Hot Careers in the Permian Basin through 2008

The following jobs are listed as "hot" in the Permian Basin between 1998-2008. All jobs are listed as absolute change. The Permian Basin includes the following counties: Andrews, Borden, Crane, Dawson, Ector, Gains, Glasscock, Howard, Loving, Martin, Midland, Pecos, Reeves, Terrell, Upton, Ward, and Winkler.

For more information contact your local Texas Workforce Commission or Career Services.

JOBS REQUIRING 0-12 MONTHS OF TRAINING:

JOBS REQUIRING AN ASSOCIATE’S DEGREE:

JOBS REQUIRING A COLLEGE DEGREE (4 YEARS):

The 20 Hot Jobs of the Millennium

Counselor Molecular Biologist Online Sales Manager Web Site Developer Primary-Care Physician Real-Estate Attorney Network Architect Executive Recruiter Catering Director Physical Therapist

Relationship Manager Communications Engineer Speech Pathologist Information Technology Project Manager Technical Writer Nanny Musician Web Specialist Environmental Accountant

Counselor

Americans are increasingly comfortable with the idea of seeking therapy, and demand for counselors is growing. Social workers now provide more than half of all therapy services, treating patients battling conditions such as depression, alcoholism, and anorexia. In the past, one difficulty has been reaching folks in rural communities or those cannot leave home because of ill health. But now, through video monitors and E-mail, they can conduct remote therapy sessions. Participation in telecounseling is modest but growing steadily, from 445 clients in 1995 to 1,344 in 1997.

Hot-Track Salaries
(Average) Entry level: $32,500 Midlevel: $47,500 Top: $52,500.

Training
Any counseling practice requires a master’s degree, clinical experience, and state certification.

Runner-up Hot Track
Community practitioner. Elected officials are hiring these organizers as a liaison to the community, tracking problems facing constituents. Labor unions employ them to do fieldwork, and nonprofit bring them aboard for local issues, like organizing low-income neighborhoods against hospital chains said to be unsympathetic to the poor. More groups are bringing them on to do good work.

What Social Work Jobs Pay
Child welfare social worker: $32,500 Community practitioner: $32,500 Court social worker: $32,500 HMO social worker: $37,500 School social worker: $37,500 Member, private practice: $47,500 Solo private practitioner: $52,500.

Sources: Association for Community Organization and Social Administration, Council on Social Work Education, National Association of Social Workers.

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Molecular Biologist

Yes, you do need a degree in molecular biology to fully grasp what these scientists do. In simple terms, they figure out how living things reproduce, adapt, grow, and metabolize on a molecular, or chemical, level. The finding help researchers better understand diseases and develop treatments for them. Jobs in academia, where more groundbreaking molecular research is done, are hard to land because turnover is low, but biotechnology firms and large pharmaceutical companies are hiring. As the genes that cause diseases are identified, the companies need molecular biologists to create drugs to correct imbalances in faulty genes.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry level: $41,200 Midlevel: $50,000 Top: $106,000 Based on nine-month academic year, not including grants earned. Figures do not reflect wages for molecular biologists in other fields.

Training
Bachelor’s degree in science, master’s, Ph.D., postdoctoral work (3-5 years, usually in a lab).

Runner-up Hot Track
Medical geneticist. Over the past decade, new gene discoveries have helped doctors develop gene therapies to fight once fatal diseases. Over the next 10 years, experts predict plenty of work at biotech firms, research hospitals, and medical schools for geneticists to help identify the 90 percent of genes yet to be name-tagged.

What Science Jobs Pay
Science technician: $27,000 Chemist (with BS degree): $49,000 Chemist (with Ph.D.): $71,000 Physicist (with MS degree): $55,000 Meteorologist: $57,000 Mathematician: $62,000 Geneticist: $62,700 Oceanographer: $62,700.

