COVER STORY New year, new job
Career prospects are soaring in these hot New York City job markets
IF getting a new job tops your list of resolutions this year, you may be in luck.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, most workers will switch jobs 10 to 15 times between the ages of 18 and 48, and 2018 may be your moment. With the unemployment rate at the lowest it’s been in years, the job market is tight, leaving some managers with no other choice than to compete to hire the best talent.
This could translate to bigger paychecks, better perks and some employers willing to take a chance on job candidates who don’t perfectly match all of their requirements.
“The outlook for job seekers is good,” says Jim Brown, a labor-market analyst at the New York State Department of Labor.
Dawn Fay, New York district president at recruiting firm Robert Half International, agrees. “Everything is bigger and better in New York City. By nature of being here you [business professionals] have many more options that are more interesting and extravagant,” she says.
We gathered insights from the state Department of Labor, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and job-search Web sites CareerCast.com, Indeed.com and Glassdoor.com, and then cross-referenced them with some of the city’s leading recruiters to find the hottest fields of 2018.
Think construction
We’re not talking only about hard hats. Ginormous projects such as Hudson Yards, Essex Crossing, Pacific Park and many others are bringing more than 30,000 jobs into the city, creating opportunities for architects, carpenters, designers, electricians, engineers, plumbers, project managers and more.
The stereotypical image of a construction worker as a catcalling clock puncher who doesn’t have a corporate e-mail account no longer reflects reality, recruiters say.
“This generation of workers wants to engage in respectful ways, and employers are offering things like flextime, employee stock ownership plans [ESOP] and great benefits to attract them,” says David Cone-Gorham, owner of NYCM Search, a Brooklyn-based headhunting firm specializing in real estate development and construction management.
Think fintech and adtech
Technology might have muddied the career plans of some Wall Street traders and Madison Avenue ad professionals, but it has created two entirely new fields that play big in the city — fintech and adtech. For the uninitiated, adtech professionals build and use software and digital tools to help agencies and brands target, deliver and analyze their online advertising efforts. Fintech professionals do everything from working with cryptocurrencies, blockchain and cybersecurity to digital payment systems such as Apple Pay.
Because these fields are still new, jobs are on a consistent uptick, says Brown, the labor analyst. But you’re going to need a background rooted in technology, quantitative analysis or data science to qualify, says Avery Loeffler, a headhunter at executive search firm Korn Ferry.
Companies such as Amazon, Moody’s Analytics, Groupon, Factual, Google and Averity are recruiting in this space, reports jobs Web site Glassdoor.
Fintech and adtech startups also hire those less technically focused in finance, human resources, legal, marketing and sales.
Think leisure, lodging and hospitality
The city is expected to play host to more than 60 million visitors this year, which translates to job growth at hotels, restaurants, museums, theaters, convention centers, sports venues and more. There are over 140 new hotels in the pipeline, reports NYC & Company, including the 452-room Times Square Edition, the 396-room Freehand Hotel near Gramercy Park and the 201- room VOS Hotel in Brooklyn, among others.
What kinds of jobs does all of this new activity create? Everything from hotel general managers to head chefs, banquet managers, front desk and room attendants, lifestyle concierges and everything in between.
Think software development
The city’s tech industry has grown far beyond Silicon Alley to all five boroughs, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process, according to Built in NYC, an online community for startups and tech companies. And don’t expect that to change anytime soon considering that, in the third quarter, New York-area companies raised mere venture capital than San Francisco.
Not only that, but Midtown-based database maker MongoDB completed its IPO last month. It was the first database company to go public in more than 20 years, establishing New York City as a world-class tech powerhouse.
“MongoDB’s success is proof that New York is a great market with a lot of technology talent,” says Eliot Horowitz, the company’s chief technology officer and co-founder.
Think health care and business services
As the city’s large population ages and lives longer, health-care workers such as home health aides and nurses remain in high demand, but walk-in clinics are also popping up, creating entirely new jobs, says Brown.
The professional- and business-services market continues to grow as well. It’s worth noting that while opportunities for accounting managers and certified public accountants are still on the increase, compliance professionals are in especially high demand.
Rich Deosingh, senior regional vice president at Robert Half, says that while some workers in this booming profession were thrust into their roles from operations backgrounds after the 2008 recession, others have investigative backgrounds in law enforcement, audits and such.
My boss has a bad reputation in the company, and I fear it reflects badly on the entire department. Do I look bad because I work for him, and will that hurt my career prospects if I want to transfer at some point? What do I do?
It is true that the reputation of the person you work for can reflect on you, positively and negatively, so you do have to keep that in mind when considering career moves. Sometimes, working for someone with a bad reputation can have a positive impact on one’s career, depending on what kind of reputation the boss has. Are they tough and difficult, but really smart and successful? Or, are they not respected, or worse? I’ve often hired people who have worked for notorious bosses because they showed they were able to survive and even thrive (provided they don’t exhibit any of those same bad behaviors). You want to know what’s even easier? Working for someone with a great reputation. They’re out there.
I am about to get another job offer but am six weeks away from getting my bonus from my current employer. I’ve worked hard all year and I should get the bonus. Is it wrong to stay just to get it and then leave?
Let’s put it this way — if hanging around to get your bonus before leaving a job is inappropriate, then millions of employees have been wrong since the beginning of work. The question you need to ask yourself, however, is will it put your new job in jeopardy to wait that long? And what is your employer’s policy on bonus payments? Some pay if you finished the bonus year regardless of whether you leave before the bonuses are paid, while others only pay the bonus if you are employed at the time you receive it. Is the amount worth it to wait before starting a new job, which presumably offers more compensation which could make up for the missed payment? Or can you negotiate with your new employer to make up that upcoming payment? There are lots of ways to handle this, but waiting until you get the payment before giving notice is not bad form — in fact, most employers expect an uptick in turnover after bonuses are paid.