Company ratings, benefits, and perks, plus salary are all factors that come to mind for the average job seeker. However, one factor that the savvy seeker should also consider is the popularity or competitiveness of a job title. Hot jobs abound in the tech, healthcare, and business sectors, so it’s important to take into consideration how many other candidates are vying for your dream role.
When competition is low, says Glassdoor senior data analyst Jyotsna Jayaraman, there is at least one job for every job seeker, per job title. This is the sweet spot that will give you a great chance at scoring a hot job. To help you in your search, we’re highlighting 20 jobs that pay over six figures and won’t require you to fight the masses for a job you love.
1. Investment Banking Associate
Median Base Salary: $132,500
Number of Open Jobs: 107,818
Details: Investment Bankers are vital to the financial services industry as they build financial models to sell companies, buy companies, IPO companies, and make other business decisions. They also craft and create the analytical sales documents or pitch decks that help banks secure new clients and deals.
2. Psychiatrist
Median Base Salary: $200,000
Number of Open Jobs: 44,453
Details: According to U.S. News & World Report, the population of psychiatrists has dwindled in recent years despite an increase in demand thanks to the Affordable Care Act. “Medical students choosing the field of psychiatry are fewer in number than in decades past. Also, a 2010 survey of doctors demonstrated that 59 percent of psychiatrists are 55 or older [and are] entering the zone of retirement age.”
3. Software Development Engineer
Median Base Salary: $113,000
Number of Open Jobs: 170,151
Details: The difference between software engineering and software development can be summed up by the following: a software engineer may be involved with software development, but few software developers are engineers. Software developers must have excellent analytical skills and are required to continually compare needs with software capabilities. There are far more jobs available for this cross-functional role than people searching for it.
4. Systems Architect
Median Base Salary: $120,000
Number of Open Jobs: 308,950
Details: System Architects create the blueprints for a computer system and oversees the building of the system based on a customer or company’s specific needs. Because of the extensive experience required for this, the Systems Architect is typically a very senior technician with substantial experience and know-how.
5. Physician Hospitalist
Median Base Salary: $210,000
Number of Open Jobs: 36, 557
Details: Hospitalists are physicians whose primary focus is the general care of hospitalized patients. Their activities include patient medicine, teaching, research, and leadership related to hospital medicine.
6. Pediatrician
Median Base Salary: $160,000
Number of Open Jobs: 43.411
Details: As children are born in America every day, the need for pediatricians increases. Hospitals and clinics from Maine to California are hiring these kid specialists to handle everything from annual check-ups to booster shots and more.
7. Physician Assistant
Median Base Salary: $100,000
Number of Open Jobs: 174,279
Details: If you’ve got a passion for medicine, healthcare, and helping others, but don’t want to spend the next four years of your life waiting to jump into the workforce, Physician Assistant is the perfect position for you. And you’ll have no trouble finding a position once you graduate — the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects this hot job to grow by 30 percent between 2014 and 2024. The cherry on top? Physician Assistant made our list of the top 25 Highest-Paying Jobs in America.
8. Medical Manager
Median Base Salary: $200,000
Number of Open Jobs: 217,216
Details: A Medical Manager is responsible for developing a local medical plan, providing medical expertise in the creation and implementation of the plan as well as inputs to development of key message development, publication planning, and becomes the reference for all scientific and medical aspects of the products.
9. Systems Manager
Median Base Salary: $103,000
Number of Open Jobs: 390,843
Details: These techies implement information technology in an organization, overseeing a team of IT professionals. The role includes information systems planning, installation, and maintenance of hardware and software.
10. Information Security Engineer
Median Base Salary: $100,000
Number of Open Jobs: 84,248
Details: As specialists in their industry, Information Security Engineers provide hands-on support for a broad spectrum of technologies, including security software running on Windows and UNIX systems, network devices, virtual machines, as well as any organization-specific products.
11. Technical Architect
Median Base Salary: $115,000
Number of Open Jobs: 49,477
Details: Technical Architects ensure that system architectures are functional, robust, and scalable within the context of a customer enterprise.
12. Physician
Median Base Salary: $200,000
Number of Open Jobs: 259,128
Details: According to the latest snapshot into the U.S. healthcare workforce, the family doctor was the most highly recruited doctor, followed by psychiatrists amid a nationwide shortage of behavioral specialists. And experts predict that demand for primary care physicians will rise at a steady pace as the U.S. population expands and grows older.
13. Security Engineer
Median Base Salary: $102,200
Number of Open Jobs: 125,479
Details: With the growing concern around cyber attacks, there are increasing numbers of openings for security engineers, whose main responsibility is working around the clock to ensure a company’s systems remain operational, safe and secure.
14. Radiologist
Median Base Salary: $365,000
Number of Open Jobs: 45,691
Details: Industry experts agree that Radiology is one of the fields with the most opportunity for physicians because of two main factors: aging Baby Boomer population with increasing radiology needs; and senior radiologists retiring without enough younger radiologists to take over.
15. Pharmacy Manager
Median Base Salary: $131,000
Number of Open Jobs: 69,484
Details: The demand for pharmacy research and knowledgeable pharmacists is projected to grow by 3% between now and 2024. As a manager, not only are candidates expected to be knowledgable pharmacists, they’re also responsible for the financial performance of the pharmacy and act as pharmacist in charge. With so many pharmacies like CVS and Safeway adding additional healthcare services, these role abound nationwide.
16. Security Architect
Median Base Salary: $128,000
Number of Open Jobs: 38,945
Details: Also in the fight against cyber hacking, security architects oversee and drive the overarching vision and implementation of the security architecture of a company’s technology and information systems.
17. Optometrist
Median Base Salary: $112,000
Number of Open Jobs: 4,348
Details: While many of us think that optometrists only conduct eye exams, these specialists can also detect more serious issues like hypertension, glaucoma and diabetes, and even an array of autoimmune disorders.
18. Front End Engineer
Median Base Salary: $105,000
Number of Open Jobs: 40,673
Details: Companies are posting jobs for front end engineers like crazy. The reason they are in high demand is that they are keeping on top of the incredibly quickly changing and innovating front-end environment. Customization and machine learning only make this job more vital, and every industry needs them.
19. Technical Program Manager
Median Base Salary: $129,500
Number of Open Jobs: 183,254
Details: Technical Program Managers, or TPMs as some job descriptions call them, manage the development and implementation process of a specific company product(s) involving departmental or cross-functional teams. Excellent multitasking, communication and organizational skills are a must.
20. Engagement Manager
Median Base Salary: $116,500
Number of Open Jobs: 277,860
Details: Engagement managers are expected to coordinate tasks across a broad set of stakeholders. They must leverage their management and leadership capabilities to successfully deliver to their team(s) plan, proactively identify and manage risks, resolve issues and escalate where appropriate to successfully complete projects, while exceeding customer/client expectations.
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