Career counselors are often quick to recommend fields where a personnel shortage currently exists. That seems logical...after all, shouldn't you train for positions where the jobs are?

Perhaps not. Take the teaching profession. For years, it was chronically understaffed--so thousands of students and mid-life career changers decided to train to become teachers. But just as they got their certification, the economy went into recession. With declining tax revenues, school districts began laying off teachers. Now there are now too many qualified teachers and not enough openings. The shortage of teachers has turned into a glut.

To help you avoid falling into that trap, we're profiling four up-and-coming careers in our Thanksgiving Day program. Our consultant, Dr. Marty Nemko, says each meets two criteria: 1) it should grow in demand in the coming years 2) it is still largely undiscovered. One is "Patient Advocate." Never heard of it? That's the idea. As Marty put it: "Everyone knows there's going to be a great need for physicians' assistants and nurse practitioners. But most people have never read about a patient advocate. It's under the radar--so the competition may be less rigorous." And a bonus is that becoming a patient advocate requires far less training than most other medical specialties.

The other careers being profiled are "Asian Business Development Specialist," "Immigration Specialist" and "Emergency Planning Manager." All of these take advantage of expected business or demographic trends that should mean more demand for people with these skills.

For example, did you know that 80% of U.S. population growth in the next few years is projected to be from immigrants or their descendants? Nemko says that will mean a huge need for professionals who can provide services to immigrants--from translators to lawyers.

Talk about need-- Asia Business Development Specialist should be a "no-brainer." It's no secret that Asia is accounting for an ever increasing share of this nation's trade. That should bode well for job-seekers who know how to advise companies about doing business in China and other Asian nations.

And while government has traditionally been responsible for planning for emergencies (think FEMA), businesses are now jumping on that bandwagon and hiring their own emergency planners. Nemko says that trend is here to stay, because a company that doesn't handle a crisis properly could be hit with huge lawsuits.

Of course, there are no guarantees when it comes to finding the right career.
But by helping you to stay a step ahead of the economy--and a step ahead of the
crowd--NBR may be able to help you improve the odds. So be sure to tune in to
"Careers for the Next Decade."