The Secret to Finding an Essential Career Field

An essential career field is one that has a lasting need for new people. It also means that the jobs in that field cannot be outsourced. It means the jobs in that field have excellent pay structures. The potential may also be there to some day being in business for your self.

These are hard characteristics to find in many career fields. There are a few that meet some of these criteria, some of the time. There are very few that meet these elements all of the time.

One of the fields that are desperate for new blood is Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning careers. These jobs cannot be outsourced to another country. The people currently in the field are graying rather quickly and not being adequately replaced by well trained younger people. In the northeast, an experienced technician can easily earn $100,000 a year plus benefits. The need for people who can do the job will be with us for as long as this equipment needs to be replaced or repaired. It will last into the future as we become smarter about construction, energy efficient homes and commercial buildings. This career field needs bright well-trained entrants, both male and female. This industry area is rapidly going high tech and a person capable of doing the job is coming at a premium.

One heating and plumbing contractor said, "I cannot find enough trained people to do all of the work I am offered.' His solution was to build his own training facility so he could develop his own technicians from the ground up. His requirement to be accepted in his training program was basic. He wanted smart younger people who not only liked using their minds, but also liked working with their hands.

He plans to have an on going program for new folks, junior technicians and senior technicians. The final program will be management and administration. His program is forward thinking to the extreme, but it illustrates what a difficult time that employers are having in filling openings within their firms.

This career field must have more than money going for it as it is populated with all types of college graduates who found their first career choice not to their liking. These contractors are well educated and well read. These are not the dummies that are pictured in cartoons about this job field. There are also ex-teachers, former college profs and graduate engineers who find the work more challenging and fulfilling. There are only so many sons of father's who own a plumbing company. The field needs new entrants to meet the demand that is growing faster than it can be filled with quality problem solvers. Maybe the school councilors and smart students should give this career field more than a passing glance and a snicker. The opportunity is there for those with the intelligence to grab it and make it work for them selves.