Designer, lawyer, psychologist: What professions are really in demand
The labor market is constantly changing: some professions, about which we could not even think about half a century ago, are becoming popular, others, on the contrary, are dying out because they are no longer necessary. The fashion for certain professions has always existed: at every stage of human development, some types of work were considered more prestigious. Analysts, career development specialists and journalists regularly try to predict which professions will be the most promising and highly paid in the near future. But students and young specialists, choosing a career path, most often do not make a start from this: they think about the prestige of work at the current moment and do not take into account competition in the labor market for specific specialties - which, in turn, leads to a glut of the market in certain industries.
“Twenty-twenty-five years ago, the professions of economist, lawyer, accountant were fashionable — it was believed that these people would not be left without bread,” says staff assessment expert Svetlana Komarova. “The number of institutions that stamped economists, lawyers and financiers exceeded everything reasonable limits, and now there are simply no need for so many specialists in this field. Approximately the same thing is happening now with such a profession as a psychologist, which, by and large, is not yet the most demanded, and with a no less fashionable professional with public relations. The second wave, which I have been observing for twenty years, is connected with the fact that it becomes cool to be an entrepreneur and work for myself. I suppose that it will also subside, and many people who have undertaken and started a few years it’s not easy to return to an in-house business. As an entrepreneur, you need to be prepared for the fact that you will not necessarily achieve the results and financial plans that you set for yourself. "
The Labor Ministry also notes the imbalance between supply and demand in the labor market: according to the department’s data published last year, every third university student (31% of pupils) receives an education in Economics and Management, although the share of such specialists in the total demand for workers is 13 , 7%. Even more difficult is the situation with students enrolled in the humanities - 20% of students receive education in this area, and the demand for such workers is only 3%. "The long-standing imbalance in the labor market, associated with a surplus of humanitarian and general specialists and an acute shortage in most technical and natural science professions, is now felt not only by employers, but also by job seekers, facing increasing competition for jobs. For comparison: professional sectors such as marketing, banking, tourism, today there are 5-7 resumes per job. Among HR managers and lawyers, competition is even higher - 11 resumes per job, "the director says HeadHunter in the North-West Federal District Yuliya Sakharova.
According to Rostrud in July 2015, the builder, driver and nurse professions were recognized as the most popular in Russia
Svetlana Komarova says that the fashion for the profession does not correlate with what the labor market actually requires: "The labor market now requires calibrated engineers - there are practically none. It requires, for example, technologists and chief technologists in certain areas of activity - these are people who have been brought up professionally for years before they can really do their jobs. Two or three years ago I was looking for chief process engineers for factories. I gathered 37 people working in this specialty to the whole of Russia, - there are simply no more. "
According to statistics, the most common are not the profession, as it seems to narrow-minded glance. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2014 published another list of the ten most common professions in the country. Despite the fact that the professions in it are described quite generally (for example, the representatives of various delivery services fall into the category "truck driver", which significantly expands the selection criteria), a definite trend is clearly observed: the most popular professions are still far from being the most fashionable. and prestigious. The seller takes the first place in the list, the cashier takes the second place, and catering and catering workers, including cooks, waiters and attendants - the third.
According to Rostrud in July 2015, the builder, driver and nurse professions were recognized as the most popular in Russia. These Superjob.ru confirm this trend: according to them, representatives of the working professions account for 14% of the total number of applications of employers. Competition among candidates in this area is quite low: there are 0.8 resumes per one vacancy. According to Superjob.ru, the same representatives of the trade sector remain the most popular among employers: they account for 30% of vacancies. In the UK, the shortage of workers in the construction industry leads to the fact that many projects have to be frozen, and the wages of builders have to be doubled due to the lack of labor in the industry.
The results of a survey conducted by HeadHunter in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region last year show that almost half of applicants are ready to change the current field of activity to a working specialty - more than a third admitted that they are ready to do it only in case of emergency. As the main reason that can force them to retrain, applicants call the fact that the ability to do something with their own hands will be in demand in any situation. Another 22% consider this a way to survive during a crisis.
In the next couple of decades, about 47% of all wage earners in the United States may be reduced due to automation of production.
At the same time, the situation in the labor market for representatives of working specialties and professions associated with low-skilled and low-paid labor is likely to change radically in the foreseeable future. Automation will have a great impact on them - right now in some supermarkets you can pay for purchases through the terminal, and experiments with unmanned vehicles call into question the work of truckers and delivery services. In 2013, researchers Karl Frey and Michael Osborne came to the conclusion that in the next couple of decades, about 47% of all wage earners in the US can be reduced due to automation of production. Scientists believe that workers engaged in low-skilled labor will be especially vulnerable: they will have to learn new professions that require creative and social skills that are not yet automated or computerized. Similar processes have already taken place during the industrial revolution: then people had to learn how to control the machines that saved them from manual labor.
The situation in the Russian labor market is being tried to change, including at the state level: in November last year, an online directory of popular professions developed by the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives was launched. The creators of the directory believe that it should help young professionals to better navigate the situation on the labor market, and also be useful to those who are thinking of changing jobs. The Ministry of Labor will change the directory in accordance with the requirements of employers, and the government will approve these changes - a bill on how the list will be updated, was submitted to the State Duma in July.
However, the question of whether young specialists will use this information and whether it will help to change a noticeable bias in the labor market remains open.
Photo: Photographee.eu - stock.adobe.com, DenisNata - stock.adobe.com, Blend Images - stock.adobe.com
