During the career exploration process, every student finds themselves asking questions such as, “Will there be enough jobs?” and “How much money will I make?” Searching for answers can result in confusion and frustration from sorting through conflicting, hard-to-read information from various websites. To help students answer these questions and more, Fleishman has partnered with Emsi: a labor market analytics firm that uses real-world data to create and present user-friendly insights about your career interests. Read on to see an example of how Emsi can help you learn more about your future career.
Meet Eliza, a (imaginary) sophomore studying graphic design at Binghamton. Eliza loves designing fantasy characters and her dream is to become an animator for Disney, but she wants to find out more about her job prospects and career opportunities in the animation industry. Eliza begins her exploration on Fleishman’s website and finds Emsi’s “Job Market Insights” tool here.
Eliza starts with “Filtering for Industry and Occupation,” choosing “Arts, Audio/Video Technology and Communications for her industry and “Multimedia Artists and Animators” from the occupations menu. She decides to begin with information about the entire United States, so Eliza keeps the location filter set to “Nationwide.”
Selecting these filters brings Eliza to the “Multimedia Artists and Animators” page, where the first section, “Core Tasks,” describes the basic duties of an animator. Eliza can use this description to verify that she is interested in and properly preparing for the tasks that an animator is expected to perform. For example, bullet 6 says that animators “create storyboards,” so Eliza will need to know what a storyboard looks like and how to make one.
Below “Core Tasks” is “Employment Trends”, which tells Eliza about the growth of animation jobs for the next ten years. In 2029, Emsi estimates that 54,794 animation jobs will exist in the U.S. Emsi also projects that animation jobs will grow by 9.48% in the next decade, much higher than the average 3.70% for all industries. Thus Eliza, can be optimistic about her job prospects when she graduates.
After “Employment Trends,” Eliza can find “Top Employers” and “Education Levels.” Her dream company Disney is currently hiring, and when she graduates with her Bachelor’s Eliza will have achieved the same level of education that 52.8% of current animators hold.
Next up comes an “Annual Earnings” distribution chart, where Eliza can see that half of all animators make more than $54,475 per year.
“Annual Earnings” is followed by the “Technical Skills” and “Soft Skills” sections. Under “Technical Skills,” we again see that storyboarding is a skill Eliza will want to be familiar with. While in college Eliza can also focus on developing her “soft skills” such as negotiation.
Emsi’s last section is titled “Job Titles,” and features the common phrases employers use to advertise animation jobs. When Eliza searches for jobs, she should remember to search titles such as “Motion Graphics Designer” and “Concept Artist” as well as “Animator.”
After doing more research, Eliza discovers that many animators live and work in the state of California. She is curious about job market statistics within the state, so she returns to the filter tools and changes her location to California. When Eliza filters by location, Emsi adjusts the labor market data to be specific to the selected state. For example, returning to the “Annual Earnings” category reveals that animators in California make a median salary that is nearly $20,000 higher than the national median.
Using Emsi, students can find out more about how to prepare for their professions and what is in store for them in their future careers. Emsi is a powerful tool backed by up-to-date data and a great addition to the professional development toolbox.
For more about Emsi, visit their website and Linked-In pages, as well as Fleishman’s Emsi-powered resource page.