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Am. Chem. Society, Univ. of Calif.-Berkley, Am. Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

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Online Sales Manager

Online shopping seems a snap. Tab in a few bits of data, and that $12 inflatable fruit bowl will be at your door in days. For companies, however, Web commerce can be huge headache. They’ve got to pick the best products to cybersell, then figure out a system to confirm the order, ensure that the package arrives on time, and keep hackers from stealing customers information or company products. Companies are hiring online sales managers to handle these tasks, and the new job category looks solid. The number of online shoppers is expected to grow from 18 million in 1997 to more than 128 million in 2002, the year cumulative Internet sales revenues will break $400 billion.

Hot-Track Salaries
(Corporate) Entry level: $80,000 Midlevel: $116,900 Top: $150,000.

Training
An M.B.A. and sales experience are expected. Candidates should also understand Internet security safeguards.

Runner-up Hot Track
Wireless salesperson. More than 55 million people subscribe to cell phone service last year, up to 11 million from ’96. Sales of modems, pagers, and faxes are also soaring. Wireless salespeople help big companies choose the right products for office use and advise merchants on which phones to stock.

What Sales/Marketing Jobs Pay
Sales rep.: $35,000 Intermediate sales rep.: $46,000 Senior sales rep.: $68,000 District sales manager: $75,000 Regional sales manager: $80,000 Top sales executive: $110,000.

Sources: Dartnell Corp., Sales and Marketing Executives International, International Data Corp., Cellular Telecommunications Industry Assn.

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Web Site Developer

You’re a rock star and fans are trying to rip off your jeans-that’s the gist of the “Evil Mob Scene” game at www.levi.com. Why does a business bother with such frivolity? Ask the Web site developer, who’ll tell you that a company’s site needs to fit its image and give people a reason to keep coming back for fun stuff (as well as marketing hype). The job calls for knowledge of Internet programming languages as well as old-fashioned creativity. With some $19 billion a year spent on business Web Site development, developers can often choose whether to work on staff or as a consultant. And because Internet programming technology continually makes it possible for sites to do more, developers can expect ongoing work.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry level: $30,300 Midlevel: $49,600 Top: $74,000.

Training
A degree doesn’t matter as much as examples of creative work, training in Web programming languages and at least a year’s experience share information efficiently.

Runner-up Hot Track
Intranet developer. Companies are looking for professional who can develop private networks using Internet technology to help employees share information efficiently.

What New Media Jobs Pay
Programmer: $45,300 Network administrator: $48,700 Senior programmer: $54,500 Online research analyst: $56,400 Internet/intranet technology: $59,950 Content manager: $63,200* Director of networks: $72,400.

*Corporate salary

Sources: Robert Half Int’l Computerworld, Buck Consultants, International Data Corp.

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Primary-Care Physician

Aging baby boomers need more preventive and basic health care organizations prefer sending patients to primary-care doctors instead of specialists. Thus the category of primary-care physician seems immune from the projected glut of doctors. One third of the 560,000 MD’s now practice primary care, mostly working for group practices and managed health care organizations. Sixty-hour workweeks aren’t unusual. Daily duties include diagnosing and treating illnesses, giving diet and exercise advice, visiting hospitalized patients, and conferring with specialists.

Hot-Track Salaries
1-2 years: $120,000 3-10 years: $128,000 10 years and up: $140,000.

Training
A bachelor’s degree, medical school, residency in family practice, and an internship.

Runner-up Hot Track
Pediatric anesthesiologist. Thanks to advances in medical technology, doctors now perform once unimaginable heart and eye surgeries on children-even premature babies. In turn, hospitals are seeking pediatric anesthesiologist for surgery and pain control. With a steady eye and a gentle hand, they slip a sliver of needle into a thread-size vein.

What Medical Jobs Pay
Pediatrician: $128,445 Geriatrician: $160,397 Emergency medicine: $169,933 Ophthalmologist: $190,813 Obstetrician-gynecologist: $203,490 Anesthesiologist: $223,270 Radiologist: $235,514 Heart surgeon: $396,822.

Note: Average salaries for 1997

Sources: Medical Group Management Association, Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics, Physicians Financial News.

