Three hot jobs may not be for you

For some occupations, they looks glamorous on magazine and TV. They are on the hot job lists. You may have relative who does it and seems to like it. Or you heard you could earn a lot of money at it, without much extra training. But beware those jobs may not for you. Many people were lured to those job at the beginning, but soon they find that it's way more difficult than they imagined to achieve the storied success of others. Below are 3 occupations occupations with mystique that exceeds reality for many people:
Attorney
(1)The Appeal:
Many college students decide to go to law school by default. After all, a legal career promises prestige, money, and the chance to use the law to make a difference in society. Many aspiring attorneys also picture themselves as the lawyers on TV, making scintillating closing arguments in an expensive suit before a rapt jury.

(2)Reality:
Most lawyers' lives bear little resemblance to those of the hotshots on Law and Order. Even litigators spend lots of time drafting or poring over sheaves of detailed information and negotiating with other lawyers prone to contentiousness and chicanery. And most lawyers rarely go to trials, working instead as transactional attorneys who need to bill 2,000 hours a year or more to meet the firm's targets. That can mean long evenings drafting lengthy, airtight contracts or other documents. In the corporate world, many lawyers find little fulfillment and burn out. (see my early post regarding lawer career)

(3)Alternative:
Mediation or a less contentious niche within the law, such as adoption law.

Small-Business Owner

(1)The Appeal:
Work for yourself, and you're automatically the CEO. You get to make all the decisions, set your own hours, and keep all the profits. And you're inspired by the stories of other entrepreneurs who became wealthy.

(2)Reality:
Most new businesses fold within a few years. There are good reasons. For one thing, running a small business requires you to be good at many jobs: salesperson, buyer, accountant, marketer, operations manager, even janitor. Few people can do it all. Yet hiring others cuts–often too deeply–into profits. In addition, you must be a self-starter–no one is going to make you do anything or structure it for you. It's all on you. Even though you set your own hours, they tend to be long. And you have to provide your own healthcare benefits, which as an individual can be very expensive, especially if you or a family member has a pre-existing condition.

(3)Alternative:
Be the No. 2 person in someone else's small business. You'll have a seat at the table and a say in company decisions. But you'll go home with fewer headaches than the owner. And probably go home earlier.

Chef

(1)The Appeal:
You envision yourself concocting delectable delights for a clamoring clientele at the latest "in" restaurant. Maybe you'll even get to be one of those TV chefs.

(2)Reality:
Most chefs don't work in frou-frou restaurants or even blaze trails in the kitchen. Instead, they're assembly-line cooks, cranking out dozens of the same item, night after night. And they're the executive chefs. For each executive chef, a few assistant chefs–the most typical job–spend much of their time chopping ingredients and assembling salads. Plus, chefs typically work until the wee hours, especially on weekends, while most people are enjoying themselves. As a result, chefs often end up hanging out with the same restaurant crowd, after the patrons have finally left.

(3)Alternative:
Personal chef, cooking for busy or wealthy families.

Employer preferences of colleges graduates

Came across a couple of interesting lists in an article in the latest issue of Bloomberg magazine: Employer Preferences, All Undergraduates:
1.Google
2.Walt Disney
3.Apple
4.US Department of State
5.Peace Corps
6.Central Intelligence Agency
7.PriceWaterhouseCoopers
8.Microsoft
9.Federal Bureau of Investigation
10.Teach for America

Employer Preferences, All MBAs:
1.Google
2.McKinsey
3.Goldman Sachs
4.Bain & Co.
5.Boston Consulting
6.Apple
7.Microsoft
8.General Electric
9.Nike
10.Bank of America

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Bulletproof jobs you can't lose

These days, jobs that offer total security are few and far between. Granted, no job is completely bulletproof. But there are some that come close.

Although there's a lot of school and plenty of vetting to endure, perhaps nothing is more steady than becoming a federal judge. Sure, it's nearly as impossible as becoming president (that's a reasonably secure job too), but once candidates get approved by Congress, they receive lifetime appointments.

Out of thousands of federal judges, only seven have ever been convicted and removed from office. Reasons for removal from the bench range from perjury to tax evasion to mental illness. What constitutes an impeachable offense? In answer, President Gerald R. Ford once put it this way: Anything the Congress says is an impeachable offense.

If being nominated by the Congress seems too challenging, becoming a tenured educator might be a bit easier to achieve. Those in the field are quick to point out that getting tenured doesn't mean having a job for life. It means there must be "just cause" for removing the employee. The educator receives due process, similar to what American citizens expect when charged with violation of a law, according to the National Educators Association. They have the right to a fair hearing, and administrators have to prove their case.

Some unionized employees can have similar protections. While contracts differ from union to union, one thing remains the same. Before companies can do a significant lay-off, they're obligated to discuss and bargain with the union and seek alternatives. In the Steel Workers Union, when a company says they're bringing employees in to work eight-hour days, five days per week, they're required to pay the staff even if they don't have enough work to give them. If a shortage of work becomes extreme, they can use the supplemental unemployment benefit that pays employees about 80% of their wages. If there's a turndown in business during the length of the contract, the union and the company work together to figure out what other options are available. For example, downturns are a good time to get union members additional training and skill sets.

Ever think of becoming a civil service employee? Those are the people employed by federal, state and local government agencies. Virtually every type of job imaginable exists within those guidelines. These are often considered more secure jobs since the process for removal is so intricate. To fire someone for poor performance, the administration must prove that doing so will "promote the efficiency of the service." Talk about subjective. From there, the administration's action must be supported by a preponderance of evidence. Plus, the employee must be given 30 days written notice of poor performance and from there has between 30 and 90 days to improve his or her work. After all of that, if the employee is fired, he or she has the right to an appeal process.

Even religious vocations are no longer the totally unassailable career they may have once been. The traditional perception of the Roman Catholic priesthood was of being a job for life, no matter what. Today, that's certainly not the case. It used to be that priests who had been proved to have sexually assaulted children were treated with therapy; today that is unacceptable. When there is a credible accusation of pedophilia, a priest is removed from the ministry. That means there's no room and board or any other type of caretaking.

Some jobs are secure simply because they're in such high demand. Nursing fits that category. They are at the top of the Department of Labor's 10 fastest-growing occupations. There are several reasons for the growth, including an aging population and chronic illness.

And nurses need not focus their job search only at a hospital or doctor's office. They're also hired to work as insurance investigators, quality-control representatives, in medical sales and in research and development. While there might be job security now, a change in the structure of the health care system might alter that. Back in the early '90s, there was a nursing shortage, For example, in '92 or '93, the spiraling cost of health care and managed care caused lay-offs of nurses in US. We are having a shortage now because so many nurses are retiring, combined with the aging population. If the health care system that exists today stays this way, US will continue to have a shortage. Whether something comes along that disrupts that is always a possibility.

Outsourcing, of course, has affected the workforce. But there are jobs that can't be moved overseas. For instance, doctors, home health care workers, fire fighters, law enforcement officers and long-distance truck drivers all show up among jobs that can't be sent to India or Asia.