1. Plumbing

2. skilled HVAC mechanics

3. any and every HEALTH profession associated with Veterans Affairs

4. engineers of all kinds

I'm a fundraiser. If you have experience, you can find a job in a two weeks. If you have no experience and are willing to start at the entry level, you can gain some valuable skills and look for chances to move up. Non-profits usually offer more flexbility, and the fundraisers are typically better compensated than program staff.

There are so many non-profits based in DC that there's always opportunity. Many of them are strapped for cash and have unrealistic expectations about what a professional fundraiser can accomplish in this recession. So there's a very high rate of turnover.

The key is to ask good questions during the interview. Ask the same questions (what are your short-term goals and your longterm goals, and what resources are you willing to expend to achieve them?) of every person who talks to you. If they aren't all giving you roughly the same answer, move on to the next organization. That's a company that is going to flounder for a while until a senior development professional comes in who knows how to move the board toward a common purpose.

Any job that requires physical presence can't be outsourced overseas.

Services (physical repairs, networking, construction)
Sales (always recession proof, always needed)
Healthcare (boomers aging)

Anonymous wrote:learn ABA Therapy and Speech Therapy and you're golden. 50% of our kids will be autistic in the next 50 years.

What do you have to do to become certified in ABA therapy? A special degree?

Around here I would say take the classes to get a LSCW and go into marriage counseling

learn ABA Therapy and Speech Therapy and you're golden. 50% of our kids will be autistic in the next 50 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Physical therapy, too.

Aren't PTs going to be required to have a doctorate by 2015 or so? Right now a master's degree is required, but I'm pretty sure I just read that PT will soon require a doctorate.

I also read it in NYT this past weekend, in an article about nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists getting their doctorates.

Social work doesn't pay much even if you have a Masters unless you have certain specific certifications, and not always then either. (A few of my friends are in social work.) The burnout can also be an issue. My speech pathologist friends (I know 4) seem happier.

I am an SLP (speech language pathologist) and have never had difficulty getting a job. I've been in my current position for over 9 years, but still get calls from recruiters. SLP services for children are federally mandated (through Part C and Part B of IDEA) - so there is some level of job security. Certainly with the rise in Autism awareness and diagnosis there is an increased need for SLPs. Also there are more preemies surviving (yay!), but many of them also have delays, such as feeding difficulties that SLP can work on. On the other end of the spectrum, people are living longer and there are more individuals with dementia and those surviving strokes (Kirk Douglas) who also benefit from speech therapy. Also SLPs can also study accent modification (not technically a communication "disorder"), but a cool field.

I did not have an undergraduate degree in speech language pathology. I attend UVA for graduate school and completed a Master's in 2.5 years - which included quite a few internships (all unpaid) that were full and part time. UMd also has a good program. I also supervised an SLP with a Master's from UDC - she was great, but I'm not sure if they still have a program. Also GWU and Howard also have programs.

The only thing that is a bit of a pain when you are ready to start working, is that you have to complete a 9-month long clinical fellowship year (CFY) in which you are supervised by a certified SLP. There are some places (hospitals) that don't want to hire CFYs and sometimes it can be hard to find a supervisor, but once you're certified it's a lot easier. If you can speak Spanish - there is a high demand for SLP who speak Spanish.

You can visit www.asha.org for more info.

SIL is a physical therapist and has never been out of work. She has two kids and is currently part time, moving to full time in a couple months. It seems to be easy for her to change her hours too. She really loves her job which of course is a bonus.

Anonymous wrote:Physical therapy, too.

Aren't PTs going to be required to have a doctorate by 2015 or so? Right now a master's degree is required, but I'm pretty sure I just read that PT will soon require a doctorate.

Physical therapy, too.

I think a "skills" clinical job like OT or ST, or RN, is probably best. Higher education admin seems competitive, at least in this area. A lot of people want to get hired for the tuition benefits so there are often a lot of resumes sent in for that (I worked in a academia for a few years during grad school). Not that you don't have a shot, of course, but I don't know that those positions are "in demand."

Social workers have a high burn out rate, but I know a few who are super happy. There is also a few programs in N VA that offer master's degrees you could pursue. These days I believe you need a grad degree in the field to be considered for a position but sounds like an interesting degree to get.

What was your former field? Maybe you could start there for ideas.

Speech therapy! With the rise in autism and all the research suggesting well developed language is the key to a child's success, I think even in a bad economy people are reluctant to give up that service for their child.

I've been a SAHM the last six years, but I need/want a career. As we all know, the economy is crap, so I'm wondering if you guys know of any careers that are still in-demand/least prone to layoffs.

What about:

Occupational Therapy

Speech-language Pathology

Social Work

Higher Education Administration

P.S. I have two kids, two dogs dog & a cat, so anything that would require a 70-hour-workweek or something insane like that would not be possible.