Article Review - "top 10 Future Careers"

In the article "Top 10 Future Careers" Glen Hiemstra discusses how society and technology has changes and occupations that use to be in high demand are now on the chopping block. This made me reflect on my career choice of Human Resource Management.

Several of the occupations mentioned are being phased out with the advancement of technology. Stockbrokers are a thing of the past as E*Trade advances. People are choosing to be their own brokers thanks to the help of the internet. The same for auto dealers and real estate agents, more of these activities are being completed by consumers over the internet or internet based companies that can reach a broader audience with the use of a website and technology. Other occupations that are in risk of being phased out are occupations that use paper. This includes stenographers, printers, mail carriers, and teachers. As technology advances people don't use print. The mail carriers do not have the mail to deliver because e-mail and paperless billing. Teachers are being replaced with the use of internet classrooms where e-books are utilized.

The jobs that are expected to be on the rise are occupations in the medical field such as pharmers which is someone that raises crops or livestock which are genetically engineered to produce therapeutic proteins. Another medical career on the rise is a Gene Programmer which is an individual that alters ones genes by rewriting lines of computer code to remove defective genes. Technology fields are also on the rise these include data miners which are basically internet researchers and virtual-reality actors.

This article made me question my decision to enter the human resource field as it too can be replaced by a website based company that can cover several companies versus having one person per company. Unilever Bestfoods recently removed their human resource department and replaced it with IBM. The computer and 1-800 number difficulties lowered moral. The employees had issues with filing claims and getting information. In turn the company ended up being back the human resource department to an extent. Employees need and desire to have the face to face contact when it comes to questions about insurance and benefits. Therefore despite being concerned about a future in the human resource field, I believe that I will be able to maintain employment as long as I stay up to date with technology and the ever changing employee laws.

Hiemstra, Glen. "Futurist.com: Futurist Speaker Glen Hiemstra | Top 10 Future Careers." Futurist.com: Futurist Speaker Glen Hiemstra | . 2001. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. <http://www.futurist.com/articles-archive/business-and-economics/top-10-future-careers/>.