Where there's a need there's a career to fill it. If not, there will be soon.

Take Linda Katz, founder of Prairie Tumbleweed Farm, headquartered in Garden City, Kansas. Thirteen years ago she wanted to teach herself how to design a Web site, according to an article on potw.news.yahoo.com.

So she created a Web site for an imaginary farm that harvested and sold tumbleweed, those thistly-looking shrubs that roll across dusty landscapes. They went for $15, $20 and $25 depending on the size--small, medium or large. And then people in the U.S. and across the world began writing her wanting to buy them. NASA rocket scientists who were designing their Mars Tumbleweed rover even got in touch. And a new career was spawned.

Prairie Tumbleweed Farm is a real business today, set on 80 acres of prairie land where that scruffy symbol of the American west is grown, harvested and shipped to customers who want it for decoration and landscaping and movie and television sets.

Another need that has come about in recent years is to understand weather patterns. This has led to the joining of an unlikely pair--climatologists and the fashion industry. Thanks to the fickle, unpredictable weather we're experiencing, retailers need to understand weather trends to know what products to buy and when to put them on the sales floor, according to The New York Times. So some companies in the $200 billion American apparel industry have added weather forecasters to their companies to "predict weather for its designers to better time the shipments of seasonal garments to retailers," said the article.

These weather forecasters consult with employees as well as retailers that buy its clothing. Companies include Liz Claiborne which hired a climatologist from Columbia University. The climatologist's input will also help their designers know which fabrics to use to "create seasonless clothing," explained Anne Cashill, vice president for design and merchandising at Liz Claiborne. The store chain Target also established a "climate team" to "provide advice on what kind of apparel to sell throughout the year." They call themselves climate merchants.

One less surprising yet growing need is for people who investigate crimes and enforce the law, in part, because of 9/ll. The number of law enforcement officials needed may increase by more than 10 percent, says Dave Whelan, criminal justice administration department chairman at Delaware Valley College. Besides the need to replace an aging workforce and to fill homeland security jobs to protect transportation, borders, cities and states, law enforcement officials are needed to handle new types of crime such as cyber crime, he says.

Cyber crime investigations can be very laborious, says Whelan. So that means officers and detective are being taken off the street to do that work. There are two key areas of cyberspace that for instance, someone in the FBI would focus on. One is traditional criminal activity on the Internet ranging from fraud to child pornography and identity theft, says Joseph W. Koletar, author of The FBI Career Guide. The other is groups using the Internet to communicate and plan attacks.

It just goes to show that demand for a particular career is in the eye of the marketplace--which can develop as a result of a single event and as fast as the changing weather.

© 2008 by Andrea Kay