The Offshoring of America's Top Jobs

By

Michael T Robinson
CareerPlanner.com

Many of America's top jobs are moving offshore. Which jobs are most likely to be hit by "offshoring" and what can you do to protect and safeguard your career?

Jobs that are most likely to be moved offshore have these Characteristics:

• Work is highly repetitive (accounting)
• Work is predictable and well defined (customer service)
• Can be broken down into small manageable projects (software development)
• Can be turned into a routine (Tele-marketing)
• Proximity to the end customer is not important (phone based tech support of consumer products)
• End customer has already moved offshore (semiconductor sales)

Jobs that are unlikely to move offshore have these Characteristics?

• High degree of ambiguity (top management positions)
• Unpredictable (hands on technical troubleshooting)
• Understanding of the culture is critical (authoring books, marketing, comedians)
• Time is of the essence (fast product development)
• Requires a high degree of collaboration (making a movie)
• Requires close proximity to the end customer (firefighting, auto repair, dental work)
• Requires high degree of creativity and innovation (creating new products, technical breakthroughs, writing music)

What can you do to protect and safeguard your Job?

• Be the best in your field. Be much better than the next guy.
• Demonstrate the ability to be creative and innovative.
• Market your accomplishments to your management.
• Get out of any highly repetitive jobs that do not require close proximity to the customer.
• Choose a career where the demand will be so high that even tapping into the huge, low cost labor markets of China and India will not fill all the jobs.
• Choose a career from the "safe" list of jobs below.

Going, Going Gone
Our list of secure jobs and high risk Jobs

The list below shows four categories of jobs:

1. Safe / No Risk: Most of these jobs are safe from offshoring due to the need for being physically close to the customer.
2. Moderate Risk: These jobs might be starting to move offshore. There is no trend yet, but the nature of the work fits the pattern of a job that can be moved out of the US.
3. High Risk: Many of these jobs have already started to move offshore. The nature of these jobs matches those that can be moved easily and managed remotely.
4. Extreme Risk: You would have to be blind to not see that many of these jobs have already moved. The trend towards offshoring has been visible for more than a few years.

Finally, there is good news. The list of jobs that are safe from offshoring is much longer than the lists of jobs that are expected to be hit by offshoring.

Safe	Going	Going	Gone
No Risk	Moderate Risk	High Risk	Extreme Risk
Advertising Manager	Chemist	Aircraft Manufacturing	Accountant
Airplane Mechanic	Copy Editor	Automotive Engineers	Accounting Clerk
Architect	Film Editor	CAD Technician	Assembly Line Worker
Artist	Flight Attendant	Computer Operator	Equipment Maintenance Tech
Athlete	Graphic Designer	Computer Systems Analysts	Factory Manager
Authors	Insurance Agent	Customer Service Person	Industrial Engineer
Auto Mechanic	Insurance Claims Processor	Data Base Administrators	Machine Operator
Baker	Integrated Circuit Designer	Hardware Engineer	Manufacturing Manager
Bartender	Lab Technician	High Tech Sales Representative	Production Control Specialist
Business Owner	Molecular Biologist	Network Engineer	Production Engineers
Business Systems Analyst	Pilot	Operations Manager	Production Supervisor
Carpenter	Product Designer	Payroll Clerk	Purchasing Manager
Chef	Sales Person	Reliability Engineer	Quality Assurance Engineer
Chiropractor	Scientist	Software Developer	Reverse Engineering Specialist
Civil Engineer	Telephone Operator	System Administrator	Textile Worker
Coroner	Travel Agent	Technical Support Person
Court Reporter		Web Site Developers
Delivery Driver
Dental Assistant
Dental Hygienist
Dentist
Dry Cleaner
Electrician
Entrepreneur
Fire Fighter
Fitness Trainers
Florist
Funeral Director
Gardener
Guidance Counselor
Hair Stylist
Headhunter
Home Health Aides
Hotel Manager
Interior Designer
Lawyers
Legal Assistant
Marketer
Medical Assistant
Medical Doctor
Meteorologist
Movie / TV Actor
Movie Production Crew
Musicians
News Anchor
Nurses
Optician
Park Rangers
Pharmaceutical Sales Person
Physician Assistant
Plumber
Policeman
Post Office Worker
Power Generation Engineer
Power Generation Technician
Program Manager
Project Manager
Psychologist
Public Relations Specialist
Real Estate Appraiser
Real Estate Sales Person
Roofer
Security Guard
Set Designer
Shipping Clerk
Surgeon
Tax Accountant
Taxi Driver
Teachers
Therapists
Umpire
Veterinarian
Waiters
Warehouse Manager
Writers

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