13 Aug The Top and Fastest Growing Creative Jobs In the US
Just a few years ago, creative jobs used to fall into quite an ambiguous industry. Now it’s one of the fastest growing industries, and moreover fastest changing. Across the nation there are over 5.2 billion arts and cultural creative jobs. More businesses are seeing the value of the creative field so it’s opened up ample opportunity that is beyond just gigs and freelance work. As you read these job descriptions, it may spark inspiration for you and your next career move!
If you are hoping to break into the creative field, some helpful things to look at are keywords such as: digital content, digital media, online content, online community, social marketing, engagement, interactive, and just online or social media in general as you dive into your search. It’s important to know that as you search it’s common for job titles to vary depending on the company and/or industry, so don’t let that deter you from applying for a particular job. Below we’ve listed different types of creative jobs you can find within the creative world.
Director of Social Media
This role is a higher-level position. In this role, you’ll likely be responsible for strategy, and possibly managing other people. You will probably be in charge of posting to social media accounts on several platforms, according to a set schedule. In addition, you’ll likely be responsible for the voice of the brand. This is an exciting role for someone who has experience in social media, content and branding. Learning the skills needed to write, manage and analyze social media are key to excelling in this ever-changing field.
Brand Manager
In this role you may be posting to a group of social media accounts, perhaps with or without writing blog too. You’ll be directly involved in advertising too. Rather than managing communications directly, your team might be more involved in the sales and marketing aspect of social media. The job titles of content manager or content strategist might also be used for this kind of position.
Social Media Manager
In this role, you’ll likely be responsible for monitoring and running a company’s social network(s). Along with other members of the social media or marketing team, you’ll create the social media marketing strategy for the brand and analyze results using tools such as Google Analytics, SEMrush and more. You may also manage other team members and keep them on track toward achieving the company’s goals!
Content Strategist
In this type of role, you’ll help different companies and businesses to tell their brand’s story across multiple platforms. Content strategists generally have a background in journalism or marketing, excellent writing and communication skills, and a solid knowledge of analytics and SEO tools. This is a great creative job if you want to work in an agency or freelance for multiple companies.
Software Developer
Perhaps you may not think that software developer and the term creative go hand in hand, but a developer designs, tests and develops apps or computer programs and within that line of work you can be extremely creative! In this role you’d likely also be directing and participating in programming activities, monitoring, as well as evaluating system performance, and designing and implementing new programs and features.
Website Developer
One who develops websites will be able to create the look and flow of a website. This is a great job for someone who’d like to freelance or pick up gigs with different companies. You could design anything from a small business’s site to a more complex site for a large corporation. To excel in this role, you’ll need to be able to perform code such as: JavaScript, JQuery, HTML, HTML5, CSS, CSS3, Web Programming Skills, E-Commerce and more.
Editor
Communications often falls within the creative umbrella. You’ll need to have strong communication as well as clear writing skills for this occupation. Some responsibilities within this role involve planning, revising and producing content for publication in books, newspapers, magazines and websites. An editor typically reviews content for spelling, grammar, factual and structural problems, and may rewrite content to make it easier to understand, review pitches from writers and assign stories, and help writer’s develop new ideas in line with the publication’s style and needs. Often an editor will work in-house for a brand or alternatively, work freelance for multiple businesses or publications.
Animator
Within this fast growing industry, you might find yourself creating two- and three-dimensional models, computer-generate images, moving images, and/or visual effects for media such as television, film, video games and other entertainment. In this role you will work with clients, such as directors, game designers, or other animators to help create the ideal graphics needed, set development deadlines and edit the animation or effects based on such client’s feedback. Employers favor job applicants with a bachelor’s degree in computer graphics, fine arts, animation, or a related field in addition to a portfolio of work and strong technical skills for these creative jobs.
Art Director
In this job you would be responsible for the visual style of a product. You’d have the opportunity to determine how to represent a message, campaign or concept visually and then determine which design elements such as photographs, graphics or art that would be best to use for items such as product packaging to media like magazines, newspapers, movie and television productions. If you are aiming for this role, it’s helpful to have at least a bachelor’s degree in an art or design subject. There is ample room to grow in another art-related occupation to working up to a director-level role.
Creative jobs are and will continue to grow in demand and popularity. Check out our blog page for more resources for your job search. If you find that you are ready to dive into a new creative opportunity or speak with one of our recruiters, we invite you to view our open positions on our job board today!
