Where Are The Hot Marketing Jobs?

What industries enjoy the most stability? The answer is: Who cares? Wherever you find stability today, it’ll likely be gone in a few short years.

Question: The economy seems to be on the upswing and companies are hiring again. I’m tired of working for companies where there’s no stability. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but I want to be ahead of the curve. So tell me, before I go “looking” again, in what industry or business sector are marketing jobs the hottest?

Nick Corcodilos: What areas enjoy the most stability? The answer is: Who cares? Wherever you find stability today, it’ll likely be gone in a few short years. If the economy does indeed continue to improve, lots of people will make the same mistakes they made the last time things were “hot.” They will follow fads.

In psychology, this is referred to as having an external locus of control. That is, people will make choices based on what someone else (the economy, the media, the stock market) tells them. When fads burn out, those who follow them burn out, too.

While it can be a good thing to respond to external influences (that’s sometimes where new opportunities come from), people’s most fundamental power comes from their own motivation. In the long term, it’s your internal locus of control that keeps you going when external forces slow things down.

What’s really hot? The only “hot” that really matters is how hot you are at the work you like to do.

Here’s my advice: Ignore most opinions you read about a particular industry.

• Even if an industry experiences a lot of turnover, all that means is there are opportunities for people who are real aces in that industry.
• Learn to help companies pick up the pieces when they’re experiencing problems, and you’ll always be in demand.
• Find work in your field of expertise that needs doing, even in hard times, and you will transcend any job.

Look for the next hot job to come along, and you may soon be looking again. Don’t confuse the most popular trends with the best, most profitable opportunities. While most people look to the bright light of hot trends, the best opportunities are often hidden under a rock, in the dirt, among nasty-looking bugs. (See “Why You Waste Time Interviewing For The Wrong Jobs.”)

This doesn’t mean you should necessarily stay put. If you’re going to change jobs or even industries, don’t start with the obvious. That’s where your competition is. Figure out what you can do that would be hot to the company you’d like to join. You see, good companies look for hot people. The smartest companies will build an entire operation around a very hot person, and they will staff it with other hot people.

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