Best jobs for the long run

Good pay, good prospects and a good quality of life. Here are the jobs top recruiters would want their kids to have.

Quiz
Succeed in your new job?
Whether you're changing positions mid-career or starting your first real job out of college, new hires face common pitfalls. Do you know how to avoid them?
1. Five minutes from now, you will step on to an elevator whose only other passenger is your company's CEO, whom you haven't met before. You are most likely to:
Be completely tongue-tied and say nothing.
Introduce yourself and give a 30-second summary of the work you're doing and why you're excited about it.
Chat about the weather.
If you have a bent toward ...
Masterminding cars and medical supplies
Jobs: Product, manufacturing, quality, electrical, mechanical and design engineers; HR, finance and environmental health and safety pros

Even though the automotive industry is shrinking, technical advances in cars and the need for engineers who mastermind them are not. The industry is projecting a shortage of 1 million engineers by 2010, said Sherri Buckner, managing director of Management Recruiters of Person County, N.C.

While the industry's overall production is down from a year ago, it's still strong at BMW, Toyota and Hyundai, Buckner said. And whenever any automaker wants to launch a new product, engineers at the automaker and at the automaker's suppliers are in hot demand.

But it's not just engineering majors who are desired. There is also steady need for those who majored in business, accounting, liberal arts, social work or environmental sciences to fill accounting, human resource and environmental health and safety positions.

Those same majors along with their engineering colleagues also will find most of their skills easily transferable to positions in the growing fields of medical device and pharmaceutical supply manufacturing, Buckner said.

"Talented job seekers are in the driver's seat," Buckner said. And the most desirable candidates are those with a good education, some work experience in the field and a willingness to be coached.

Engineer pay: $45,000-$50,000 in the Southeast to start; $55,000-$65,000 after five to eight years

HR pay: To start in Southeast, $40,000-$45,000; after 5 years, $55,000

Environmental pay: To start in Southeast, $50,000; after 8 years, $60,000-$65,000

Accountant pay: To start in Southeast, $40,00-$45,000; after 5 years $50,000-$60,000

Correction: An earlier version of this article contained a misspelling of Sherri Buckner's last name. CNNMoney.com regrets the error.

Go green

Talk tech

Help humanity

Make someone's stay

Shape minds

Mastermind cars

Build planes
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.