By Elysha Rom-Povolo, HealthJobsStartHere.com
While health jobs already have unrivaled job security, this year will be an especially great time to step into the health industry. In February, the federal government announced that it will put billions of dollars into creating new health jobs. Over the course of the year, this money will be used to hire people with all kinds of different skills.
As the government money flows in, here are several jobs that you can step into right away:
Medical Biller/Coder ($28,950 – $41,860 annual salary)
Lots of money is going into health insurance systems — especially since the government decided to add an extra $87 billion to the Medicaid program. People like medical coders who know how to work with government insurance will be getting hired across the nation as their knowledge becomes more and more in demand. While some employers train medical coders on the job, others ask for a certificate that can be earned in just nine months.
Medical Records and Health Information Technician ($23,380 – $37,630 annual salary)
The government will be putting $19 billion into switching paper medical records over to electronic records, so you can expect jobs in health information technology to open up all over the country. Medical records and health information technicians need two years of training, but becoming a medical secretary ($23,850 – $35,210 annual salary) right now is a great first step on this career path to a good-paying job with great job security in the future.
Nursing Aide ($19,650 – $27,780 annual salary)
There is almost always a demand for nurses — a trend that will continue with more money going into health care. However, it can be hard to get your foot in the door. Becoming a nursing aide is a great gateway job because you don’t need any special training to enter the field. Next steps might be to take a four-week training course to become a certified nursing assistant ($23,160 – $32,270 annual salary), or you can become a licensed vocational nurse ($32,310 – $45,300 annual salary) after getting a year-long certificate under your belt.
Medical Laboratory Technician ($43,200 – $61,140 annual salary)
People who know their way around a medical laboratory will be in high demand because of all the new money going into medical research. While laboratory technicians need a two-year degree, a great stepping stone to this job is becoming a phlebotomist ($22,930 – $35,060 annual salary), the person who draws blood from patients or donors. Phlebotomists work both in the laboratory and with patients, and they can be trained and working in as little as eight weeks.
Pharmacy Aide ($16,930 – $23,870 annual salary)
At a time when even more health jobs are being created with government money, there will never be a better year to get into this already in-demand field. The great thing about becoming a pharmacy aide is that you can step into it without any special training and continue to rise up the ladder without going back to school. If you like working as a pharmacy aide, some employers provide on-the-job training to become a pharmacy technician ($21,900 – $32,100 annual salary).
Salaries listed are 25th to 75th percentile earnings based on May 2007 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
