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CAREER DECISION: College-bound face clouded jobs outlook [The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.]
(Pueblo Chieftain (CO) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 23--The biggest classes in years at Pueblo colleges will face some of the biggest uncertainity ever about their future jobs.
Last week, Colorado State University-Pueblo and Pueblo Community College said they anticipate double-digit increases in the number of students who will arrive for Monday's start of classes.
Private schools also are expecting a bump, including Colorado Technical University's Pueblo campus in Midtown Shopping Center. Its first quarter starts in October.
Leaders of the schools vow to prepare the students for whatever jobs they hope to pursue.
So what career choices might offer the most hiring opportunities? Mike Boyd, vice president of Colorado Technical, where the average student age is 34, said health care is popular. Other staples such as accounting and information technology also rate high, he said.
The recession isn't making a difficult decision any easier for students, Boyd said.
"It's a challenge because they are making a signficant decision for their future and because they're motivated to better themselves for their families. They're tremendously motivated," Boyd said.
As the national recession lingers into its second year, health care and government are the only two industry sectors adding to payrolls at the moment, and they are expected to keep growing.
In time, both as the recession eases and as baby boomers continue to move into retirement, more job opportunities are expected to re-emerge across a broad spectrum of industry sectors.
Manufacturing appears one of the main exceptions.
As for the hottest local job prospects -- the jobs expected to grow the most -- college students may want to consider studying for nursing, construction management or acccounting.
The trio along with seven others are listed on the Colorado Department of Labor's listing of "hot jobs" for the Pueblo area for people with a post-secondary education.
Other jobs on the state list are general manager, mechanic, business, construction manager, hair- and beauty-care specialist, counselor and pharmacist.
Still other hot jobs are just now emerging, the result of federal stimulus spending in areas such as renewable energy, rural broadband expansion and transportation.
Pueblo Community College President J.D. Garvin, in his annual state-of-the-school address last week, said the school hopes to play a major role in local stimulus efforts.
Fresh from its success in helping land a Vestas Wind Towers plant, PCC will move to bolster its job creation and training efforts by lobbying for as much stimulus money as possible, Garvin said.
"Who better to create jobs than community colleges, either in work force
development or economic development . . . We have to be on our toes. We have to
get to the table," Garvin said.
PCC enrollment is up 28 percent from a year ago due in part to rising jobless rates.
"What I believe we're seeing now is a demand for job skills and not necessarily diplomas. We're seeing more people coming to get certificates so they can go out and get jobs," Garvin said.
At CSU-Pueblo, career center director Michelle Gjerde said the school, like everyone else, continues to watch trends in stimulus spending in order to respond accordingly.
Along the same lines, the school also is tracking developments in the umbrella grouping of so-called green jobs, which includes renewable energy, she said.
However, the industry is in its infancy and uncertainty persists, Gjerde said. "What does that kind of job look like and how do we train people to have those skills to be able to compete?" she said.
College students' optimism depends on their year in school, Gjerde said.
Last year's graduates "were terrified and faced a lot of struggles finding employment," Gjerde said. In contrast, underclassmen are "really optimistic the economy is going to turn around," she said.
Meanwhile, an influx of past graduates are returning to the career center for help after losing their jobs, Gjerde said. Many of them are uncertain of their next move, she said.
In such cases, "They really can't go wrong with a business degree," Gjerde said.
Boyd agrees that college staples such as business, accounting and information technology represent good options for students. They provide a good academic platform to a variety of future jobs, he said.
Project management is another good general course of study, he said.
"Not that you have a project manager title but project management is the way we do business now. People in sales, health care, technology, human resources . . . it's all about projects," Boyd said.
The state Department of Labor maintains a "hot jobs" lists for each of Colorado's largest cities and the state as a whole. The rankings are based on employment data and employer surveys.
The current forecast runs through 2012.
Many of the listed jobs are the same statewide but one of the notable exceptions for Pueblo is a job that recently gained renewed attention all on its own: Insurance sales.
A July 29 hailstorm caused an estimated $106 million in the Pueblo area, and insurance agencies were swamped with calls from customers reporting damage to their homes and cars.
A second hailstorm hit last week.
Top jobs statewide but not on Pueblo's list include teacher and several kinds of computer industry jobs such as technician, software engineer and systems analyst.
For Pueblo, the state lists computer-related work among jobs forecast for limited growth. Other local jobs on the no-growth list include industrial manager, public relations specialist and paramedic.
ddarrow@chieftain.com
Hot (and not so hot) jobs
A listing of Pueblo-area jobs -- tailored to post-secondary education graduates -- that are expected to see above-average growth in coming years, according to the Colorado Department of Labor:
Registered nurse
General manager
Auto mechanic
Insurance agent sales
Licensed practical nurse
Business specialist
Construction manager
Hairdresser/cosmetologist
Accountant/auditor
Counselor/psychologist
Pharmacist
Some of the jobs with more limited prospects:
Industrial manager
Public relations specialist
Preschool teacher
Computer system analyst
Public health social workers
Paramedic
Source: State labor department.
To see more of The Pueblo Chieftain, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.chieftain.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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