The ending of a year and a beginning of a new one is always an opportune time to start fresh. For many working adults, starting anew would usually involve an assessment of career and job opportunities. Real opportunities are best determined in direct relation to the existing and future job market since it would be almost whimsical to expect a promising career in an area where there is no identified need.
This is the reason for the great interest in knowing job market trends as they come. Actually, the key to maximizing a job trend is to spot it before it explodes. Hoping to be part of it when a job is already on the most wanted list is usually too late for most. We have to realize that most highly preferred jobs require appropriate experience, knowledge, and skills.
It is no secret that getting these qualifications require time. We derive experience from actually working on a particular field. We obtain knowledge from taking appropriate courses. We gain skills from getting the right educational background and the opportunity to apply learning on an actual work environment. All these cannot be rushed although we are seeing efforts to address these requirements through short intensive courses offered to working adults. At present, allowing an employed worker to pursue further studies answers the immediate need to establish experience and education at about the same time.
Unless one has the power to foresee the future, no one can really tell for sure what time has in store for the job market. We can however use certain indicators to guide us in narrowing down our options. Much sought-after jobs are driven by prevailing needs and these would include the need to save time and do things faster, the need to bring down costs while affording more convenience, as well as the need to make the world safer with an emphasis on better reliability. People who are involved in producing answers to these needs are expected to be in demand for the coming year and the years to come.