7 Careers That Didn’t Exist A Decade Ago

Business, as I’m sure you’re aware, never sits still. Every day, technological, economic and social factors are changing all over the world, and you can be sure that at least one business owner and countless consumers feel those changes. Over time, countless jobs and careers have been phased out by the progress of technology, and countless more have been created. This has led to a whole new niche of education and skills which never existed before. Here, we’ll look at seven of the careers which didn’t exist a mere ten years ago. Have a read; you might just find your calling in life!

App Developer

The first iPhone, widely considered to be the first smartphone, was released in 2007, closely followed by its arch rival the Android. Since then, these devices have become a staple of modern day life. Since the emergence of smartphones, there have been millions of apps released on a range of marketplaces. Our ability to shrink desktop-sized programs for use on a handheld device has completely revolutionised the world of programming, and opened the floodgates to a whole generation of bright new talent. These days, having your own app is almost a given for companies, and many firms have opened with the sole occupation of developing apps for other businesses. Many programmers who are tired of their usual grind have been seen to re-train as app developers. For anyone who has an interest in computer science, it’s probably one of the most lucrative and promising career paths out there. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in app development, visit Simplilearn.com to check out your options for training.

Market Research Data Miner

These days, a huge number of businesses exist exclusively on the internet. In fact, some of the most promising entrepreneurs of our time started their business with little more than a computer and an idea. This, coupled with the influence social media has had on marketing, has made customer information a big part of the modern retail experience. As a result of this, businesses are beginning to stockpile customer data in buckets. After that though, a lot of CEOs are pretty stuck! This has led to many of them hiring in experts to make sense of all that information they’ve gathered. From transactions to customer behaviour, there are countless sets of data which retailers and marketers need to take their business places. As a market research data miner, you’ll be helping to sift through and analyse this information. This work will then be used to anticipate future trends in the market, or build algorithms for recommendations and other forms of personalised marketing. If this sounds like the career for you, be warned. The high demand for data miners has made library science degrees extremely popular, so get your foot in the door immediately!

Educational and Admissions Consultant

Image from Pixabay

Here’s one for all of you who see yourself in a self-employed career. The short span of time this job has been around is pretty incredible, and the contributing factors are pretty hard to pin down. In this job, your main clients are going to be affluent, and maybe a little fussy parents. For a lot of parents, they work for one reason and one reason only; to guarantee a better quality of life for their kids. Many of these people take a much more proactive role in their child’s education than you might consider normal. Whatever your personal opinions on this phenomenon, it’s opened up a whole new career path for those in the education sector. These parents will look for any possible way to guarantee their kids a better education, including hiring in a consultant. From preschool all the way up to university, educational and admissions consultants are hired in to ensure a child progresses with relative ease. Sometimes, the job is little more than having connections with school administrators and teaching students basic interview etiquette. At other times though, you’ll need to take on a role a little more like a tutor, and help students prepare for entrance tests. Your average educational and admissions consultant is self-employed, which means that you’ll be able to more or less name your price. The customer base you’ll be targeting is also pretty affluent, so give it some thought!

Millennial Generational Expert/Consultant

No, I’m not making this up! Visit wsj.com to read about one particular firm in this niche. Recently, millennials have been making up more and more of modern workforces, whereas generation X is slowly being phased out. However, a lot of business owners and marketing specialists still have their experience firmly rooted in years gone by. Because of this, there’s an increasing demand for people who understand the millennial generation a little more intimately. Seen as you’re reading this, I can assume that you’re a millennial looking for their route into the professional world. Well, who better to teach these execs about generation Y than a living, breathing member of it? Leaders in every sector and industry face a constant challenge to attract young talent, and form a working environment that appeals to their tastes. Over the past few years, many of these companies have faced a culture clash with their younger professionals. In order to foster more loyalty in their workforce and strengthen the whole company, almost every business owner in the world is looking for ways to connect better with their millennial staff. Even if you’re not a millennial yourself, this particular career path isn’t closed off to you. There are many generational experts out there who are in their middle age. All it takes is some demonstrable experience working with millennials.

Social Media Manager

This list wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the social media niche. In the nineties and early noughties, social media was in its baby stages, and considered something somewhat juvenile. These days, various social networks have become an essential tool in the marketing arsenal for any business. From tiny start-ups to international corporate giants, every venture can’t make it far in the current climate without some kind of social media presence. This of course has opened up a number of different jobs that never used to exist. Social media managers are now in massive demand, as more and more companies need someone who can direct their social campaigns around the clock. I’d love to write a catch-all job description here, but to be honest the title covers a fairly wide range of jobs. You could be simply manning the twitter feed and responding to customer queries, or liaising with the higher-ups at the company to create a whole new marketing strategy. Whatever the job entails, the demand for social media professionals remains high, and it isn’t going to disappear any time soon! Just don’t start applying for jobs boasting about the thousands of followers you have on Twitter. You may be more social-media savvy than a lot of other people in the modern workplace. However, to be a desirable asset, you need to have this experience coupled with a deeper understanding of modern digital marketing.

Chief Listening Officer

Whoever came up with this job title must have been pretty pressed for time! This is another career in the social media niche, and can come ranked above or below social media managers. As to what you’d be doing, the clue’s in the name. Chief listening officers essentially monitor conversations which are happening on various social media channels. Almost everything the customers say about a business is recorded, and then picked through to establish what it means for the company at large. Before the social media revolution, businesses communicated with their customer base in a one-way fashion. The business commissioned ads, the customer base listened, and the rest was sales charts. These days, the modern consumer is much more used to two-way communication. As soon as a customer posts a comment or complaint to a business’s page, they’re expected to respond shortly. People expect businesses to listen, and as a result there are countless jobs going for people who can do just that. Like apps, a lot of modern businesses see social media marketing as a given, so opportunities for listening officers are only going to increase.

Sustainability Expert

Image from Wikimedia

It’s funny how as people have become more and more absorbed in the digital world, the sentiment for the world outside of it has grown exponentially. Green policies and practices have become a staple for countless modern businesses. Even if the CEO couldn’t care less for the environment, they’re likely to have a lot of reason to get into sustainable practices. Often, there’s a lot of potential for saving money by using more energy-efficient power sources. Governments around the world are also introducing financial incentives for green businesses. Sustainability experts are now being hired to develop new workflows, increasing productivity while lowering the business’s carbon footprint. From waste reduction to supplier sustainability evaluations, there are all kinds of tasks which call for a sustainability professional. If you’re set to study business management, you may want to consider taking environmental science as well.

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