The graduation caps are flying skyward this month, which means there's a whole new population of job hunters about to scour the "help wanted" ads. Whether you're hitting the pavement yourself or still in college and trying to plan for a future career, WalletHub wants to help suss out which opportunities are best for first-timers. The site looked at more than 100 occupations in three main categories: immediate opportunity, which looks at a job's starting salary and number of job openings; growth potential (ie, projected job growth, median tenure with employers, and median annual salary); and job hazards, including fatalities at work and extra-long workweeks. WalletHub's findings: Jobs in the engineering arena seem especially promising. Check out the top and bottom 10, based on the site's analysis:
Best Entry-Level Jobs
- Engineer (No. 1 in "Immediate Opportunity" category)
- Environmental, health, and safety engineer
- Safety technician (No. 1 in "Job Hazards" category)
- Landscape architect
- Hardware engineer
- Certified nursing assistant—nursing homes
- Operations research analyst
- Electronics engineer
- Web applications developer
- Software engineer
Worst Entry-Level Jobs - Building inspector
- Aircraft painter
- Policy processing clerk
- Architectural drafter
- Floor assembler (last in "Immediate Opportunity" category)
- Mechanical drafter
- Emergency dispatcher
- Automotive mechanic
- Boilermaker
- Welder
See WalletHub's list in full
here. (Check out the jobs
most exposed to artificial intelligence.)