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You might be wondering, what can I do now to prepare for a career in a certain category. The following will explain what training is needed in each career category.

Business and Management

Develop the habits of a business person
If the corner office or a place in corporate America seem like the place for you, there are a number of things you can do right now to improve your career prospects. Most business occupations involve a great deal of information so you should start early and be in the habit of reading business-oriented publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Money, Forbes and Investor's Daily. These are not only great places to become informed with the most up to date occurrences in the business world, but they also contain many job openings and opportunities.

Get practical experience
A great way to gather experience and entryway in the business world are Internships.  According to the Los Angeles Times, roughly one in three college students make their start in the employment world through summer internship programs. Internships provide students with a low-risk way to test prospective careers. More importantly, they give companies a low-risk way to test prospective employees. By participating in an internship, you are able to add a few lines into a resume which might very well be empty. If the company you intern for likes your work, your chances for future employment there rise exponentially.

Pursue higher education
Another important, but by no means required, step to success in the business management field is an advanced business degree or MBA. Many colleges and universities offer graduate-level programs. These programs can offer vital training in such areas of the business world as sales, marketing and accounting.

They also provide an invaluable opportunity to build business contacts. Most business schools require some degree of work experience, however. If receiving advance business schooling is the path for you, your best bet is to aim for putting in at least two years in the working world before returning for an MBA or advanced degree.

Administrative and Clerical

With the coming of technology, the category of administrative and clerical has probably the dimmest future. Like blacksmiths displaced by the automobile nearly a century ago, clerks, the general term applied to workers who sort and manage information, have found their roles usurped by the very machine at which you are now looking.

Even occupations that adapted to this new technology (word processors, data entry keyers) are expected to suffer a similar fate as increased automation and near-universal computer access reduces the need for these specialized roles.7

What you can do
Given this information, what can a prospective worker do? The key is computer literacy for future success in nearly every occupation in this field. If you don't have the time to take a computer class, make time, because your chances for getting a job in this area with superior computer skills will be greatly increased.

Supplement your college education
Many local community colleges offer inexpensive night and weekend course, some lasting less than a day. Any additional certification these classes can give you bolster your resume, separating you from the usual pool of job applicants.

A foot in the door
If there's one advantage to pursuing a career in this category, it's the fact that most of the jobs exhibit high turnover rates. The occupations not in outright decline will be in need of replacement workers, giving younger people like you a better chance to get your foot in the door.

Consumer Services

If the words "Service with a smile" seem more like a death sentence than an average day for you, you might want to skip this category. Do so at your own risk, though. 

The U.S. Department of Labor predicts up to 9 million new service jobs by the year 2005, making service careers by far the largest sector of the U.S. economy.

Service jobs as a transition
Leading the list of occupations that will add the most new jobs over the next decade is cashiers. America's service economy will need up to 600,000 new cashiers between now and the year 2005. Waiters and Waitresses will also be in demand, with 450,000 new jobs added over the same period.

Most colleges don't offer courses on waiting tables or counting change, but many college graduates have used service jobs to launch successful careers. Since service jobs tend to be more flexible than other jobs, students often use them to supplement their income during school.

Students also use these jobs to smooth the transition between college and the "real" world as they look for full-time work.

First step toward management
Many service jobs also provide a valuable first step toward upper level management positions. Service workers serve on the front line of any corporation, and communications skills are not only invaluable, they are a must. Many times, entry-level service positions may even be a pre-requisite to management work.

Arts and Entertainment

If you could find three words that described this category of jobs, they would be easily found. Competition, competition, competition.

If you are interested pursuing a career in film, TV, theater, literature or the graphic arts, be warned. You are not alone, not by a long shot. The number of people entering this career field has long outpaced the number of new job openings. Add the fact that almost all entry-level jobs are low paying ($25,000 a year and down), and you quickly wonder why so many people would gravitate toward this field in the first place.

The few at the top
The answer lies at the top of the arts and entertainment success pyramid, where top performers live in a rarefied world of lavish pay and, in some cases, international prestige. For example, top Hollywood actors earn as much as $16 million per film role or much more, a startling figure that makes even a decade's worth of crummy jobs suddenly seem very palatable. Similarly, TV network anchors earn up to $2 million a year while at the same time influencing public opinion. Who wouldn't want to be in that position?

Of course, not everyone aspires to the winner-take-all side of the arts and entertainment business. For people with more humble aspirations, the opportunities for long term success are still good, but the competition is still fierce.

