There’s always a lot of talk about the unemployment rate, and right now it’s very low in the United States. In fact, the unemployment rate is among the lowest in history at 3.8 percent in March 2019.
There is a demand across the board for workers,and many employers are getting creative in how they attract and retain employees. Some of the most in-demand jobs are often those that don’t require a college degree, but maybe specialized training instead.
For example, many truck driving companies are willing to pay high bonuses to attract employees to this field, and it requires no formal education, but only training for licensing. In most states, you’ll need a commercial driver’s license or CDL, and you’re ready to work for a company, or maybe you can be a self-employed driver.
Beyond that in-demand field, what other types of positions do employers have the most difficulty filling?
Personal Care Aide
A personal care aid is someone who helps clients who have mental or physical limitations to do tasks in their everyday life. A personal care aide might help someone who is elderly for example and along with helping them manage their daily life, they may also be a companion for them.
Personal care aides can work with someone in their home, or they can find employment in places such as group homes and care facilities.
Most personal care aide positions don’t require formal education, although a high school diploma may be required. Sometimes a personal care aide may have education through a vocational school or a community college.
Training from an employer or on-the-job training may include CPR and first aid.
Registered Nurse
Being a registered nurse (RN) does require training and formal education, but it is also a field with great job outlook. The job growth between 2016 and 2026 is expected to be 15 percent for registered nurses, which is much faster than average.
The entry-level education level is usually a bachelor’s degree, and in 2017 the median pay for RNs was $70,000 or $33.65 an hour.
RNs do a variety of things including coordinating and directly providing care to patients, educating patients and their families, and providing support to patients and family members. You can find out more about the specific duties of a registered nurse here.
Information Security Analysts
The job demand for information security analysts is expected to grow at 28 percent through 2026, which is must faster than average. The entry-level education requirement is typically a bachelor’s degree, and in 2017, the median pay was $95,510 a year.
So what does an information security analyst do? Typically, they are in charge of planning and implementing the security that an organization puts in place to protect their computer systems and networks. The number of cyberattackscontinues to go up, which is why there is such a demand for this position.
Usually to be an information security analyst you would get your bachelor’s in something related to computers, and on-the-job experience can be very helpful, so internships can be a good way to show practical experience in the field.
Medical Services Manager
A medical services manager can earn a median salary of $98,350 a year, according to reports from 2017. The position requires a bachelor’s degree in most cases, and you can find employment with less than five years of on-the-job experience. The expected job growth is 20 percent, which is categorized as much faster than average.
A medical services manager may also be called a healthcare administrator or a healthcare executive. Their role is to plan and coordinate medical services, and they may work to manage a whole facility, a specific area of a facility, or a department. Medical services managers have to stay up to date with changing health care laws and regulations, as well as technology related to the provision of health care.
Truck Drivers
Finally, we briefly touched on the growing demand for truck drivers above, and if you don’t have your bachelor’s degree, it can be a good field to consider. You can usually be hired with non-on-the-job experience either, and the training is short-term. The job growth outlook for truck drivers is 6 percent through 2026. In 2017, the median pay was $42,480 a year, and this can be significantly higher if you are an owner-operator and are self-employed.
Most truck drivers do long-haul routes, but not all do. Sometimes truck drivers can work regionally and make fairly short trips, taking them away from the home and family for shorter periods of time.
Some of the job duties include not only driving, but also securing cargo, inspecting trailers both before and after trips, and maintaining logs that follow regulations at the state and federal level.