Tired of looking for another job? Ready to find your calling in a fast-growing and in-demand career? If you’re thinking about investing your hard-earned time and money training for a new career, you need to be sure you’ll be rewarded with a lifelong career. The last thing you want is to go down a path leading to a career you’re not excited about or one that doesn’t live up to your expectations. You may hear careers describe as “growing” or “in-demand.” But what does that really mean?

  • There are plenty of positions available, meaning you’ll easily find employment once your training has completed
  • Wages and salaries for these positions are on the rise

Below, we’ve listed some of today’s fastest growing careers to help you discover your new dream job.

dentist chair in a sterile white office

Dental Assistant

Educational Requirements: Dental assisting schooling program (12 weeks + internship)

Dental Assistants are integral to the function of any dental practice. In addition to providing administrative support, dental assistants work alongside dentists and hygienists to keep dental patients mouths healthy!

Basic responsibilities of dental assistants include:

  • Ensuring treatment rooms and patients are ready for appointments
  • Assisting dentists during procedures, sterilizing and positioning instruments as needed
  • Operating high-tech dental lab and diagnostic instruments
  • Answering dental questions from patients and providing supporting information
  • Scheduling patient appointments and follow-up with patients to remind them of their appointments
  • Working with patients with insurance and billing issues

You’ll also be in charge of ensuring that patients are comfortable and mentally prepared for their appointment.

Benefits of a Career in Dental Assisting

  • Incredibly favorable average salary for the amount of required education. On average, dental assistants make about $37,000 a year. This means you will be able to make money immediately and not have years of tuition to pay.
  • Dental Assisting is an incredibly rewarding position. Your job will be to help patients feel more comfortable and get the most out of their dental appointment.
  • You’ll be talking with new patients every day, meaning no sitting around getting bored behind a computer.
  • Dental Assisting can even be the entry point to other jobs in the healthcare industry.
  • You’ll be working with generally healthy patients, allowing you to work in the medical field without the stress and emotional toll extremely sick patients bring.

Downsides to a Career in Dental Assisting

  • In order to have a successful career in dental assisting you will have to enjoy helping and being around people. In other words, if you don’t consider yourself a people person, this job may not be for you.
  • As a dental assistant, you will have a lot of responsibility.
  • You will be partially responsible for a patient’s health treatment – something that needs to be taken seriously.
  • Dental assisting can be hard work. Dedicated individuals serious about taking their career to the next level are ideal for a dental assisting career.
tax manager working on a laptop

Tax Manager

Educational Requirements: 4-Year Accounting Degree

Tax Managers are in charge of creating, implementing, and overseeing the tax plans for clients. Clients can include either individuals or businesses depending on the career direction you take. As a Tax Manager, you’ll be filing a lot of government paperwork, including preparing tax returns on behalf of clients. You’ll also be looking at tax policy so you can assist your clients with a tax strategy that works for them.

Benefits of a Career In Tax Management

As the old adage goes, there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes.

  • A recession-proof position since taxes will always exist
  • In-house and contractor positions available
  • High salary

Downsides to a Career in Tax Management

  • For some, it’s considered a dry profession
  • Stressful position given the risk of of audits and fines for clients
  • Relatively high educational requirements given the necessity of a 4-year degree
female data scientist working on a laptop

Data Scientist

Educational Requirements: 4-Year science and technology degree, with additional vocational training

The job of a Data Scientist is to look at data from data-set and interpret its meaning. Your interpretation of the data will help business managers make decisions on strategy and the direction of organizations. This job will entail a lot of time on a computer looking at spreadsheets and crunching numbers. It also involves a lot of presentations and reports where you’ll present your findings to stakeholders.

Benefits of a Career In Data Science

  • High salary
  • Your work will be used to make important decisions for your organization
  • A large range of businesses and organizations need data scientists, meaning you could work in many different fields

Downsides to a Career in Data Science

  • Relatively high educational requirements with a 4-year degree and additional training required
  • Not for individuals who don’t like working with numbers
  • Will be stationary all day, so not a good fit if you like movement
laptop showing back end coding

IT Security Analyst

Educational Requirements: 4-Year science and technology degree and possible additional training

As an IT Security Analyst, you’ll be working to help detect and prevent cyber threats. Generally, these positions will be for larger organizations, though consulting positions exist for assisting with the cyber security of smaller organizations. Day-to-day, you’ll be planning and implementing security measures, as well as updating security programs to keep your business safe. You’ll also be working to protect the internal digital files of your business from unauthorized access, as well as running tests to ensure everything is running smoothly.

Benefits of a Career as an IT Security Analyst

  • Great salary with good benefits
  • Perfect for individuals who are interested in computers, but not interested in programing
  • Consulting opportunities, allowing for a flexible schedule in the right situation

Downsides to a Career as an IT Security Analyst

  • Relatively high educational requirements.
  • At times extremely stressful, particularly if there is a security breach
  • Dry if you do not enjoy sitting at a computer for hours on end
  • Attention to detail is a must as an IT Security Analyst
large yellow semi truck on a highway

Truck Driver

Educational Requirements: No degree necessary, though commercial driver’s license required. There is also an expectation of some level of mechanical knowledge.

As a truck driver you’ll be driving a large tractor-trailer on behalf of trucking companies. You’ll be transporting everything from produce, to furniture, to raw materials. This job entails long hours on the road, often days on end. While many people view truck driving as a job where conditions are not great, there have been many improvements in the quality of life for truck drivers.

Benefits of a Career as a Truck Driver

  • Relative to the educational requirements for the position, truck drivers make a good salary
  • Great for individuals who love to travel
  • You won’t have anyone overseeing you on a day-to-day basis

Downsides to a Career as a Truck Driver

  • You’ll constantly be traveling, making it difficult for individuals with families
  • Long hours driving by yourself with few breaks
  • Can be dangerous if your truck breaks down
elderly person sitting with hands on their lap

Home Health Aide

Educational Requirements: Certificate Program and state mandated blood tests and background checks.

As a home health aide, you’ll be assisting individuals who live at home but still need substantial care from home. You will provide assistance with:

  • Eating
  • Bathing
  • Brushing teeth
  • Changing clothes
  • Checking temperature
  • Administering medicine
  • Using the restroom
  • Anything else they need help with that you could reasonably assist with

Depending on the needs of the patient and the firm you work with, you’ll be there for either a section of the day or during a longer set period of time. You’ll be responsible for noticing changes in their health status, and alerting the necessary professionals that could help them.

Benefits of a Career as a Home Health Aide

  • You’ll be helping those in need
  • Often a great entry-level to gauge interest in another health-related field (though almost all will require additional training)
  • Often flexible schedules are available for home health aides

Downsides to a Career as a Home Health Aide

  • The day-to-day grind of working with patients in sometimes dire circumstances can be hard for some people
  • Compared to other high-growth positions, annual salary is low
  • If you are easily queasy, this is not the position for you given that you deal often with bodily fluids

Are You Ready To Take Your Career To The Next Level?

Dental assisting is an in-demand career in the Vancouver and Camas area. Best of all? You can get started on the path to an exciting and stable job in just 12 weeks! Pacific Northwest Dental Assisting School is the ideal way to launch your career as a Dental Assistant. Our  12-week Dental Assisting program offers:

  • Flexible class times to fit any schedule
  • Financial assistance
  • On-site internship opportunities

Learn more about our Vancouver area dental assisting school by calling us at (360) 818-7273!