Best Social Services Jobs
After speaking with professionals in the social service industry, U.S. News found a reoccurring theme: Many view their job as a calling rather than a choice. From social workers to school counselors, those in the business of helping individuals find that each day presents a new opportunity to alter someone's life for the better. Others in the industry find different ways to enrich society, like the bus driver who ensures children arrive at school on time to the security guard who maintains safety at the nearby office building. All 30 of our Best Social Services Jobs share another virtue: They should match the healthcare industry in hiring opportunity for this decade. Read more on how we rank the best jobs.
As a school psychologist, you'll wear a variety of hats, including counselor, administrator, and researcher. Occasionally, you might even dabble in social outreach. Schools aiming to properly address the learning and emotional needs of students will be on the hunt for school psychologists. The Labor Department projects a nearly 22 percent uptick in the occupation by 2020.
While interpreters utilize hand gestures and various forms of language to practice their craft, translators rely on the power of the pen. A rise in global interaction, military needs, and innovative technology has the Labor Department predicting more than 42 percent employment growth in this profession over the coming decade.
In this occupation, you can be a guiding light for individuals wanting to shelve an addictive, destructive lifestyle for one of normalcy. According to the Labor Department, the field will add 23,400 new positions by 2020, the result of a justice system increasingly turning toward treatment-oriented sentences rather than jail time.
Sometimes called speech therapists, these professionals assess and diagnose people with disorders related to verbal communication. They often work with social workers, doctors, and teachers to improve a patient's speech.
Having a hard time telling the difference between a landscaper and a groundskeeper? Landscapers plant trees, shrubs, and flowers, fertilize plants, and construct outdoor walkways, patios, and fences to surround their handywork. Groundskeepers might also garden and plant, paint fences, clean swimming pools, shovel snow, and handle refuse removal.
Marriage and family therapists face a tall order: play middleman between two people with a marriage on the rocks and take on the role of peacemaker. The Labor Department projects a 41.2 percent spike in the profession over the coming decade.
Consider this: Twenty-five of our U.S. presidents have been lawyers. So it almost goes without saying that working in law holds a particular draw for us Americans. There will be the need for about 73,600 more professionals with juris doctor degrees by the year 2020.
Like many professionals, high school teachers encounter several challenges in their line of work. But they also face numerous rewards when educating and advising teenagers. The Labor Department predicts that there will be 71,900 new high-school teaching positions to fill by 2020.
You might think of them as handymen, jacks-of-all-trades, or Mr.—and even Mrs.—Fix-Its. But one in the field refers to maintenance workers as "doctors for the home." And the Labor Department predicts we'll need more than 140,000 new ones by 2020.
The duties for recreation and fitness workers vary; you could lead a spinning class or run a summer camp, for example. But almost all of them have flexible schedules and their job satisfaction is high.
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Best Jobs of 2013 — See our full list of industries and their jobs.
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Best Business Jobs — Expect nearly 4 million openings in this industry this decade.
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Best Creative Jobs — Three hot jobs where right-brain thinking truly pays off.
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Best Healthcare Jobs — The medical field is classified by good salaries and great job security.
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Best Social Services Jobs — These 30 jobs are more than a choice, they’re a calling.
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Best Construction Jobs — Ten great jobs that prove this field is coming back strong.
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Best Technology Jobs — Nine of the fastest-growing and top-paying jobs available now.
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