Accountants made a median salary of $63,550 three years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and that number has surely climbed since. They are also looking at a robust hiring market of 13% between 2012 and 2022, according to the BLS. “Accountants can work in many different industries,” says Kyle Kensing, the author of a new report on America’s most underrated jobs. “You can work for a major league franchise or you can be an independent contractor. Accountants’ skills are always in high demand.” The work is also relatively low stress, he says, except around tax time. All of those factors land accountant on job site CareerCast’s list of eight most underrated jobs.
Also on the list, with a median salary in 2012 of $99,720: human resources manager. The growth outlook between 2012 and 2022 is also 13%. “It’s not a glamorous job but you play a vital role in your organization,” says Kensing. Every business needs to hire and fire and take care of it staff, which means that HR professionals will always have work.
More underrated jobs to consider: civil engineer, geologist, multimedia artist, psychologist, veterinarian.
Earlier this year, CareerCast, a seven-year-old Carlsbad, CA job listing website, released its annual list of America’s 10 “best” and 10 “worst” jobs, after evaluating 200 professions using five core criteria: pay, hiring outlook, work environment, stress and physical demands. Within those categories, there are more than 100 sub-criteria, like degree of confinement in the work environment and income growth potential. The data come from the BLS, Census Bureau, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and an array of private compensation surveys, trade association studies and state statistics.
Four years ago, CareerCast reworked the data and produced two new lists, most underrated jobs and most overrated jobs. To distinguish the underrated jobs from the “best” jobs, Kensing says CareerCast uses a subjective set of observations, culling the jobs that the staff thinks the public sees as especially undesirable and then using the same metrics they use for the best and worst lists, giving extra weight to compensation, employment outlook and stress levels, to find the jobs with more pluses than people think. While they don’t pay the six- or seven-figure compensation of hedge fund managers or heart surgeons, these underrated jobs allow workers to enjoy a decent standard of living, low stress, and a relatively bright employment outlook.
Of what use is this report if you’re sure you have no aptitude or interest for the jobs on the list? In my wildest dreams I couldn’t imagine being a geologist, environmental engineer or veterinarian (sick animals would make me too sad and I don’t do well with the sight of blood). But most of us enjoy reading lists anyway. At the least, if you are considering one of these professions, know that the pay and hiring outlook may be better than you think and the stress level not as taxing as you expect.
See our slideshow above for all eight underrated jobs or read the full CareerCast report here. CareerCast does not rate the jobs so we’re showing them in alphabetical order.
See also: America's 8 Most Overrated Jobs
See also: The Best Jobs For 2015
See also: The Worst Jobs For 2015
