The Top 15 Most In-Demand Jobs in Central Maryland

If you’ve been looking for ways to advance your career or take an entirely new path altogether, but you don’t want to leave the comfort of your home state, you might be wondering which jobs you’d be practically guaranteed to land after spending your time earning a degree or certification. After all, the idea of following through with a two to four-year educational program only to have difficulty finding employment after graduation is a predicament that nobody wants to deal with.

Fortunately, despite common misconceptions, the chances of not being able to find a job as a college graduate are fairly low regardless of where you live, as fewer than 1 in 40 graduates are unemployed. Still, it’s better to opt for in-demand careers because they typically provide access to low unemployment rates, desirable pay, locational flexibility, and the opportunity to work long hours in order to fill workforce gaps.

To ensure you have the highest chance of always staying steadily employed without leaving the familiarity of Central Maryland, consider the top 15 most in-demand jobs in the region:

1. Nurse

Communities throughout Maryland and the greater Baltimore area are in desperate need of nursing staff to help fill the abundance of open positions that are being left by retiring baby boomers. If you’re looking for a job that is not only in high demand in the Old Line State, but also throughout the world, nursing should be your #1 pick. Plus, there are so many ways to advance your career as a nurse and begin earning a higher salary, such as becoming a family nurse practitioner through an online program like Carson Newman MSN FNP. While you might think that this is a profession that’s only for women, the fact that 90% of nurses are females in today’s world of equal employment opportunity means that most healthcare facilities will jump at the chance to hire any male nurses who are willing to apply.

2. Customer Service Representative

With nearly a half a million businesses operating within the state of Maryland, the constant need for customer service representatives means that anyone with relevant experience should have no problem securing gainful employment. Even if you’ve never worked a day in your life, you can almost always find an entry-level customer service position that will give you your first job. Since this is such a broad sector that encompasses any company that needs to provide service to its customers or clients, there will always be a plethora of available jobs in this field.

3. Restaurant Waiter/Waitress

Restaurant and food service jobs account for almost 10% of Maryland’s overall employment, with a total of more than 260,000 jobs spread out across nearly 12,000 registered dining locations. Even more interesting is the fact that the number of jobs is set to increase by more than 8% during the next decade, indicating that there is still plenty of growth to be seen. Of course, this isn’t surprising when you consider how many new restaurants are being established in the state every year. Plus, becoming a waiter or waitress is an ideal job for someone who doesn’t want to wait for their pay check to get paid because you can live off your daily tips alone.

4. Personal Care Provider

Maryland’s growing population of retirees and senior citizens means that there are constantly new jobs popping up in the personal care industry. The job duties for these positions will vary widely and could have you doing anything from housekeeping and in-home cooking to dispensing medications and providing transportation to important appointments. Likewise, these jobs are available to assist disabled individuals in obtaining the care they need to lead comfortable and healthy lifestyles. This industry is a good option to consider if you’re the type of person who wants a career that will have you helping others.

5. Financial Clerk

With more than 2500 banks spread out across Maryland’s towns and cities, there’s always a need for new financial clerks. This is another industry that is being heavily affected by the retiring baby boomer population, so young people who are looking for a reliable form of employment should strongly consider becoming a clerk. Working in one of these positions will also give you general clerk experience that can be applied throughout the state’s booming retail sector. Once one company trusts you with their money, others will usually feel comfortable following suit.

6. Carpenter

If you enjoy doing home improvement projects or building things, you might want to look into becoming a carpenter. Like many other skilled trade jobs, this profession is experiencing a shortage of qualified workers, so you might as well put your handy skills and knack for construction to good use by launching a lucrative career around it. While you’ll need to complete a training course and apprenticeship to become qualified, once you’re qualified you should have no problem getting hired on the spot by many contractors and property owners. With everyone having their own project deadlines, this industry needs all the hands it can get.

7. Office Support Staff

Think about how many office buildings there are throughout the state. Even in just one city like Baltimore there’s an untold number of offices that need to be operated by office support employees such as receptionists, assistants, and administrators. Even if you have no experience in this field, offices everywhere are looking for decently competent individuals to help them scale their companies up and take care of the never-ending mound of work that always needs to be done. Furthermore, once you have experience working in one office, you’ll find it easy to land similar office jobs for other companies.

