One of the best careers to have is one that will last for as long as you want it to and is a professional career that can be practiced anywhere across the entire globe. This article will look at the top career choices that are trending at the moment. It is also important to look at where these jobs or careers are available or based and how the ability to be able to work from anywhere will affect these critical employment sectors. It is an examination of the most sustainable careers that travel well.

What is a sustainable modern career?

A sustainable career is one that will last for as long as possible and create a means to make a living and a lifestyle. It is not necessarily a green job, but one that the incumbent enjoys doing and is able to adapt to the changing job market and keep performing in the long run. The best ways to ensure that you are developing a sustainable career are:

• Know what is possible in the current job market. There is no point planning to be something or studying towards a specific job role that is on its way out.
• Create trust between employee and employer. If you intend to work for your current employer for as long as is possible and intend to move up the ladder of success, then you will need to trust each other. This takes time and effort but is a definite way to create the foundations for a sustainable career.
• Always try to work to your best capabilities. Unless you are absolutely essential and necessary in the workplace, then your role could be made redundant at any time. The aim in building a sustainable career is to be able to enjoy the job or role for as long as you can, and as soon as you’re not concerned about doing your best, perhaps it is time to move on.
• Have a good work life balance. Working to enjoy your life is key, if all you do is work, it won’t really matter how long-term the career is as it will never be sustainable. The aim is to have a good work life balance that allows you to work for fun.
• Ongoing professional development. In order to make what you do sustainable and something that you will be able to use to support your lifestyle, family and life choices for as long as possible, you will need to instill a process of continuous development or lifelong learning. Your skill set should not stand still and there is no reason not to continuously improve the self on a professional and personal level.

These five tips will allow you to start developing a sustainable career, which will need to be worked on continuously if you intend for it to be the only one that you have.

A job That travels well?

In the global village that we are now in it is important to be able to be flexible and able to work in as many environments and places as is possible. A career that enables this is essential in the information age and should be something that you intentionally set out to do.

Alternatively, a career or job that can be conducted online and remotely is the epitome of a great career that travels well. The aim is to keep this in mind as you look at the possibilities and begin to plan as to how you too can develop a sustainable career for the long term that could allow you to go anywhere in the world and yet maintain your current lifestyle and life choices.

The options for travel will depend on the skills and knowledge that you have and are prepared to gain. There is also degree of flexibility required as you may be entering the unknown. As long as the career path that you choose has this as a possibility then you are on the right track. Don’t choose something that is so niche and specific it is only conducted in one place – unless that place is NASA, and you intend to go to space. Think broadly and ensure that the skills you have can be transferred between industries as well as countries and continents.

The top career choices for now and the future

The following careers are discussed in brief to provide a clear idea of the career aforementioned and provide you with some examples of the type of career that will take you far and allow you to continue to work in a field or sector that you have chosen and enjoy.

Teaching and education

Teaching is still one of the noblest professions in the world and it is definitely a universal need. Everybody wants to be educated and have education, developing a skills and training as one of their main aims in life. As early as 2015 a dire shortage of teachers was identified across the globe, amounting to a need for 5.2 million teachers worldwide. This lack of teaching capacity has not changed and there is still a massive teacher shortage across the country and the world.

In fact, there has been a recent acknowledgement of the need for improved education and toward this end the Sustainable Development Goal 4 states that they would like to achieve universal primary and secondary education by 2030. Any education system is only as good as the teachers who provide the direct education to students, and it is at this level where the shortages exist. It is also shortages that have been exposed differently across varying areas, So in Sub Saharan Africa and in Southern Asia for example the need for teachers is far greater than that in Western Europe and America. It is thus clear that although the career is indeed sustainable and that there will be a need for teachers for as long as we can imagine, this need is specific to certain geographic areas. This must be made clear to all who are interested in embarking on this noble career.

Lastly, in relation to teaching, the internet and current technology is in a position to possibly ameliorate some of these issues. The rise of the virtual classroom and the ability to teach anything from anywhere must be a consideration of any discussion on teaching as a profession or as a sustainable career choice. The acceptance of virtual learning and teaching as a viable option as long as you have the right technology and connectivity has allowed for more people to be educated in more places across the globe, making this a career that is obviously sustainable and will travel well.

