• The Pros: You will be one of the first to know when new albums are coming out and can work closely with record labels and record stores.
• The Cons: you will have to sell releases you don’t like and entry level jobs can involve you in packaging and distribution 

• The Pros: If you love technical stuff you may well love this job, and you can get to go on tour and be part of a live show
• The Cons: You have to be able to adapt to different equipment and work hard to make poor equipment produce a great sound 

•  The Pros: Can pay well and you will work closely with the media
• The Cons: It can be really hard work to get to talk with people, like other forms of PR it can be glamorous but a lot of work getting people to pick up on the story 

• Pros: You can gain as much recognition as the artist and work with many different bands and artists
• Cons: you might need to work for free while you build a reputation and you have to really understand the technology. 

• Pros: Can get to talk with your favourite artists and shape peoples thoughts about bands, venues etc.
• Cons: It’s highly competitive and you need to work hard and smart to get the story/interview 

• Pros: You can become an icon! People remember the cover of an album
• Cons: you can get ripped off without good legal protection of your work and may need to work for free until you build a reputation. 

If you love music you might like to think about a career in the music industry - this may be through your musical or vocal skills through joining a band but there are lots of jobs associated with the musicians that you might like to consider.

There are some useful details on websites and you might like to look at:

http://musicians.about.com/od/otherindustrycareers/bb/choosecareer.htm and http://musicians.about.com/od/otherindustrycareers/bb/choosemusicjob2.htm

Different options to consider are 

• The Pros - You’ll learn lots about the music industry
• The Cons: You might not like the music and you could spend most of your time on fairly routine admin work. 

• The Pros: You take a major role in every element of a bands career working with music you love
• The Cons: You might need to spend money up front and when things go wrong you take the blame  

• The Pros: The thrill of a successful event, you get to work with bands you love
• The Cons: It can be hard to make money and it can be hard getting people to come to the event 

• The Pros: You can help put a show together and work with bands you love
• The Cons: It can be hard to get established as an agent and you may need to work for nothing till you build a name for yourself 

 I recently wrote about the top 10 fastest growing careers - I’ve just found another list, this time listing careers that allow you the flexibility to take more holidays and so give you more time for yourself.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected that the following five careers will experience fast growth and provide great perks:

1: Resort Chef - you can travel and attend training programmes in the low season.

2: Teacher - with long summer holidays

3: Fashion Designer - with periods of down time after the launch of a major collection

4: Freelance legal executiive - to cover holiday periods and times of excess work  where you will command a premium salary.

5: Software developer - where you can work as a contractor working on specific projects.

You can read more here

websites like to include lists, and here is one I found via an American site

The top 10 careers are:

1. Network systems and data communications analysts.
2. Physician assistant
3. Computer software engineer, applicants
4. Physical therapist assistants
5. Dental hygienists
6. Computer software engineers, systems software
7. Network and computer systems administrators
8. Database administrators
9. Physical therapist
10. Forensic science technicians.

This is based on research undertaken by Government economists, who estimate that these will be the fastest growing careers over the next 5 years.

We do need to be wary however, remember the number of people who trained to be plumbers because there was a high need, and now there are too many!

The middle classes are moonlighting - so said an article in The Times recently.

It’s nothing new, getting a second job and many people, particularly the lower paid have had no choice but to do this. Apparently the numbers are growing, and no wonder with the rising costs of food, fuel and more.

If you do decide to take on some extra sources of income you can think about whether you want to do more of what you do in your day job - moonlighting as an accountant, web designer, car mechanic …

Or you can think about doing something that ties in with your hobbies and talents - cooking, sewing, web design, piano teaching …

So how do you choose? Think about what is going to be best for you - the income it will generate, but also is this going to be something you want to be doing?

Any thoughts? Ask me a question and I’ll let you know my thoughts

There was an interesting post on a website I visited recently. There are many jobs out there but what careers are in areas of increased need?

I’d never encourage people to choose a job just because it’s there, but if you have carefully analaysed your strengths and interests and they match up with these careers, they would certainly be worth exploring:

Healthcare
With an aging population there is going to be a greater need for health care. This can include working with people at home, and also in hospitals. There is also likely to be a need for mental health counsellors and social workers.

Information Technology
Whilst some IT functions have been outsourced overseas, there could also be a need for computer software application engineers and also Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts.

Education
As teaching is a hands on activity it is unlikely to be outsourced.

Professional Services
A number of jobs fall into this category such as legal executive, financial services, accountant and auditor and also working in recruitment.

You can read what Vincent writes on this here  

Is your son or daughter or family friend planning a gap year? You don’t have to be 18 to do this. There are many people who take on a year of volunteer work to make sure that they don’t fall into a career rut.  You could go overseas for a year, or take on a project in this country, possibly through Community Services Volunteers . 

A benefit is that you would learn new skills, which could help in a new job, or give you the time to think about whatever is important to you for a future career. Some people choose to take a gap year to do al those things they never have time for.  E.g. Mick is taking a year out to odo all the things he has never had time for - learning Spanish, surfing, diving, DIY, drumming, spending time with family and friends and taking time to think what to do next.

I’ve recently returned from a holiday in India, I love to read the Indian newspapers and in the Deccan Chronicle Chennai about a scriptwriting career. It is currently a fast growing career within India.  

I found the article really interesting; it explained that there are 3 elements to scriptwriting – story, screenplay and dialogue. The story is the basis of the script, and the screenplay is the visualisation of every shot. Then the dialogue is created.   This article recognised it’s a competitive industry, and said it’s a good idea to start at a director, which is also highly competitive? 

So I did a search for UK sources of help and if this interests you it would be worth looking at some of the resources on line such as this one from Careers Scotland.   There are many links on the net offering courses, but I do think you need to be careful, there are many people and companies out there only too happy to take your money, so search carefully and let me know of any good resources.  This may be a good place to start – The Scriptwriters Network.