Rich man, poor man,
Beggar man, thief.
Doctor, lawyer,
Indian chief!

That’s the traditional counting rhyme. Depending on which positions you are trying to fill, here’s some interesting rankings of job types: wanted or not, easy and hard to fill, and those in demand:

The 10 Hardest Jobs to Fill Worldwide, as reported by employers for 2008:
1. Skilled Manual Trades
2. Sales Representatives
3. Technicians
4. Engineers
5. Management/Executives
6. Laborers
7. Secretaries/Administrative Assistants
8. Drivers
9. Accounting & Finance Staff
10. IT Staff

The top 5 of the Top 20 Most Recession-Proof Professions:
1. Sales Representative/Business Development
2. Software Design/Development
3. Nursing
4. Accounting & Finance Executive
5. Accounting Staff

The occupations at the top of the Most Prestigious Occupations list:
• Firefighter (57% say "very great prestige");
• Scientist (56%);
• Doctor (53%);
• Nurse (52%);
• Teacher (52%)
When the numbers for "very great" and "considerable prestige" are added, all of these occupations are very favorably regarded by 74 percent or more of all adults.

The Least Prestigious Occupations:
Only 15 percent or fewer adults regard the following occupations as having very great prestige:
• Real estate agent/broker (6%);
• Stock broker (10%);
• Banker (15%);
• Accountant (15%);
• Entertainer (15%)
Substantial majorities of adults (from 61% to 83%) believe that these occupations have "hardly any" or only "some" prestige.

But there are also trends that bear watching. It’s a good time to be an IT worker. Green industries offer job growth opportunity. And the Federal commission calls for two million poll workers. Let’s hope they do a better job hiring for those positions than when the Justice Department hired lawyers!