10 Jobs that Didn't Exist 10 Years Ago Open Near St. Clair Shores

A Detroit medical office is looking for a “chief listener” – more precisely, a physician engagement manager – to monitor feedback from the group’s physicians, among other duties.

Chief listener is a job that didn’t exist 10 years ago, according to Forbes.

The Detroit area job is listed by A-line Staffing Solutions. It pays in the $45,000-$55,000 range, and includes benefits. Among the duties is alerting the office manager of challenges and barriers the practice may encounter in the successful attainment of its program goals.

Before the advent of social media, the idea of a business monitoring what customers are saying and adjusting their practices lacked this kind of structure.

“Before social media, business was a one way channel of communication. The company talked, we listened,” Charles Purdy, senior editor for Monster.com, told Forbes. “Now we’ve become accustomed to two-way conversations. We expect them to listen, and so we see these kinds of roles.”

Social Media Manager

Also listening to what customers say about businesses are social media specialists who keep track of conversations on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.

This isn’t just a job for millennials, Monster.com’s Purdy said.

“Young people may be more technologically savvy than their older colleagues,” he told Forbes. “But technology in the workplace is evolving so quickly that a person can’t think that just because they’re great at Twitter will make them a desirable commodity long-term.”

Here are some social media jobs just posted in Metro Detroit:

• Social Media Coordinator, Sun Communities, Southfield
• Social Media Specialist, Whole Brain Group, Ann Arbor
• Marketing and Social Media Assistant, Feinberg Consulting, West Bloomfield
• Social Media Analyst, Meridian Health Plan, Detroit
• Audi Digital & Social Media Operations Lead, Audi of America, Auburn Hills

Data Miner

As customer satisfaction becomes more valuable to businesses, they’re hiring data analysts and scientists to help them determine what it all means. Patch lists dozens of just-listed jobs in this category, including:

• Data Analyst, Branch Creative Network, Dearborn
• Data Scientist, Two42solutions, Southfield
• Data Scientist, General Motors, Detroit
• Corporate Marketing Data Specialist, Comerica Bank, Auburn Hills
• Applied Operations Research Professional, General Motors, Warren
• Senior Data Scientist, Market Strategies International, Livonia

App Developer

The word “app” – shorthand for applications – began seeping into conversation with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and other smart phones shortly thereafter. Now, there are as many as 1.6 million apps available for mobile devices. Someone has the develop them, and hundreds of positions are listed on the Patch jobs board. Here are a few of them in the Metro Detroit area.

• App/Dev Integration PM, Docutell, Auburn Hills
• Mobile Apps Developer, Systems Technology Group Inc., Dearborn
• ColdFusion App Developer, Strategic Staffing Solutions, Detroit

SEO Specialist

Like apps, SEO – search engine optimization – has also slipped into the nation’s vernacular. A decade ago, a quiz about what the acronym stood for might have yielded some puzzling answers. But today, as companies struggle to get noticed online, some of the most important digital jobs are in SEO. Here are a couple of them in Metro Detroit:

• SEO/IT Specialist, Miller Vein, Novi
• Administrative Assistant to SEO Director, Ford, Dearborn

Blogger

One important component of SEO strategy is blogging. Blogging began as online journaling, but it has developed into a new form of journalism, with professional bloggers creating posts that may be informational, editorial or commercial. Here are some positions involving blogging in the Metro Detroit area:

• Fashion Blogger/Copywriter internship, MP Fashion, Sylvan Lake
• Associate Editor, Autoblog, AOL, Birmingham,
• Communications Manager, Venteon, Bloomfield Hills

Zumba Instructor

If you’re not a techie, don’t worry. Zumba has caught fire since appearing on the scene in America in the early 2000s. In 2008, there were only 16 fitnesses centers offering Zumba classes. Within five years, the number had soared to 6,331, according to LinkedIn. These jobs aren’t specifically for Zumba instructors, but it’s one of the classes the successful candidate will be expected to lead:

• Instructors for Children’s Activity Classes, Tumblebunnies International, Walled Lake
• Group Exercise Instructor, Healthfitness, Auburn Hills
• Kids Group Skills Fitness Instructor, Life Time, Commerce Township

Genetic Counselor

After the Bureau of Labor Statistics reclassified its jobs in 2010, a third of “new” occupations occurred in the health-care field, CNBC reported. One of the new entries was genetic counselors, who assess individual or family risk for various inherited genetic disorders and birth defects. Here are a couple of jobs in Metro Detroit:

• Genetic Counselor, Wayne State University Physician Group, Detroit
• Genetics Counselor, Beaumont Health System, Royal Oak

Wind Turbine Specialists

The Bureau of Labor Statistics added this job as a new detailed occupation in 2010 as wind energy becomes more common across the United States. These works install, maintain and repair wind turbines, earning about $46,000 a year. In 2012, there were just 3,200 “windtechs” in the country, but the BLS said the field is growing faster than the average for all occupations, with a demand of as many as 4,000 in 2022.

“Because wind-electricity generation is expected to grow over the coming decade, additional technicians will be needed to install and maintain new turbines. Job prospects should be excellent for qualified candidates,”the BLS said.

If you’re one of those qualified candidates, consider this job in Metro Detroit:

• Wind Tunnel Testing Technician/Engineer, RGBSI, Troy

Legal Specialties

The legal field has evolved with technology, with several specialities emerging with major shifts in health-care, accountability and culture, according to the staffing company Robert Half. They don’t all require a doctor of jurisprudence, by the way. Here are a few jobs you wouldn’t have found a decade ago in the Metro Detroit area:

• HR/Benefits Administrator (Affordable Care Act), Snelling Staffing Services, Birmingham
• Cybersecurity & Privacy Identity Management Manager, PwC, Detroit
• Compliance Specialist, HCC Insurance Holdings, Auburn Hills
• Director- Medicaid Duals & Compliance, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit

Sources: Patch.com, Forbes, Digital Marketing Institute, LinkedIn, CNBC, Robert Half