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Real-Estate Attorney

Pizza maker Papa John’s International plans to expand to at least 3,400 stores in the United States over the next eight to 10 years, up from 1,782 now. That means its legal team will be busy working with brokers and banks as the company acquires building space and get those 1,618 new outlets ready to deliver. The hearty economy is luring other chains to add properties, and new stores to open, driving up the need for real-estate lawyers at a time when the specialty is below strength; many lawyers had left of moved lucrative fields when the real-estate market plunged in the late ‘80s. At some law firms, partners are working well into the night to cope with the work, and law firms are looking for associates they can train quickly.

Hot-Track Salaries
(Median) Associate: $95,924 Partner: $208,181 Note: Figures are for 1997 and apply to litigation firms; salaries for nonlitigation firms are about 10 percent lower.

Training
Law degree.

Runner-up Hot Track
Corporate lawyer. Lawyers with experience in securities and transactions are in high demand as mergers and acquisitions continue t dominate the corporate world.

What Law Jobs Pay
Justice Dept. attorney (entry level): $39,270 In-house junior attorney: $60,934* Law clerk (top level): 484,495 State court chief justice: $110,702 District judge: $136,700 Chief legal officer: 4288,483

*1998 median salary
*1996 median salary

Sources: Administrative Office of the US Courts, Altman Weil Publications Inc., Ann Israel & Associates, National Center for State Courts, National Law Journal, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, US Department of Justice.

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Network Architect

Anyone who’s struggled assembling a new PC can imagine how corporations must feel as they build electronic networks linking hundreds of computers. Network architects are the in-house experts who set up the systems and keep them running by installing new software and upgrading old computers, until that fateful day when all the computers are to old and it’s time to start all over again. That’s why the Department of Labor forecasts 100,000 new jobs a year for the next decade in the field of managing computer data.

Hot-Track Salaries
(Average) Entry level: $53,900 Midlevel: $77,600 Director: $87,000.

Training
A bachelor’s degree in computer sciences, engineering, or a similar technical field plus certification in network software such as Windows NT or Novell (courses take a few days at a college or private center). Experience solving computer glitches is valued.

Runner-up Hot Track
Help-desk technician. Rapid changes in software mean demand for staffers to help users debug systems.

What Information Technology Jobs Pay
Help-desk technician: $26,000-$38,000 Programmer analyst: $35,000-$45,000 Systems analyst: $38,000-$50,000 Unix administrator: $44,000-$60,500 LAN/WAN specialist: $47,000-$64,500 Software specialist: $50,000-$70,000 Network architect: $59,000-$85,000

Sources: Robert Half International Inc., Computerworld, International Data Corp., Department of Labor.

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Executive Recruiter

This job isn’t hot-it’s radioactive. Consider: The executive recruiters at Jones-Parker/Starr of Chapel Hill, NC, search for other executive recruiters to place with executive recruiting firms, where the recruiters then look for executives in various fields to recommend to corporations. Confused? The point is that businesses are desperate for top executives and short on in-house talent after the middle-manager purges of the early ‘90s. Executive recruiters find the right execs for clients from startups t Fortune 500 firms. Most recruiters come out of a specific industry with a network of contacts in place. Jones-Parker/Starr, meanwhile, is riding the wave, taking in $1 million a year in revenue and fielding calls at 3 a.m.

Hot-Track Salaries
(Average) Entry level: $50,000-$100,000 Midlevel: $100,000-$250,000 Top: $250,000-$1,000,000.

Training
Three or more years working in the field you’ll recruit for.

Runner-up Hot Track
Human resources manager. In this job-hopping era, human resources departments have to keep employee’s happy-and in the house. Master’s programs can’t match the demand.

What Human Resources Jobs Pay
HR records specialist: $29,900 HR information systems specialist: $36,500 Affirmative action specialist; $40,800 Benefits manager: $54,644 Recruitment manager: $61,000 HR director: $65,050.

