We are all seeking a job that offers a healthy blend of job satisfaction, reasonable compensation, job security, robust growth and manageable stress.
What was the job that earned the No. 1 position? Actuary ranked as number one with a yearly salary of $94,200 and because it offered great compensation, job satisfaction and opportunity for growth. In second place for the best job, we have audiologist, which involves the diagnosing, testing and treatment of balance and hearing problems. Audiologists earn a yearly salary of $71,100.
For 2016, we have seen that many of the top 10 jobs on CareerCast's list relate to the STEM field. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In addition to these industries, we have also witnessed a huge boom in the healthcare industry, and part of this could be due to aging Baby Boom generation and the Affordable Care Act. Mathematician steals third place with a healthy compensation of $102,200. In fourth place, we see the career of statistician, and after comes biomedical engineer, data scientist and a dental hygienist.
The publisher of the CareerCast list, Tony Lee, said that the ultimate goal of the list would be to rank the best and worst jobs of 2016 to assist career changers and a younger generation with finding their calling in life and directing their ambitions onto it. Lee states that he made this list for the ninth grade student who loves to calculate numbers to win in their fantasy football league. When they learn about the career path of an actuary or a biomedical engineer, it could spark a lifelong interest in a field that did not exist before.
While these lists do generate a following for CareerCast, Forbes has covered this company for the last five years because it is useful for people to examine the challenges, rewards and stresses associated with the different industries. The CareerCast team uses the wisdom of 27 years. Two doctoral students from the University of Wisconsin originally started the project in 1988, and with the help of the career book author Les Krantz, they designed the first best jobs list, which evaluated more than 200 of the common jobs within the United States. You can actually find the lists in two different publications that the Wall Street Journal owns.
In 2009, Tony Lee, a man who worked for these two publications, started CareerCast.com. They originally began as a subsidiary of Adicio, which offers career support technology. With the assistance of Kyle Kensing, Lee and Kensing wrote up the report, and their team designed a formula that examines multiple factors that:
Emotional
Level of Competition
Degree of Public Contact
Physical Demands
Income
Opportunity for Growth
In addition, CareerCast also looks at deadlines and whether there exists a physical risk at the job. The methodology offers a soundness, but keep in mind, this may not resonate with all people in the workforce, but it may with some. For example, the degree of public contact could be viewed as positive or negative, depending on the individual. While some people will thrive in a public environment, others will see it as a burden.
Another aspect to understand with CareerCast is that the researchers do not regularly poll a large number of the actual workers in the 200 industries that they have surveyed. Instead, they gather data using BLS, trade associations, government sources and private firms. After they have done this, they check with the people who have worked in these industries. They do not survey hundreds of workers in each of the 200 fields because that would be a task of too great an enormity. Stress can also be viewed with a more subjective lens. While CareerCast listed audiologist as the least stressful job, for example, when interviewing an audiologist called Allie, she said that she needs to take a Xanax every day to deal with the amount of stress. She continued by saying it was because she is dealing with people who have lost one of their senses.
What could some of the stresses include with an audiologist? Allie talked about a patient whose insurance said they would not cover his hearing aid. In another example, a woman suffering from vertigo vomited all over Allie's shirt. While this story could simply be that Allie's case is unusual, you still should do your own research afterwards. It makes you wonder if audiologist should truly rank as the second best out of 200 jobs.
This brings home a specific point. When choosing a career, one of the most important aspects will relate to your special skills, talents and desires. Do not choose the number one job thinking it will automatically be the best job for you.
You want to match your personality with the demands of the career path. For example, let's say you have no aptitude for engineering, and you do not understand how to use new programs when it comes to your computer, or maybe you have a fear of bodily fluids. If this is you, you should avoid careers like a software engineer, data scientist or physical therapist. Also, you want to factor level of happiness into your career choice because you do not want to be paid to be miserable. Here are CareerCast's top 10 best jobs of 2016:
Salary: $94,200
#2: Audiologist
Salary: $71,100
#3: Mathematician
Salary: $102,200
#4: Statistician
Salary: $79,200
#5: Biomedical Engineer
Salary: $89,200
#6: Data Scientist
Salary: $124,100
#7: Dental Hygienist
Salary: $71,100
#8: Software Engineer
Salary: $93,100
#9: Occupational Therapist
Salary: $77,100
#10: Computer Systems Analyst
Salary: $81,200
Do you have a hidden talent for high-level math? How about a love for the challenge of continually changing assignments or perhaps you work well on a team? In the job market of 2016, CareerCast.com made a 2016 list of the best and worst jobs currently existing in the United States.
