The question of the moment seems to be “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Many can’t answer this when checking out or applying to colleges, but this dreaded-by-many matter seems to creep up on us faster than we could even imagine.

Of course there’s the “I want to be a rockstar!” response, or “I’m going to be the next Derek Jeter.” Well dream big kids…that’s probably not happening. The more practical jobs that our parents envision for us such as teachers, lawyers or anything that requires going to school for more than four years, seem to be dwindling.

Employment rates, due to the appalling economy, are going down to begin with, so what can we possibly expect for ourselves in a few years? According to bls.gov, occupations that normally require a bachelor’s degree or higher are anticipated to increase by 15.3 percent, or about 5 million new jobs, by 2016.

Careers in the health care field seem to be on the uprising. In the health care field, unlike many others, workers are being continuously hired. Among the top five hottest health care careers are Medical Assistant, Dental Assistant, Pharmacy Technician, Medical Records Technician and Medical Transcriptionist (education.yahoo.net). With people living longer than ever before, these professionals are and will always be in high demand.

Technology, as many could’ve predicted, is slowly taking over. Factory jobs have been demolished and have been taken over by machinery. With self checkout now as an easier, quicker option in many grocery stores, cashiers jobs are decreasing. Now that e-mails can be sent at the speed of light, a loss of jobs for mailmen and women is predicted. Cars are being produced so complexly that in the future, they may be too intricate for mechanics to fix.

Everyone has a dream job, which at one point, seemed to be in our grasps, how realistic can it actually be?