30 HIGH-PAYING, FAST GROWING JOBS THAT ARE SET TO BOOM

Whether you're just starting your career or have been working for a while, it's crucial to think ahead. As the legendary hockey player Wayne Gretzky famously said, "I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been." The same principle applies to your career - you must keep an eye on emerging trends and opportunities to leverage your skills for a fast-growing profession instead of getting stuck in a dead-end job.

If you're eager to advance your career, you may find the monthly jobs report compiled by the United States Department of Labor, which analyzes employment trends, an invaluable resource. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is responsible for gathering and presenting this data, providing a wealth of information and statistics about jobs and careers.

While most economists, Wall Street professionals, and statistics enthusiasts follow the monthly jobs reports, proactive individuals who want to take their careers to the next level can benefit greatly from the BLS's comprehensive reports. The BLS provides lists of the fastest-growing jobs and careers, along with information about their salaries.

But before we delve into specific job roles, let's first take a look at the sectors that are expected to experience rapid growth. According to the BLS, overall employment in the United States is projected to increase from "153.5 million to 165.4 million over the 2020–30 decade, an increase of 11.9 million jobs." 

Here are the jobs that the U.S. Labor Department and BLS project will be the fastest growing jobs going into 2030, along with the median annual pay:

• Wind turbine service technicians: $56,230
• Nurse practitioners: $111,680
• Solar photovoltaic installers: $46,470
• Statisticians: $92,270
• Physical therapist assistants: $59,770
• Information security analysts: $103,590
• Home health and personal care aides: $27,080
• Medical and health services managers: $104,280
• Data scientists and mathematical science occupations, all other: $98,230
• Physician assistants: $115,390
• Epidemiologists: $74,560
• Logisticians: $76,270
• Speech-language pathologists: $80,480
• Animal trainers: $31,520
• Computer numerically controlled tool programmers: $57,740
• Genetic counselors: $85,700
• Crematory operators and personal care and service workers, all other: $28,420
• Operations research analysts: $86,200
• Actuaries: $111,030
• Health specialties teachers, postsecondary: $99,090
• Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialists: $42,150
• Interpreters and translators: $52,330
• Athletic trainers: $49,860
• Respiratory therapists: $62,810
• Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors: $47,660
• Food preparation and serving related workers, all other: $27,080
• Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary: $75,470
• Woodworkers, all other: $33,630
• Phlebotomists: $36,320
• Software developers and software quality assurance analysts and testers: $110,140

Job interview thank-you letter examples

 

A thank-you letter can help you seal the deal after an interview. Use this sample to craft one that can help boost your candidacy.

Writing a hiring manager a thank-you letter for an interview is one of those things that you absolutely must do during your job search. Even if you think an offer is in the bag, you can always improve your chances of getting the job if you send thank-you notes. But do you know that most applicants don’t send a post-interview thank-you letter? It's bizarre, but true.

Not only does a thank-you letter after an interview allow you to show off your good manners, it also helps remind the hiring manager who you are and what strengths you would bring to the position. Who knows how many people are being considered for the position? It could be two or twenty. Now think about the dozens (or hundreds) of resumes that a hiring manager has to review prior to the interview stage, and you can see where even the most sparkling of personalities might get lost in the shuffle.

When it comes to the job search, don't leave anything to chance. Promptly send a thank-you to your interviewer. And in your letter, reiterate your core strengths and emphasize the value you offer. You can even squelch any concerns the employer raised about your qualifications and add important information you didn’t get to discuss in the interview. Check out this sample thank-you letter for an interview:

John Smith
14 Elm St. | Sometown, CA 55555 | 555-555-5555 | john@somedomain.com

[Date]

Ms. Amy Lin
Manager
ABC Company
1 Corporate Way
Sometown, CA 55555

Dear Ms. Lin:

Thank you for meeting with me this morning to discuss the executive assistant position. I enjoyed our conversation, and I am very excited about the possibility of joining your team.

I know what it takes to run a busy and successful insurance office. In my last position as an administrative assistant for XYZ Company, I helped manage all aspects of the operation, handling tasks such as bookkeeping, customer service, claims processing, report preparation and ongoing communications with the district manager.

You mentioned that you need an assistant who has strong people skills, and this is an area in which I excel. At XYZ Company, I helped the manager build a loyal client base by consistently providing excellent service. My last supervisor said, “John is one of the hardest-working employees I have known. His friendly and professional customer-service skills helped the firm achieve a 20 percent revenue increase last year, and I couldn’t have done it without him.”

I don’t see the executive assistant role as a punch-the-clock, 9-to-5 job; I will be your “right hand”—helping you manage the day-to-day operations, volunteering for special projects, and ensuring the company is positioned for growth and increased profitability.