Note: Median salaries for 1997.

Sources: Abbott, Langer & Associates, Association of Executive Search Consultants, Jones-Parker/Starr, Kennedy Information: Executive Recruiter News.

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Catering Director

Next year will be the Year of the Party, says catering guru Mike Roman, who predicts a flurry of millennium fetes starting as early as July 4. Roman, founder of CaterSource, a trade group in Chicago, says the catering business is expanding at a 12 percent annual rate in current flush economy, and that’s not counting millennium bashes. At a small company, the catering director might work 16-hour days, doing everything from menu planning to setting up chairs. At larger firms, the director sells jobs and supervises staff. Hotels and restaurants are looking for catering directors, too, for new off-site catering divisions. Will the business stay strong post-millennium-or if there’s a recession? Experts say yes-corporate entertaining and weddings are a caterer’s bread and butter.

Hot-Track Salaries
(average) Entry level: $22,800 Midlevel: $30,000 Top: $42,600.

Runner-up Hot Track
Meeting planner. The planner makes meetings and conventions more cost effective. Prospects for such jobs are growing because have found that planers produce a better caliber of confab.

What Hospitality Jobs Pay
Sushi-chef: $22,800 Wine steward: $26,000* Travel agent: $26,300 Restaurant manager: $36,000* Assistant hotel manager: $40,000 Executive chef: $41,000* Food and beverage director: $46,000 Hotel general manager: $54,000.

Note: Average salaries for 1996

*Average salaries for 1995

Sources: CaterSource, National Catering Association, National Restaurant Association, Ritz-Carlton, Roosevelt University, Roth Young Personnel.

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Physical Therapist

Home physical therapist addresses the day-to-day challenges that patients face: Is your favorite chair good for your back? What should you do if dog jostles your walker? They also develop and supervise exercise plans, recommended equipment, and teach families to help a patient recover from illness or injury. Although the American Physical Therapy Association predicts a surplus of PTs for hospitals and clinics, home PTs represent the fastest growing segment within the field—the number jumped from 14,000 in 1996 to about 17,000 in 1997. The reason? As hospitals cut costs, more patients are send home still needing care.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry level: $39,780 Midlevel: $57,200 Top: $65,000.

Training
Physical therapists graduate from a four-year college program accredited by the American Physical Therapy Association and pass a licensing exam. By 2001, all accredited programs will require at least a master’s degree.

Runner-up Hot Track
Dental hygienist. The aging US population means dentists will do more on hygienists to handle preventive care.

What Health Care Jobs Pay
Dental hygienist: $22/hour Nurse practitioner: $53,889 Physical therapy: $55,866 Physician’s assistant (primary care): $57,665 Midwife: $62,408 Psychologist: $68,923 Optometrist: $72,077 Nurse anesthetist: $80,909.

Sources: Medical Group Management Association, Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Dental Association, American Nurses Association, National Association for Home Care.

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Relationship Manager

No, not that kind of relationship. We’re talking about a money marriage. Back in 1986, banks 46 percent of consumer assets, largely in checking and savings accounts. By 1996, the account balance slid to 38 percent, as money was moving into stocks, bonds, and retirement funds. To build a new connection with customers on investments, cash management, and credit, and also sell insurance and securities. A sharp relationship manager will keep her bank competitive with one-stop financial entities like those created by megamergers such as the Citicorp and Travelers Group combo. The prize is access to the $380 billion in annual revenue from investment and insurance products.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry level: $40,000 Midlevel: $48,300 Senior: $59,200.

Training
M.B.A. increasingly necessary; good sales and customer relations skills required.

Runner-up Hot Track
Venture capitalist. Investors are pouring money into venture capital firms, which invest in a small percentage of a new business, then help develop products or services.

What Finance Jobs Pay
Portfolio assistant: $41,600* Loan review officer: $43,800* Head of retail banking: $67,100* Head of lending: $79,100* Equity trader: $85,000 Research analyst: $94,000

*1998 average; 1998 average salaries for the New York tri-state region.

