Best Paid Careers or Ten Hottest Careers?

Which Is More Important?

Best paid careers or ten hottest careers? Which is more important when you're looking for your next job?

There's really no one right answer to this question. It depends on what you're looking for, really.

When looking at the best paid careers, you also need to think about which of these best paying careers are also projected to be growing careers in the next few years. After all, the best careers for the future will be those that are not only high paying, but still "hot" over the next few years.

So, let's look at this a few different ways...

Best Paid Careers Projected to Grow Fast

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that these best paying careers will also grow quickly in the coming years...

• Physicians and surgeons
• CEOs
• Podiatrists
• Lawyers
• Optometrists
• Athletes and sports competitors
• Computer and information systems managers
• Marketing managers
• Sales managers
• Chiropractors

Other best paid careers that might be up and coming would include: health services managers, physician assistants, market research analysts, physical therapists, and dental hygienists.

It's exceptionally clear that health care is not only a lucrative, but a much-needed career path for you to consider. Is there a health care career in your future career path?

But, let me caution you against choosing your next career based only on how much money you stand to make. Sure, we all like having money. It makes paying the bills and getting the things we want a lot easier. But the old adage that "money can't buy happiness" is sound. Think about it. For most of us, when we choose a career, we'll be spending at least half of our waking hours doing that job.

So, I ask you... Shouldn't you be doing something you love?

If you can find a career path that promises to be one of the best paid careers AND it's something you think you'd enjoy doing, great!

But if not, carefully weigh your choices before you make a final decision. When it comes right down to it, the best paid careers are those that pay off not only in dollars, but also in satisfaction and happiness.

Now, another way to look at things is to look at the ten hottest careers. Why? Because, the ten hottest careers in the future may give you some ideas on what might be the best careers for you.

How do we know what the 10 hottest careers will be?

One way is to examine the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projections...

They have ranked the best careers from 2002 to 2012 both by speed of growth and by amount of growth.

Ten Hottest Careers: Fastest Growing

Actually, we've listed more than 10 hottest careers here. These are the careers that the BLS predicts will grow the fastest over the next few years:

1. Medical assistants
2. Network systems and data communications analysts
3. Physician assistants
4. Social and human service assistants
5. Home health aides
6. Medical records and health information technicians
7. Physical therapy aides
8. Computer software engineers for applications
9. Computer software engineers for system software
10. Physical therapy assistants

As you can see, many of the ten hottest careers in terms of how fast they're growing will be in the health care industry, with the IT industry close behind.

Here are the next 10 fastest-growing careers...

11. Fitness trainers and aerobic instructors
12. Database administrators
13. Veterinary technologists and technicians
14. Hazardous materials removal workers
15. Dental hygienists
16. Occupational therapy aides
17. Dental assistants
18. Personal and home care aides
19. Self-enrichment education teachers
20. Computer systems analysts

See anything in that list that perks up your interest? I think there are definitely some pretty interesting possibilities for almost anyone seeking a new career.

The next ten hottest careers in terms of fast growth would include:

21. Occupational therapy assistants
22. Environmental engineers
23. Postsecondary teachers
24. Network and computer systems administrators
25. Environmental science and protection technicians, including health
26. Preschool teachers, except special education
27. computer and information systems managers
28. Physical therapists
29. Occupational therapists
30. Respiratory therapists

Now, it's important to realize that if you see a career that you'd like to pursue, it's not always as easy as just making a decision. In many cases, you'll need to go back to school or at the very least get some additional training.

Ten Hottest Careers: Most New Jobs

Another way to look at the hottest careers is by how many new jobs they'll produce in the next 10 years or so. Here are the BLS predictions for which careers will yield the most jobs...

1. Registered nurses
2. Postsecondary teachers
3. Retail salespersons
4. Customer service representatives
5. Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food
6. Cashiers, except gaming
7. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners
8. General and operations managers
9. Waiters and waitresses
10. Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

The next 10 hottest careers in terms of number of jobs are:

11. Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer
12. Receptionists and information clerks
13. Security guards
14. Office clerks
15. Teacher assistants
16. Sales representatives
17. Home health aides
18. Personal and home care aides
19. Truck drivers, light and delivery services
20. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers

Many of the top 20 best careers for amount of jobs are entry-level type positions, which is good news if you don't have a lot of job experience or an advanced degree.

The next ten hottest careers in this category include:

21. Elementary school teachers, except special education
22. Medical assistants
23. Maintenance and repair workers
24. Accountants and auditors
25. Computer systems analysts
26. Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education
27. Computer software engineers in applications
28. Management analysts
29. Food preparation workers
30. First-line supervisors/managers of retail workers

Hopefully, you see many opportunities for exploration among these best paid careers and ten hottest careers lists, if you're looking to make a career change in the near future. Of course, you'll also need to find careers that make sense for you, in terms of your interests, skills and education.

The best way to use this page is simply to use it as a tool for stimulating thought and ideas. Best paid careers... ten hottest careers... you be the judge!

If you want to look for more information on specific careers found on this page, try a Google search, using the box below...

You might also benefit from these pages:

• Career change advice
• Effective resume writing
• Job interview do's and don'ts