What was the job that earned the No. 1 position? Actuary ranked as number one with a yearly salary of $94,200 and because it offered great compensation, job satisfaction and opportunity for growth. In second place for the best job, we have audiologist, which involves the diagnosing, testing and treatment of balance and hearing problems. Audiologists earn a yearly salary of $71,100.
For 2016, we have seen that many of the top 10 jobs on CareerCast's list relate to the STEM field. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In addition to these industries, we have also witnessed a huge boom in the healthcare industry, and part of this could be due to aging Baby Boom generation and the Affordable Care Act. Mathematician steals third place with a healthy compensation of $102,200. In fourth place, we see the career of statistician, and after comes biomedical engineer, data scientist and a dental hygienist.
The publisher of the CareerCast list, Tony Lee, said that the ultimate goal of the list would be to rank the best and worst jobs of 2016 to assist career changers and a younger generation with finding their calling in life and directing their ambitions onto it. Lee states that he made this list for the ninth grade student who loves to calculate numbers to win in their fantasy football league. When they learn about the career path of an actuary or a biomedical engineer, it could spark a lifelong interest in a field that did not exist before.
While these lists do generate a following for CareerCast, Forbes has covered this company for the last five years because it is useful for people to examine the challenges, rewards and stresses associated with the different industries. The CareerCast team uses the wisdom of 27 years. Two doctoral students from the University of Wisconsin originally started the project in 1988, and with the help of the career book author Les Krantz, they designed the first best jobs list, which evaluated more than 200 of the common jobs within the United States. You can actually find the lists in two different publications that the Wall Street Journal owns.
In 2009, Tony Lee, a man who worked for these two publications, started CareerCast.com. They originally began as a subsidiary of Adicio, which offers career support technology. With the assistance of Kyle Kensing, Lee and Kensing wrote up the report, and their team designed a formula that examines multiple factors that:
Emotional
Level of Competition
Degree of Public Contact
Physical Demands
Income
Opportunity for Growth
In addition, CareerCast also looks at deadlines and whether there exists a physical risk at the job. The methodology offers a soundness, but keep in mind, this may not resonate with all people in the workforce, but it may with some. For example, the degree of public contact could be viewed as positive or negative, depending on the individual. While some people will thrive in a public environment, others will see it as a burden.
Another aspect to understand with CareerCast is that the researchers do not regularly poll a large number of the actual workers in the 200 industries that they have surveyed. Instead, they gather data using BLS, trade associations, government sources and private firms. After they have done this, they check with the people who have worked in these industries. They do not survey hundreds of workers in each of the 200 fields because that would be a task of too great an enormity. Stress can also be viewed with a more subjective lens. While CareerCast listed audiologist as the least stressful job, for example, when interviewing an audiologist called Allie, she said that she needs to take a Xanax every day to deal with the amount of stress. She continued by saying it was because she is dealing with people who have lost one of their senses.
What could some of the stresses include with an audiologist? Allie talked about a patient whose insurance said they would not cover his hearing aid. In another example, a woman suffering from vertigo vomited all over Allie's shirt. While this story could simply be that Allie's case is unusual, you still should do your own research afterwards. It makes you wonder if audiologist should truly rank as the second best out of 200 jobs.
This brings home a specific point. When choosing a career, one of the most important aspects will relate to your special skills, talents and desires. Do not choose the number one job thinking it will automatically be the best job for you.
You want to match your personality with the demands of the career path. For example, let's say you have no aptitude for engineering, and you do not understand how to use new programs when it comes to your computer, or maybe you have a fear of bodily fluids. If this is you, you should avoid careers like a software engineer, data scientist or physical therapist. Also, you want to factor level of happiness into your career choice because you do not want to be paid to be miserable. Here are CareerCast's top 10 best jobs of 2016:
#1: Actuary
Salary: $94,200
#2: Audiologist
Salary: $71,100
#3: Mathematician
Salary: $102,200
#4: Statistician
Salary: $79,200
#5: Biomedical Engineer
Salary: $89,200
#6: Data Scientist
Salary: $124,100
#7: Dental Hygienist
Salary: $71,100
#8: Software Engineer
Salary: $93,100
#9: Occupational Therapist
Salary: $77,100
#10: Computer Systems Analyst
Salary: $81,200
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