Sources: Bank Administration Institute, Boston Consulting Group, Buck Consultants Inc., Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank, National Venture Capital Association, KPA Group.

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Communications Engineer

Communication engineers help perfect the technology that scrambles cell phone conversations. They bring surround sound to movie theaters. Occasionally, they restore vintage bluegrass albums. Their ranks are growing as computer and cell phone systems converge and must be standardized. In addition, communications engineers are adapting former military systems, like global positioning satellites, for commercial use, allowing trucking companies to track their drivers and auto manufactures to install more-advanced navigation systems in cars. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has seen employment in communications fields grow from 5 percent of its membership to 18 percent in the past 10 years.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry: $60,800 Median: $78,000 Senior: $99,000.

Training
A bachelor’s degree in communication engineering or a related field is a minimum requirement. Project or team leaders generally have a master’s degree or doctorate.

Runner-up Hot Track
Transportation engineer. After passage of the roughly $200 billion transportation bill this year, there will be plenty of highways to design and bridges to repair. These engineers also work with new technology such as monitors that tell a driver when another car is in his blind spot and sensors in the pavement that track road conditions.

What Engineering Jobs Pay
Civil: $63,000 Environmental: $64,500 Agricultural: $65,805 Computer: $66,920 Electrical: $71,379 Aerospace: $72,000 Petroleum: $100,230.

Sources: American Society for Engineering Education, American Society of Civil Engineers, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineering.

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Speech Pathologist

Speech pathologist are often misunderstood. They don’t just help those with articulation problems like lisps; they are also experts in listening. To help youngsters who have trouble following directions, the speech pathologist explains to teachers how to simplify instructions and teaches students how to listen to a lecture and take notes. Because of this expanded role, demand for speech pathologist is expected to jump from 85,000 jobs in 1994 to 125,000 in 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The speech pathologist also makes occasional forays into the world of etiquette. When Judy Grimley runs conversation groups for students at John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, Md., she instructs them to maintain eye contact with teachers and peers, and what to say when a waiter asks, “How are you today?”

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry: $38,000 Median: $44,000 Senior: $52,000.

Training
Almost all states require a master’s degree, supervised clinical experience, and a national exam.

Runner-up Hot Track
Technical education teacher. Shop class is no longer just building tie racks. The subject now covers electronics and computer skills.

What Education Jobs Pay
Elementary school teacher: $38,070 Association professor: $52,941 Dean of students (undergraduate): $60,000 High school principal: $64,000 Professor: $72,839 University president: $161,004.

Sources: American Association for Employment in Education, American Association of University Professors, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Bureau of Labor Statistics, College and University Personnel Association, National Education Association, National Association of Secondary School Principals.

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Information Technology

Gezinus Hidding is a professor of management information systems at Loyola University Chicago. He teaches how businesses can best make use of his students. Hidding usually helps them choose among several job offers, often at the start of their last year. About half of his 900 M.B.A. students go into consulting because nearly every company, from small businesses to software design firms, needs help applying and running computer technology. Consulting offers good pay and a wide range of experience that could include advising companies on Internet commerce and tackling the year 2000 problem and the Euro conversion, two bugbears expected to continue as least five years after the dawning of the millennium.

Hot-Track Salaries
(average) Entry level: $51,200 Midlevel: $68,900 Top: $250,000.

Training
A bachelor’s or master’s in management information systems or computer programming is preferred, although some consulting firms offer training and prefer a general business background.

Runner-up Hot Track
Managed-care consultant. Hospitals and doctors need strategic advice on dealing with HMOs.

What Consulting Jobs Pay
Research associate: $32,400 Government management analyst: $55,240 Senior consultant: $74,300 Junior partner: $170,200 Note: 1996 average salary ad bonus.

Sources: Association of Management Consulting Firms, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Information Technology Association of America, Loyola University Chicago.

