are health care and human services, education and teaching, and the legal field.

If you’re on the hunt for a career with strong hiring opportunity and earning potential, here are six careers on the rise in big cities.

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Big City Careers Shifting