Nurse practitioner.
Statistician.
Home health aide.
Data scientist.
All are hot jobs, which means nothing if you’re looking for an angle for self-employment and you aren’t already in these positions.
“Hot jobs” lists are only meaningful if you’re looking for a job in those fields or very closely related fields. It’s all in the transferable skills. If you’re already a registered nurse, you are well on your way to becoming a nurse practitioner. If you’re already a data analyst, some specialized training and key developmental assignments at work, and you can cash in on having one of the hot jobs.
Hot jobs lists are most useful for people already in those jobs. Such lists confirm that they’re in demand. They can negotiate for more money, better assignments, and experiences that qualify them for promotions – if they want them.
But hot jobs lists don’t have anything to do with finding an entry point for self-employment, if your job isn’t anything close to what’s hot.
The key to sustainable self-employment is zeroing in on a set of proficiencies that are sturdy enough to win either enough clients to build a practice, or enough customers to build a small business.
Chasing the current hot jobs doesn’t do that. Even chasing the current hot skills – skills like IT specialties in “tensor flow” and “Microsoft Azure” – aren’t enough, on their own, to build sustainable self-employment. A collection of skills, hot or not, does not add up to a portfolio that wins clients.
It’s not the technical skills you offer a client that win you the work. It’s what you do with those skills, to help the client achieve their goals.
That’s why lists of hot jobs are misleading, for those hoping to offer what potential clients really need: when you’re seeking clients, not a job, you must bring more than the actual skills to win the clients. Plain skills might win you a job, but you need more to win and keep clients.
Sources:
https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/fastest-growing-flexible-jobs-v2/?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email; https://blog.udemy.com/the-10-hottest-technical-skills-in-2020/#:~:text=The%2010%20Hottest%20Technical%20Skills%20in%202020.%201,4.%20OpenCV.%205%205.%20Neural%20networks.%20More%20items