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Project Manager

As new homes and buildings go up, project managers ensure that budgets are met, schedules kept, and safety standards followed. Since the position calls for a college degree and some 10 years’ experience in different roles in the construction field, finding managers is tough now and will continue to be, says Jeffrey Robinson, president of PAS Inc., which provides compensation data to contractors. What if recession hits? He’s not worried: “So much construction is planned.”

Hot-Track Salaries
Junior level: $50,000 Midlevel: $65,064 Top: $86,800.

Training
Most construction companies prefer a degree in engineering, construction management, or architecture, with a solid background in management and in knowledge of contracts, building and environmental regulations, and computerized cost accounting, scheduling, and design. Good communication skills help.

Runner-up Hot Track
Landscape architect. Construction on 1,074,800 homes began during the first eight months of this year, up 10 percent from the same period in ’97. Homeowners, as well as owners of new commercial and municipal properties, and eager to plant.

What Construction Management Jobs Pay
Buyer: $31,405 Chief field engineer: $52,000 Senior contract administrator: $53,500 Senior scheduling engineer: $57,800 Equipment manager: $57,900 Risk manager: $57,935 Chief estimator: $75,000.

Note: Median salaries for 1998.

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Construction Owners Assn. of America, FMI Corp., PAS Inc.

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Technical Writer

Last month Sharon Murphy, a technical writer at General Mills in Golden Valley, Minn., decided that the verb “simmer” is meaningless to a “cooking illiterate” population. She changed the back of the Betty Crocker scalloped potato mix box to read, “ Cook until the mixture bubbles very gently.” Some technical writers tell couch potatoes how to program a VCR; others write space-probe manuals for rocket scientists. Technical writers use specialized knowledge to translate complicated concepts into lawman’s language. The Society for Technical Communication has seen its membership rise 53 percent since 1990, from 13,159 to 20,190, as the demand for technology filters down from the lab to the home.

Hot-Track Salaries
(average) Entry level: $35,500 Midlevel: $41,300 Top: $54,510.

Training
A bachelor’s degree-typically with an English or technical communications major-and strong writing skills are required. A specialized background like engineering or business helps, but on-the-job training is often available.

Runner-up Hot Track
Health care public relations. HMOs and hospital chains often face negative press; many have in-house PR staff and retain an outside firm as well.

What Technical Writer Jobs Pay
Newspaper reporter: $26,301 TV news reporter: $33,223 PR account executive: $36,050 Corporate PR specialist: $57,467 Health care PR specialist: $63,800 TV news anchor: $71,937.

Sources: Society for Technical Communication, Inland Press Association, National Association of Broadcasters, Public Relations Society of America, Folio, PR News.

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Nanny

Best Domestic Services Agency, which places nannies, opened its Newport Beach, Calif., office on Labor Day. Within 48 hours, 200 parents had called looking for help, leading to 69 nanny placements so far. What’s going on? In 1997, nannies cared for some 300,000 preschoolers in homes with working mothers. That number has nearly doubled since then. Salaries for this traditionally low-paying job are also doubling, and then some. In Greenwich, Conn., for example, experienced nannies can command $1,000 a week plus health insurance, paid vacations, and even cars-prompting an economist in Harper’s to wonder if the town is creating its own nanny bubble.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry level: $10,300 Midlevel: $24,000 Top: $48,000.

Training
Some families require minimal training. Others prefer a degree in child development or a certificate from a nanny school, usually a six-month to two-year certification program offered by universities or private schools.

Runner-up Hot Track
Child-care center director. Many parents want guarantees of safety inspections and some academic work (!) for their toddlers, so they’re shifting from family day care to centers that answer to accrediting bodies.

What Nanny Jobs Pay
Family-day-care provider: $10,700 Child-care-center worker: $14,300 Day-care director: $18,000-$24,000 Preschool teacher: $37,300.

Note: Average salaries for 1996.

Sources: Best Domestic Services Agency, Census Bureau, Child Trends, National Association for Family Child Care, International Nanny Association, National Association of ChildCare Professionals, National Education Association.