Computerize yourself
What can you do to prepare yourself? The best answer is sitting right in front of you. Computers have and will continue to revolutionize both the arts and the media. Use this to your advantage. Build your computer skills during college, so that you can sell them to prospective employers after graduation.  If you are interested in the dramatic arts, get an early start by taking drama and speech classes in middle or high school.  Participate in school plays to gather more experience.

Read what the experts read
Industry publications, or "Trades," are another asset worth exploiting. Variety, Filmmaker, Broadcasting and Cable and a host of smaller publications all provide key information on the personalities or 'players who dominate the film and video industries. They also provide job ads you'd never find in regular publications.

Public Service

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
-- John F. Kennedy, 1961 Inaugural Address.

Most are familiar with this quote, but judging from recent career trends, the sentiment is lost on most younger Americans -- until now, that is.

Apathy and uncertainty over the future have chased many away from this category of careers over the last decade, but the U.S. Department of Labor lists many occupations within this career cluster as some of the fastest growing over the next decade.

Topping the list are teachers of all levels, human services or social workers and counselors. At the heart of this employment boom is the continued growth and aging of the U.S. population as well as the uncertainty mentioned above.

Rewards beyond the paycheck
Public service occupations differ from regular service jobs in that public service workers provide a service to the community as a whole in addition to the individuals they serve. Many public service workers cite this as the most rewarding aspect of their work.

Bureaucracy
On the downside, however, many public service occupations come under the aegis state and federal governments, meaning public service workers must be more attuned to bureaucratic and political forces not felt by their private sector counterparts. They must be able to meet certification and licensing requirements and must be willing to submit periodic performance reviews.

Check out opportunities on campus
If you plan on pursuing a public service career, you couldn't pick a better place to start than a four-year college. Every campus in the country has student volunteer groups of some sort. These offer a wide range of pre-professional service opportunities, ranging from tutoring to counseling to feeding the homeless, to participating in a political campaign. All of these experiences are especially valuable, since a strong display of volunteer work is de rigeur for any successful public service career.

While college can be an excellent launching pad, you should also note that most of the public service careers listed below require additional education or training beyond a four year college degree.

Research and Engineering

Of all the career clusters listed in this article, research and engineering requires the most diligence during your undergraduate collegiate career.

Preparation for a research career
As in public service, volunteer work during your college career is an excellent way to prepare yourself for a successful research career. More than any other profession, research careers are built on reputation. Contacts are key, and letters of recommendation are the coin of the realm. 

This system works both ways, of course. The value of your letter of recommendation depends directly on the reputation of the person signing it. As a promising research student, it is in your best interest to seek out the top labs and the top researchers when looking for on-campus work.

Preparing for an engineering career
Although not as personality-focused as research, engineering offers its own opportunities to build close interaction. If you are interested in a career in engineering, your best bet is to take part in any programs that try to bridge the gap between your college and the local industry, e.g. internships, mentor programs, work-study jobs and volunteer work. 

This should be easy to do, since most businesses who hire engineers try to maintain close ties with local colleges and universities.

Engineers often reap the rewards of hard work
Engineering majors often enjoy a rosy outlook after graduation. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, engineering graduates averaged about $34,000 a year, about $10,000 more than their liberal arts counterparts.

They also benefit from the fact that most engineering jobs require only a four year degree, plus successful completion of a certification test.

Downsides to engineering?
So what are the downsides to being an engineer? Not much if you enjoy lots and lots of math. Engineering job markets do fluctuate, however. Witness the recent decline in aerospace engineering jobs due to recent defense spending cuts. Given the specialization of engineering careers, crossing over from one field to another isn't easy. Still, engineers typically lead the list when it comes to polls on job satisfaction.

Technicians

Manufacturing jobs may be heading overseas, but the need to operate and repair manufactured equipment still remains safely here at home. Most of the jobs in this cluster require some form of advanced education, but on-the-job experience can be even more helpful, especially in occupations that are union-controlled.

Vocational

First the good news. Almost every job in this career cluster shows excellent growth potential over the next decade. Unfortunately, most of these jobs are lower than average pay, especially at the entry-level. They also require little or no collegiate experience, meaning that if you do go to college, you'll probably be devoting the time you could have spent working your way up the pay scale to getting a college degree.

On the job experience is the key prerequisite for a job in this career field. Although some jobs might require certified vocational training and/or apprentice work.