Top Picks

Technology, corporate downsizing and welfare reform are more than buzzwords for '90s-style business; they are forces contributing to the rapid growth of one of the decade's hottest businesses: job training and retraining. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics identifies job training as one of the fastest-growing small-business-dominated business sectors, predicting the industry will grow 43 percent between 1994 and 2005.

Employees who have been edged out of a job and those who would like to telecommute but don't know the first thing about the technology required to do so are finding that updating their skills is imperative, says Sharon Canter of Milwaukee-based Manpower Inc., which provides employee training from the clerical level all the way up to high-end technology skills.

While Manpower and its ilk are more recognizable in the job-training arena, there is plenty of room for entrepreneurs. "Smaller companies should specialize because they are not [likely] to have the resources larger companies have to do [broad-based] training," says Canter. "But if they specialize in a selected skill set, [they can] succeed."

Specializing becomes even more imperative when you consider that in addition to competing with corporate giants, small firms will be in the arena with community colleges and government organizations, which offer free or low-cost training. What to specialize in? BLS reports that computer-related education is the most common type of training received. If you take this route, be sure your technology of choice is going to be around for a while.

Not tech-savvy? Opportunities exist in training for job preparation, customer relations and occupational safety.

This article was originally published in the December 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Top Picks.