In 1967 when Dustin Hoffman starred in The Graduate, the future may have been in plastics, but in 2010, actuarial science might be a safer bet. That’s the word according to the CareerCast 2010 Best & Worst Job rankings. Sarah Needleman of the Wall Street Journal offers a commentary on the 2010 list, and you can compare this to her article on the 2009 job list.
Of its ratings, CareerCast says: “Data on each job is broken down into five key categories: Physical Demands, Work Environment, Income, Stress and Hiring Outlook. Jobs receive a score in each individual category, and when these are added together, the career with the best overall score is ranked 1st, while the one with the worst overall score is ranked 200th.” (More on the rating methodology)
If you want to cut to the chase, see a slideshow of the 10 best jobs or the ten worst jobs.
We didn’t find HR manager on the list so we leave it to you to extrapolate to the nearest professions based on your particular work environment:
21. Sociologist
29. Parole Officer
47. Anthropologist
49. Vocational Counselor
52. Social Worker
55. Personnel Recruiter
69. Psychologist
133. Corporate Executive (Senior)
143. Child care worker