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Hot Careers with Freedom and Flexibility

By Gabby Hyman
Learning & Life Columnist
July 18, 2006

Imagine rising at your own schedule, brewing fresh coffee, and sitting down at your home computer, breaking for trips to lunch or the gym, and wrapping up your business day with a dip in the pool or round of golf. Many freelance, contract, and telecommute professionals enjoy this convenient schedule every day. You can join them. There are college courses that prepare you for a career with amazing flexibility and freedom.

Freedom in New Media

Graphic artists and web designers are among the privileged group that combine their college degree and industry experience to build a profitable freelance business. Both professions belong to the fastest-growing group of careers for the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Web designers and graphic artists work across a broad range of industries and services (high-tech, health care, e-commerce, and finance), so they're needed everywhere. If you have a degree, keep taking college courses in updated software and design programs to stay competitive as a freelancer.

Freedom in the Numbers Game

The BLS also projects a "faster than average growth" in jobs for bookkeeping and accounting professionals over the decade. Prepare for long-term job flexibility by taking courses in accounting and finance. Bookkeepers and accountants work in virtually every sector in the economy, with increasing numbers building careers in the convenience of a home office - or in visiting clients on a flexible schedule.

Freedom by Design

Don't forget about interior designers! The BLS reports that 3 out of ten interior designers with college degrees are self-employed. Many work from home, or have an outside office where they keep their own hours. Others work as subcontractors to architectural or design companies, taking assignments when they choose to work.

And under these flexible, enjoyable conditions, why wouldn't you choose to work?

Source

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Learn More about these Careers



About the Author
Gabby Hyman has created online strategies and written content for Fortune 500 companies including eToys, GoTo.com, Siebel Systems, Microsoft Encarta, Avaya, and Nissan UK.

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