Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2010, for the Spanish job market, and its list of the most in-demand degrees reflects that time. The degree names (Ingeniería superior, Ingeniería técnica) belong to the pre-Bologna system, then being replaced by four-year grados; the February 2012 update refers to jobs in demand in 2012.
Which are they? When you ask a careers adviser about the degrees with the most future and the best job prospects, they usually don’t talk about the future. They talk about the university degrees that are in demand right now. That’s understandable, because predicting where the job market is heading is a lot like investing in the stock market. That’s why you have to separate the degrees of the future from the ones in demand today and the ones that will always be in demand.
The degrees most in demand today are:
- Business administration and management (ADE in Spain). This is the degree with the most career paths and the best future prospects today. What personally attracts me to it is the number of options it opens up, including its usefulness both for working as an employee and for becoming a business owner later on.
- Economics.
- Computer engineering (the long, five-year degree).
- Telecommunications engineering (the shorter technical degree).
- Medicine.
- Pharmacy.
- Nursing.
Update, 10 February 2012:
Jobs that will be in demand throughout 2012 despite the crisis
If you’d like to know which degrees have the fewest job prospects, you can also find that in the following updated article:
Degrees with the fewest job prospects
The degrees that will be in demand in the very near future (5–10 years) can already be predicted with a good deal of certainty. Clearly medicine is and always will be in demand, but with some variations that will set an ordinary doctor apart from one who is highly prepared for the future. The same goes for economists, law graduates and many other professions.
- The most in-demand careers in economics and finance
- The most in-demand professions related to the environment
- The most in-demand professions related to social services
Further reading
- The 10 most in-demand jobs of the future
- How to start your business with no money
- Why new businesses fail
Featured image: Tungsten, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
