Nov 5, 2008 9:39 pm US/Mountain
Recession: The Jobs To Have When Times Are Hard
Good Question: What Are The Recession-Proof Jobs?
Written by Alan Gionet
DENVER (CBS4) ―
-
-
Good Question, a regular part of CBS4 News at 10 p.m., is an opportunity for Alan Gionet to drill past the basic facts of a story and give it some depth & perspective. See more Good Question reports.
Visit one of Denver's Workforce Centers, like the one on Speer Boulevard, and you'll find the people who are frustrated.
"I lost my job in 2006," said one man. "Got three kids to help take care of, my girlfriend's basically holding down the fort."
He's trying to find a job that will still be there as the economy seems to spin lower each day.
"It's kind of going back to the basic jobs; ones that are always going to be there no matter what," one woman said.
True, there's always a demand for some of the basic labor of our economy, cleaning, serving and waiting on. But there is better money to be made.
"I think the No. 1 thing is that people just have to be flexible," said Paula Gomez-Farrell, Director of Workforce Development for Denver's Office of Economic Development. "They have to be ready to figure out how their skills and abilities might fit in another industry."
Gomez-Farrell agrees that the Denver area is in better shape than a lot of urban areas in the downturn of the economy. She points to jobs in the middle.
"It's that middle-scale job that is in much demand still," she said, adding that nearly half of the jobs in Colorado are middle scale.
And where are they?
"In the healthcare field there are technicians that are needed. In the energy field and in solar, there might be people that are manufacturing solar panels," she said.
The new energy economy holds promise and the possibility of a long-term job with any company that is successful.
"That's certainly in energy and many forms of energy. Whether it be extraction or renewables. Those are areas that people ought to be getting themselves prepared to take those jobs."
Education is still the best way to get ready. At the University of Colorado Denver they work to prepare students for industries of the future in a lot of ways. Tam Barthel is Internship and Co-op Advisor. She advises internships.
"That's the growing trend because, employers know if they can get college students while they're in college they can train them up in the way of the organization," Barthel said.
It's a way of test-driving workers.
But jobs that used to net big salaries don't always now. One med student pointed out she definitely didn't decide to become a doctor for the money.
"If you want to drive your Mercedes, absolutely not," said ObGyn student Joanne Python.
"I'm trying to pick the right path, I'm going into nursing," said a young woman at UC Denver. "The medical field is probably the best."
And she could be right. Time after time, experts came back to the medical field. It's in-elastic demand, a constant. So is car repair, the funeral business, utility work. None of those are likely to change. And the medical field is particularly good because we're all getting older, including the workers.
"In Denver we have an aging population," said Gomez-Farrell. "The numbers vary, but about 40 percent of the people in the healthcare field will be eligible for retirement in the next 5-to-10 years. We need to figure out how we're going to fill that demand."
As an extension of medical, there's bioscience. This month, the BioWest Conference and Expo Nov. 13-14 is a place to learn about those companies and even meet with potential employers. But you have to sign up to attend. Here's a link: http://www.biowestconference.com.
There's a job fair on the afternoon of the Nov. 14. It's at the Grand Hyatt downtown.
There will also be a job fair coordinated by the University of Colorado Career Center in conjunction with the Sustainable Opportunities Summit 2009 on March 18 of next year.
"We are moving more and more to sustainability," said Jonne Kraning, director of the Career Center at UC Denver.
Kraning pointed to jobs in engineering and clean energy. So does Gomez-Farrell, who talks about the high wage jobs.
"Science, technology, engineering and math are stem careers that we're looking at here."
And new job seekers may want to stay away from the blue chips.
"This generation needs to look at the smaller companies. The big companies with the high-powered names sometimes are not the ones that have the jobs."
But Kraning warns job seekers to be ready. It's supply and demand.
"The competition is going to be much, much harder ... so they have to be at the top of their game."
There's more to this story in the video version on the right.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Woman Passes Driver's Test On 950th Try
Slideshow: Colorado's Weirdest House
Stumble It!
Reporting