Skilled trades people

Professional people who are able to hone and maintain a specific skill set (for instance, plumbing, electricians, and builders) are regarded as a skilled trades person. There is a dire need for these skills and even a shortage in some areas of the world. It is furthermore a genre of career choice wherein most people feel satisfied with their choice of career. The humble trades person is thus a career that has changed and developed dramatically across the globe. In fact, there was a time when areas such as Dubai, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to name a few, were in such short supply that they were actively recruiting skilled trades people as part of their overall immigration priorities.

Then there was the recent pandemic which made the ability of a tradesperson to fulfill their job role increasingly difficult due to their inability to visit clients in their homes and effect all the maintenance and improvement of home utility systems and more. This led to talk of the great resignation as people looked to find alternative work as well as the move into self-employment as trades people looked to find other ways to keep working. This has also provided huge opportunity as things reopen and workplaces look to change, with increased ventilation and open spaces, better utilities and heating. This has seen a rush into the sector by new trainees as well as those who see it as an opportunity to improve workplace balance and start their own business in the sector.

Lastly, trades work is no longer male dominated and becoming a tradesperson is now practiced by all genders and ages. The careers offered by becoming a tradesman have been created by a perfect storm of a massive global increase in home improvements and a shortage in currently experienced tradespeople.

Everyone across the world has these utility needs and as such the skilled tradesperson is in demand and can travel, as long as you have the requisite tools.

Smart home technicians

The rise of the smart home and increasing developments towards machine learning and artificial intelligence is and will change the face of all we know about trades people and as such it is also a career that has enormous development and career opportunity yet to come.

Becoming a skilled trades person is thus a sector of sustainable jobs that are needed on a global basis. No matter the culture, religion or where you live, the basics are the same and providing running water and electricity or ‘power’ will be essential for all. Then the ability to make these systems run and maintained using smart remote tech is a modern-day feature that is spreading across the world. Cloud based computing now makes it possible to control your homes heating and energy consumption in a much more accurate fashion. The need for these technicians is surging as more homeowners look to smart tech to save power and move into increased green energy use in their homes.

Nursing

All aspects of nursing have become top choices for a career simply based on the fact that like education, nursing and healthcare is a universal need. Everyone in the world will need a nurse or healthcare practitioner at some stage in their lives and it is best to realize and accept this from the outset and then plan accordingly. This means that nursing is a career option that will be around as long as human life is and we are still able to experience poor health.

There are also certain specialties within nursing that are showing more growth than other sectors, such as mental health nurse care and elderly care. It is thus essential to know of these sectors and be able to specialize when you complete your studies or practical training so that you make the most of currently growing sectors of employment.

Technology in nursing

The advancement of technology means that even a practical course such as nursing can be taught online and the range of top quality online nursing programs that are now available, in both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees will surprise and enlighten you. Although still part of the nursing sector, the fact that technology is at the forefront of such an ancient skill and career shows exactly how nursing is being taken around the world. A sign showing that most of the top sustainable jobs will soon all be able to travel well as they use the information superhighway that is the internet, whereby any job will soon be able to be performed from anywhere, as long as you have the right technology.

The green economy jobs

The green economy and the idea of a sustainable job are in perfect harmony in the sense that the green economy is about our future and the future of the plant and being able to preserve resources using them as sensibly and efficiently as possible. Jobs in solar, wind, and any other forms of green, renewable energies are a great example in that it is this energy that will drive societal, development of the future. The transition to a decarbonized economy is likely to be a lengthy one and has the potential to create millions of green jobs. The technical knowhow is vital and generally this is being perfected in the developed world, but the jobs and the opportunities for green projects, green power and green jobs is a trend across the entire world of work.

Concluding remarks

The idea of creating a career that is sustainable is the best thing to do for yourself, the career choices mentioned and discussed in this article are those that will provide for years of gainful employment and can arguably be done anywhere in the world.