U.S. News & World Report's list of "The 5o Best Careers of 2011" is out, and while the job titles are all over the map, a couple of themes seem apparent. Health care, technology, and financial services continue to be growth fields. And nearly all the positions listed require specialized college education. As it happens, the Career Changers TV show I produce has done stories on local college programs that provide training in many of these high-demand areas.

Full disclosure: colleges pay to sponsor these segments on CCTV, which also enables us to provide "free" content as well. But the testimonials we get from students, graduates and faculty are totally authentic. The for-profit schools we feature, such as Remington College and Argosy University, take a great deal of pride in their programs and are proud of their success stories. However, on the Mainland there have been other for-profit institutions that have come under scrutiny for promising more than they could deliver, and for the amount of federal money they receive through student loan programs.

What I've seen locally though, is schools that offer career-specific training and education are filling a real need in Hawaii. They make a concerted effort to line up internships and job interviews for their students, which often does lead to employment. Colleges like Remington have also done their homework on projected job demand, so it's no surprise that they asked us to do stories on programs that correspond to the U.S. News Top 50 Careers list. If you watch CCTV or visit our YouTube Channel, you'll see we've done pieces on Massage Therapy and Medical Assisting programs, which are both on the list. So is Marriage and Family Therapy counseling, a program that Argosy offers (click on hot-linked words to view videos).

I think a 2011 "hot jobs" list for Hawaii would be somewhat different because of our heavy dependence on tourism. If the overall economy is picking up, travel should continue to rebound and that may bode well for service sector jobs. But will there be more openings in marketing, management and executive level positions for the travel industry? Hard to say because there's been so much consolidation going on in that field.

It seems evident that our aging population base will also create more job opportunities in the health care field, and services related to assisting the elderly in everything from housing to basic needs and recreation. That's a topic we'll be covering in future CCTV episodes, so if you have a biz that caters to senior citizens, I'd like to hear from you -- shoot me an email at richfigel@gmail.com to pitch your story!

I'm cautiously optimistic about the economy improving next year. Two years ago, it looked like we might be heading for a Great Depression. The past year has been tough and job creation is still lagging. But with Hawaii hosting the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November, Disney opening the Aulani Resort in Ko Olina next fall, and all the media exposure our state will be getting through Hawaii Five-O and movies that will be released next year, there are good reasons to believe better days are ahead for us.

Today's relevant links:

U.S. News & World Report 50 Best Careers for 2011

Huffington Post 13 Great Careers for College Grads

Career Changers TV viewing schedule and CCTV YouTube Channel videos from past shows, which includes segments on college programs at Remington, Argosy, Chaminade and Heald.

A week ago, I wrote about "Public Versus Private Colleges" and noted how I anticipated that many people would enroll in schools to bolster skills because of the weak economy. On March 13, the NY Times ran a lengthy article headlined, "The New Poor: In Hard Times, Lured Into Trade School and Debt." Then in today's Advertiser op-ed pages, there was an interesting piece about the need for vocational training in Hawaii's high schools. (Links at end of post.)

In my blog post I questioned whether the traditional four-year liberal arts college approach was adequately preparing graduates for jobs in the real world. I admitted I was skeptical of for-profit colleges and trade schools, but after visiting Heald and interviewing both administrators and graduates, came away with a positive impression of what they had to offer. In the comments section, I also mentioned how there used to be vocational high schools back in New Jersey when I was living there in the 1970s.

The NYT article focused on ITT Technical Institute, the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, and online college programs like Phoenix University. It didn't refer to Heald or Remington, the two for-profit colleges that are best known in Hawaii. According to the Times, a huge chunk of the tuition payments are being made through federal loans and Pell grants for lower income people. What's alarming is many graduates are not finding decent jobs, which means the loans will never be repaid... and yes, the taxpayers ultimately get stuck with the debt.

However, in the NYT comments section, many readers pointed out that you could make the same statements about public colleges and elite private universities. All schools say the key to getting better paying jobs is education. But there are no guarantees that getting a degree from UH or Harvard, while racking up debt on college loans, will necessarily result in landing the job you hoped for. You still have to put in the work, and get experience somewhere.

Let me be clear about one thing: Heald is NOT an online diploma mill. Their instructors take great pride in working closely with students and providing hands-on training. What's distressing about the NYT comments were online college teachers who said they were told to pass everyone, or they would be fired. So, caveat emptor -- let the buyer beware. The same goes for massage and culinary schools that promise more than they can deliver. As one commenter wrote, you can learn more about cooking by asking to assist in a top restaurant kitchen for free, rather than pay $40,000 to take classes from a mediocre chef. Learn by doing, in other words.

Which brings me to the Advertiser op-ed piece by David S. Matsumoto, a retired Japan Airlines regional exec. He presents a good case for making vocational education a bigger part of Hawaii's high school curriculum. As my wife pointed out, in Japan you were expected to do long apprenticeships before you became a sushi master or swordmaker. In this country, people used to become apprentices too before hanging up their carpenter or plumber shingle... now it's Donald Trump who has turned apprenticeships into a reality TV show gimmick. Sigh.

What do you think? Is it time we go back to some of the old ways to better prepare young people for the jobs that are in demand today?

Today's relevant links:

NY Times article on trade schools (comments at bottom worth reading too).

Advertiser commentary on vocational training.

My prior blog post on public versus private colleges.

CareerChangers.tv link for show times and YouTube Channel videos.