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Musician

The crossover popularity of singers like Bob “Butterfly Kisses” Carlisle made gospel a half-billion-dollar industry in 1997. The result: more jobs for Christian performers. Secular musicians are finding “stable, fruitful careers in the technological applications of music, such as composing for CD-ROMs and the Web,” says James Undercofler, director of Eastman School of Music. Niche markets, like Celtic music, are also profitable for talented individuals.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry-level gospel performer: $18,000-$20,000 Midlevel: $70,000-$100,000* Gospel superstar: $700,000 and up.

*After at least one successful album and tour.

Training
Practice your scales.

Runner-up Hot Track
Children’s theater staffer. Groups like Seattle’s Children’s Theater see a surge of interest from families who want to turn kids on to the arts. Part-time teachers and actors earn $15 to $50 an hour.

What Entertainment Jobs Pay
Regional orchestra musician: $8,000-$22,000* Major orchestra musician: $22,000-$90,000** Broadway director: $80,000 per production Off-Broadway actor: $400-$625 weekly Ballet and modern dancer: $693 weekly Broadway actor: $1,040 weekly Television actor: $1,942 weekly.

*35-week season
**29 to 52-week season Plus royalties

Sources: Gospel Music Assn., Sparrow Label Group, American College of Musicians, American Federation of Musicians, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Star Song Records, Musician Magazine.

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Web Specialist

Those omnipresent Internet banners and pop-up windows, selling everything from new cars to credit cards, don’t just magically appear. A Web specialist creates Internet ad campaigns-and also tries to convince companies that the World Wide Web is a great sales medium. Last year, advertisers spent $906.5 million on Internet campaigns, and the top 50 interactive as agencies, which focus on the Internet advertising. AT&T, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and Levi Strauss all showed up. Specialist can look for jobs with traditional ad agencies or with interactive agencies, based mainly in New York and San Francisco.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry level: $48,800 Midlevel: $60,000-$90,000 Top: $90,200.

Training
A BA in the liberal arts, experience working on a Web site.

Runner-up Hot Track
Media planner. There are more channels for reaching consumers than ever: new TV channels, magazines, Web sites. Media planners help ad agencies choose the best outlet to reach the customers they want.

What Advertising Jobs Pay
Account executive: $37,800 Chief copywriter: $48,400 Art director: $50,100 Sr. account executive: $65,400 Chief financial officer: $73,000 Creative director: $94,800 Chief operating officer: $128,000.

Note: Average salaries for 1998.

Sources: Laredo Group, Advertising Age salary survey, Jupiter Communications, Procter & Gamble.

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Environmental Accountant

Going green can save you green-that’s the message of environmental accountants, who crunch numbers to see if ecomeasures are good for business. In 1990, Baxter International turned to environmental accountants to weigh costs and benefits of pollution control, slimmer product packaging for its medical products, and recycling. By implementing changes, the company has saved $100 million. Chrysler’s ecoanalysts recommended a mercury-free alternative to a car part with mercury. The savings: $18,000 a year due to reduced regulatory fees and the elimination of costly warning labels.

Hot-Track Salaries
Entry level: $29,500-$32,750 Midlevel: $38,500-$48,000 Top: $47,000-$67,000 Note: for firms with more than $250 million in sales.

Training
A multidiscipline background in accounting, finance, and a technical field such as engineering or environmental science.

Runner-up Hot Track
Forensic accountant. White-collar crime is up, and the Feds are looking for Medicare fraud. Forensic accountants review data to nail the culprits.

What Accounting Jobs Pay
Internal auditor, local government: $18,000-$48,500 Payroll clerk: $20,000-$23,500* Accounts receivable manager: $24,000-$30,000** Credit manager: $46,000-$67,500 Tax manager: $71,000-$112,000 Controller: $86,000-$140,000.

Note: 1998 salaries.

*At firms with up to $25 million in sales
**At firms with $250 million or more in sales

Sources: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Accounting Project, Institute of Internal Auditors, Robert Half International.

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