Emerging Careers

Career preparation is a dynamic process. The fact is many careers of the future do not yet exist and are difficult to predict. Technological, social, and economic factors all have an impact on the types of careers present in a society. Some careers of the past have disappeared completely; others have been reduced to a specialty, such as full-service gas station services. When did you last visit a service station that offered full-service gas attendants who washed the windows, and checked your tire pressure and oil? Did you even know that gas stations used to offer these services? Objectives  Identify social and economic factors that promote emerging careers.  Consider the impact of technological innovation on the workforce.  Use current social and economic environments to predict emerging careers. Vocabulary a career that arises to solve a problem or improve work emerging career conditions, product/service performance, or quality of life describes a career in which attention is given to reducing the green career negative impact industries and society have on the environment Emerging Careers

An emerging career is a new career that arises to solve a problem or improve work conditions, product/service performance, or quality of life. Some emerging careers center on social and environmental factors that affect these aspects of life. New products and services have the potential to create a variety of careers including research, development, processing, production, education, training, marketing, sales, distribution and analysis. New Technology Many careers have emerged thanks to technology. New technology is developing at an astounding speed. The technology and communications fields are exploding with emerging careers for creating and supporting technical innovation. Software developers are needed to create new programs or modify existing ones. Game designers are needed to create new games that can be played on smartphones. Social media specialists are needed to help businesses navigate the complex world of online and e- mail advertising. Thanks to new technology, the list of jobs emerging is seemingly endless. Take handheld computer tablets for example. In the 1990s they barely existed; now they are everywhere. As tablets became part of our society, so did the jobs they created to manufacture, market, and sell the tablets, and to create software and applications for them. The items emerged as a solution to two problems. First, tablets are less expensive than their larger laptop counterparts. Second, they offer more utility than smartphones because they’re more powerful and the bigger screen is easier to read. Green Careers Social factors also drive the emergence of new jobs. Let’s look at recycling and waste management for example. Factories used to commonly release untreated waste into rivers and waterways. Ohio’s Cuyahoga River even became so polluted that flames actually erupted on the water several times from the 1930s through the 1960s. During the 1950s and 1960s, people began to realize that factory waste not only killed fish and other animals that lived near rivers, but it was also polluting the drinking water —and sometimes it was impossible to remove all the chemicals, some of which caused birth defects and deadly diseases such as cancer. People started to demand that companies change their practices and make sure any waste produced wasn’t damaging the environment or causing health problems. People also demanded that the government take action when businesses ignored their pleas. Companies eventually responded. Many new careers emerged from this drive for a cleaner environment. As a matter of fact, a 2010 study from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 3.1 million jobs were in the field of green careers. A green career is a career in which attention is given to reducing the negative impact our culture has on the environment. Helping factories deal with toxic waste and redesigning product packaging to reduce and/or eliminate plastics that might find their way to landfills are two examples of jobs in the green career field. Green careers focus on innovations aimed at improving the quality of our environment. Growing efforts have been made to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials. Responsible use of natural resources is aimed at reducing their depletion. Industries that focus on sustainable forestry practices or wastewater management both improve the quality of our environment. So do environmental engineers who use their knowledge of biology and chemistry to deal with pollution, recycling, and waste management. There also are environmental geologists, who use the principles of geology to solve environmental problems, and there are recycling program coordinators who manage community solid waste and recycling education programs. All of these jobs aim to improve the environment. The energy industry is another growth area for green careers. Exploration to discover alternative sources of energy has created enormous job growth and many emerging careers in the areas of wind, biofuel (plants), hydro (water), and solar (sun) energy. Windmill farms have begun to populate the U.S. landscape, including large wind farms in California, Iowa, Illinois, and Texas. Globally, China, the United Kingdom, and Denmark all use wind energy. The need to design, build, and maintain these wind farms has created a whole new field of careers. Solar panels are now commonplace on many homes in sunny parts of the world, such as in the Southwest United States. Some electric companies are even building entire fields of solar panels to capture energy from the sun and convert it into electricity that can help power cities. Emerging career fields in solar technology include designing, building, and installing solar panels. Even in the field of architecture there is a specialty that deals with designing energy- efficient buildings. Green architects design their buildings to maximize the use of natural lighting as well as use building materials that absorb and distribute solar heat, and improve air circulation. The bottom line is green careers are the continuing solution to a problem: we want to lessen our culture’s impact on the environment. Changing Global Economy E-commerce is the use of the Internet to buy and sell goods and services. The ability to purchase items from anywhere in the world while using a computer in an office or at home (or even using a smartphone anywhere you can get a cellphone signal) has created an incredible number of emerging careers. This trend will likely continue as technological advancements change how people buy goods and services. Online stores are a great example of how the changing global economy has promoted emerging careers in the areas of virtual shopping and alternative methods of payment. Let's Review! The type of careers in a society changes according to technological advancements, social reforms and opinions, and economic conditions. For this reason some careers become unnecessary or subject to modification. Careers that develop as a result of these changes are referred to as emerging careers. Careers of the future are difficult to predict as they often bear little resemblance to those that exist today. Careers often emerge for the following reasons:  to solve a problem  to improve work conditions  to improve product and service performance  in response to environmental factors  to improve quality of life New products and services are often the result of solving problems. Many inventions have been born of frustration or through ideas for improving processes and products. New products and services have the potential to create a variety of careers, including research, development, processing, production, education, training, marketing, sales, distribution and analysis. Scientific data coupled with social interest has led to the emergence of careers focused on environmental protection. Green careers committed to reducing the negative impact industries and society have on the environment are emerging rapidly. Growing efforts have been made to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials. Responsible use of natural resources is aimed at reducing their depletion. Exploration of alternative sources of energy has promoted careers in the areas of wind, biofuel (plants), hydro (water), and solar (sun) energy.