CareerBuilder Releases Best Jobs for 2018 for Workers Who Don't Have a College Degree

Staff Report

Monday, December 4th, 2017

While a traditional four-year college degree often results in higher wages and quicker career mobility, it's not for everybody. And that's OK because there are also good opportunities for workers who never completed college — careers that offer good pay and low unemployment.

Below is CareerBuilder's list of the hottest in-demand jobs for 2018 that do not require a college degree, comprised of occupations where the number of job postings each month outpace the number of people they actually hire. The list includes other data points, such as job growth and salary.

"When people think of skills gaps, they typically think of high-skill tech or health care jobs that require advanced degrees," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder and co-author of The Talent Equation. "The reality is those gaps are being felt across all types of roles, including a wide range of jobs that don't necessarily require a college education. What employers will look for first is whether candidates have the core competencies to fill their open positions, and those competencies can be developed in different ways outside of a formal classroom."

The study is based on data from Emsi, CareerBuilder's labor market analysis arm, which aggregates information from multiple national and local employment resources. CareerBuilder and Emsi looked at the average number of people hired per month in more than 700 occupations from January 2017 to August 2017 and compared that to the number of job postings for each occupation (aggregated from online job sites for the same period).

Among occupations that do not typically require a college education and have the largest gap between job openings and hires are the following:

Occupation

Average Monthly Unique Job Postings

Average Monthly Hires

Gap Between Postings and Hires

Job Growth 2012-2017

Total Employment in 2017

Median Hourly Earnings

Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

1,662,847

107,845

1,555,003

174,188

1,966,281

$19.26

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

276,477

85,445

192,033

60,541

1,428,776

$17.10

Food Service Managers

60,718

20,007

40,710

22,240

285,765

$19.82

Insurance Sales Agents

57,103

17,183

39,920

51,659

585,302

$23.17

Computer User Support Specialists

58,569

34,283

24,287

85,704

700,574

$23.81

Social and Human Service Assistants

38,869

19,967

18,902

51,885

400,143

$15.33

Real Estate Sales Agents

18,169

9,238

8,931

11,828

390,490

$17.92

Pharmacy Technicians

26,808

20,726

6,082

36,929

409,870

$14.87

Medical Assistants

28,641

26,239

2,402

72,974

664,087

$15.18

Tax Preparers

6,695

6,108

588

3,532

98,983

$19.60