Six professions for white-collar stimulus seekers

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Or stockbrokers. Or dairy farmers. Or seamen.

President Barack Obama’s stimulus package – which he claims will save or create 3.5 million jobs and which Republicans claim will have some lesser effect – won’t help you.

Then who will the stimulus package help?

Well, Mama. You should hope your babies have grown up to be urban planners, civil engineers and management consultants, contends Sanjay Sathe, CEO of RiseSmart, an online search site for jobs that pay more than $100,000.

Sathe can’t vouch for how well Obama’s package will work or how many jobs it will create. His analysis deals only with job categories that look to benefit.

“I think it’s too early to make such an assessment” of the stimulus package’s potential to revive the overall economy, Sathe said. “But I think you look at it the best way you can – as something that’s good for the economy. I think we need to look at it positively, because there’s enough doom and gloom all around us.”

So Sathe studied the $787 billion package to find out where it would create white collar jobs.

“Initially, many of the jobs created will go to blue-collar workers, such as construction workers; public-sector employees, such as teachers; and those experienced in working with government entities, such as IT pros with government security clearances,” Sathe said.

“Ultimately, however, the stimulus plan’s backers predict that 90 percent of the jobs created will be in the private sector. This projection is based on the belief that the economic activity generated by the stimulus will lead to new jobs in retail, leisure and hospitality, and other sectors as companies and individuals who directly benefit from the plan begin to spend their windfall.”

With two of my babies in college – one graduating in May with a degree in nursing and another studying business with a 2012 projected graduation – the stimulus package probably won’t help them directly, Sathe said.

But the outlook looks better, he said, for six white-collar career fields. I caught up with Sathe in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday by phone. Here’s how he ranks and rates the best prospects:

1. URBAN PLANNERS

State and local governments must quickly determine how best to use the billions of dollars flowing in from the federal government. Consequently, they will rely on urban planners to guide them on everything from the best location for new school construction to the environmental impact of infrastructure projects. While 6 of 10 planners already work for governments, Sathe said, others work for architectural, engineering and management consulting firms.

2. CIVIL ENGINEERS

The stimulus package should require thousands of civil engineers to design and supervise the construction of roads, bridges, tunnels, buildings, wind turbines and other projects that get a financial green light, Sathe said.

Approximately 88 percent of civil engineers work in the private sector and the field had projected double-digit employment growth before the stimulus package.

3. COMPUTER SYSTEMS ANALYSTS

The stimulus aims to improve technology infrastructure for schools, hospitals and medical offices, so those organizations will need information technology professionals for work ranging from wiring buildings for Internet access to transitioning the healthcare system to electronic medical records and prescriptions, Sathe said.

4. MEDICAL RESEARCHERS

Sathe predicts that because Obama has directed billions of dollars to the National Institutes of Health, it represents a boon for medical researchers – especially those working on cancer cures. That should mean good things for the Washington state economy. Roughly a third of medical researchers work for colleges and universities, such as the University of Washington.

5. MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS

Consultants, the joke goes, steal your watch to tell you what time it is. In reality, when corporate and government leaders stare down complex, big-money decisions implementing stimulus package projects, they get sweaty palms and like to have independent assessments from management consultants to back them up, Sathe said. That way, if something goes haywire, politicians and executives have someone to blame.

6. AUDITORS

I hope auditors get some of the stimulus money, because with so much taxpayer money flowing into so many hands so quickly, we want to make sure it gets spent right, right? Sathe predicts all levels of government will need additional auditors to ensure taxpayers don’t get hoodwinked and hornswoggled.

So what about cowboys? RiseSmart doesn’t have any listings for cowboys, Sathe said. But he used a cowboy-sounding metaphor to describe how his company works: “We save the job seeker time and drive relevance in their job search, so you’re not looking for a needle in a haystack. We bring the needle to you.”

Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785

dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com