8. Nursing Home Aide

Maryland is home to a number of ideal retirement communities, such as Bel Air and Ocean Pines, both of which have been ranked some of the leading places to retire in the Northeast. As a result, there are many retirement homes and nursing home facilities that are in constant need of extra workers. While this won’t be the easiest job to do, if you’re willing to step up to the plate, you’ll reap the benefit of always having a job waiting on you. Many seniors even travel from other states to retire in Maryland, so the 55+ community is always growing and along with it comes the demand for more nursing home aides.

9. Computer Systems Analyst

Analyzing computer systems obviously isn’t something that everyone is capable of or willing to do. Thus, if you’re a tech-savvy individual who feels like you could be up to the task at hand, you could be rewarded with an in-demand job that pays in excess of $100k to the top earners in the field. Be prepared for a fairly challenging educational course and an amount of complexity that makes it a more intellectually difficult job than most others. However, in exchange for exercising your skills, you’ll also be rewarded with the convenience of always being able to find a job in the state.

10. Software Engineer

Like computer systems analysts, software engineers play very special roles in that they perform a job that most of the population simply couldn’t handle. Again, by becoming a member of this elite class of workers, you position yourself to enjoy practically guaranteed employment due to your skillset alone. Plus, this is a job that gives the flexibility of either working for a major corporation and earning a set annual salary of $80k-$100k+, offering software development and maintenance service on a freelance basis, or developing your own apps and programs. Regardless of which approach you take, there are plenty of ways to make a ton of money as a software engineer in Maryland.

11. Translator/Interpreter

With the state’s population of immigrants and non-English speaking residents slowly increasing, and only a certain number of people who are qualified to do this job, there are always openings for competent translators and interpreters. This job could have you translating court documents, legal papers, company policies, and other literary works into another language that you specialize in. of course, this is an ideal option for some who is already fluent in a second language, as learning a new language before you can start your career isn’t exactly a practical course of action.

12. Physical Therapy Assistant

Maryland is home to a bustling physical therapy industry, and all of those therapists need assistants to help them with their workloads. From a nationwide perspective, there are more than 100,000 physical therapy providers who are members of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and many others who aren’t, so you’ll be able to move just about anywhere and find a job with experience in this field. As a physical therapy assistant, you’ll make about $5,000 per month and enjoy plenty of career perks. However, be prepared to work long hours due to the industry-wide shortage of assistants. This is an ideal option for students and young adults who have aspirations of one day becoming a physical therapist themselves because it offers an apprenticeship opportunity in a way.

13. Fitness Trainer

Personal trainers are needed all over the country, not just in Maryland, as the vast majority of the population is out of shape and therefore not really qualified to teach others how to be fit. If you’re part of the minority of people who actually take the time to work on your own physical fitness, you could put your physique to good use by offering fitness training services. This is another job that offers flexibility in terms of work requirements and arrangements, as you could work full-time for a local gym or start your own freelancing gig on the side. You can even offer personal training services online through video chat apps.

14. Marketing Intern

Behind every successful company, there is at least one marketer who is responsible for managing their advertising campaigns and promoting brand awareness. With new startups popping up by the thousands every year in Maryland, there’s always an opportunity for aspiring marketers to learn and get paid at the same time through internships. If you’ve been thinking about becoming a marketer, starting with an internship is a great way to learn the ropes while still generating a sustainable income in the process. Additionally, having skills as a marketer will put you in an ideal position to drive the growth of your own entrepreneurial endeavors, so it will be good primer for anyone who has dreams of one day launching their own business.

15. Medical Sonographer

A medical sonographer, also known as an ultrasound technician, fulfills the important duty of handling ultrasound machines at hospitals and clinics as patients are scanned for diagnostic purposes. Since the vast majority of medical diagnostic procedures start with an ultrasound scan, it makes sense that this job would be in such high demand in Maryland, a state that is home to a thriving healthcare industry. While this might seem like a difficult job, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to use sonography equipment once you’re trained on how to do it.

Maryland Has Experienced a Recent Rise in Job Growth

While the 15 jobs above are the most in-demand in terms of the number of available positions and the likelihood of being hired for them, there are dozens of other industries in the state that have been seeing job growth within the past two years. Back in 2017, the unemployment rate finally dropped back below the pre-recession figure of 3.9%. Since then, the number of jobs available has been steadily increasing, more so than it has in the past decade.

However, the unemployment rate itself has been fluctuating around the low 4% range, indicating that Maryland as a whole sits within the top 30 U.S. states in terms of job availability. While the Baltimore metropolitan represents the region’s most competitive job market, it’s also a bustling melting pot of job opportunities that makes it one of the most appealing areas to pursue employment in.