Again, thank you for considering me for this exciting opportunity. As you requested, I’m enclosing a list of professional references. Please feel free to call me if you need additional information, have any questions or would like to offer me the job! Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

John Smith

Enclosure: List of References

Ready to send out some thank-you letters? Do this next

Now that you know what a thank-you letter for an interview looks like, let's put that knowledge to good use. Gratitude is always welcome, but before you can start sending out a few good thank-you notes, you'll need to nab some job interviews. Not sure how to get started? We can help. Join Monster for free today. As a member, you can get job alerts sent directly to your inbox, plus you can upload up to five versions of your resume and cover letter. Recruiters search Monster every day looking to fill top jobs with outstanding candidates—just like you. Get your stationery ready (we'll also be expecting a note).

5 Career-Related New Year’s Resolutions (and 5 Tips for Keeping Them)

 

Welcome to January, dear readers! We at Harvard Business School Working Knowledge want nothing but the best for you in the new year. And for those of you who have made New Year’s resolutions for a better work life, we wish you nothing but success. To that end, we’re sharing some well-researched tips from Harvard Business School faculty to help you keep your career-related resolutions this year.

1. Resolution: To gain more respect at the office.

Tip: Wear weird sneakers to work.

Research by Silvia Bellezza, Francesca Gino, and Anat Keinan shows that people who wear funky outfits to the office are often seen as more confident and as having higher status than those who dress to fit in.

As writer Dina Gerdeman explains, “The researchers found that observers viewed a nonconforming person to have a heightened status and more competence, particularly when they believed the person was aware of the established norm but deliberately chose to make a fashion statement by wearing a standout style. This person was often viewed as autonomous; confident enough to act independently and create his or her own rules.”

To learn more, read Gerdeman's story The Manager in Red Sneakers.

2. Resolution: Work harder to meet the demands of a job where you’ve been failing to shine.

Tip: Ask yourself whether the problem is actually the job, not you.

Today’s jobs are expanding in terms of what is expected of people, but the resources people get to do those jobs is not expanding,” says Robert Simons, the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. “People feel more pressure to own their roles and they’re stressed because they’re being pulled in a lot of different directions, but they’re not getting the help they need.”

To that end, Simons created a free online job design optimization tool. Try it out to see if your job is offering a healthy mix of responsibility and support. If the answer is no, then talk to your supervisor about creating a more-balanced job. If that’s not feasible, maybe it’s time to look for a new job.

To learn more about evaluating your current position, read Dina Gerdeman’s story, Bad at Your Job? Maybe It’s the Job’s Fault.

3. Resolution: Score a job interview at your dream company.

Tip: Stop posting embarrassing photos online—even on Snapchat.

Are you someone who feels compelled to share every sordid moment of your life online, yet are also aware that most job recruiters check candidates’ social media channels during the hiring process? Then maybe you rely on apps like Snapchat and Instagram Stories, which allow you to share photos that disappear from the web shortly after you post them or share them with friends. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Problem solved, right? Might as well Snapchat that lampshade on your head, right?

Wrong. It turns out that if a potential employer ever saw an embarrassing selfie of you, it may come back to haunt you.

The impression that a temporarily shared selfie makes does not disappear when the [photos] disappear,” says social science researcher Leslie K. John, the Marvin Bower Associate Professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of the paper “Temporary Sharing Prompts Unrestrained Disclosures That Leave Lasting Negative Impressions.”

To learn more, read Rachel Layne’s story Beware the Lasting Impression of a ‘Temporary’ Selfie.

4. Resolution: Ace that job interview at your dream company.

Tip: Ask a lot of questions, especially follow-up questions.

Behavioral science research suggests that people who ask follow-up questions tend to land better jobs than people who don’t. (That goes for landing second dates, too.)

”Compared to those who do not ask many questions, people who do are better liked and learn more information from their conversation partners,” says Alison Wood Brooks, assistant professor and Hellman Faculty Fellow at Harvard Business School, and co-author of the paper “It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask: Question-Asking Increases Liking.”

“It’s an easy-to-deploy strategy anyone can use to not only be perceived as more emotionally intelligent, but to actually be more emotionally intelligent as well,” she says.

To learn more, read Rachel Layne’s story Asking Questions Can Get You a Better Job or a Second Date.

5. Resolution: Increase productivity among your employees.

Tip: Spend less time watching them work.

While open office spaces have become commonplace in many industries, research by Ethan Bernstein shows that decreasing the observation of your employees will likely increase their productivity.

What’s more, the less you watch your employees, the more you’ll know what they’re doing. Bernstein calls this the Transparency Paradox. In short: Broad visibility of employees at work may induce secretive behavior, thus reducing real transparency, whereas boundaries may actually increase it.