Southern California Job Market : Surviving in the 90’s : New Careers Emerge From a World in a State of Flux : Social, environmental and technological developments are creating service-sector positions unthought of even a few years ago.

From global politics to the regional job market, rapid change is now the norm. Nowhere is this more evident than in the swiftly evolving service sector, where new careers are emerging in specialty areas that were virtually unknown even a decade ago.

Spurred by social, environmental and technological developments, service sector careers in the 1990s will be more high tech, more narrowly defined and more socially conscious than in previous decades.

Despite uncertain economic conditions and continued downsizings in a broad array of industries, career fields that are almost certain to gain momentum over the next few years include the computer industry, health care and transportation management.

Within these areas, three new careers in particular are surfacing as hot new prospects for job seekers in the coming decade:

INFORMATION SECURITY SPECIALIST

With the arrival of the Information Age, computer, or data, security has become a paramount consideration to companies where information is a key commodity--from accounting firms and banks to defense contractors and software manufacturers.

Until recently, computer security typically was left to an outside consultant or, at best, was an added responsibility of the systems manager.

But increased dependence on computer systems and a rising incidence of file damage caused by hackers, viruses and natural disasters have given information security specialists a prominent new role.

“It’s becoming more and more important as we get more involved with data processing as a way of life,” said Hal Tipton, director of information security for Rockwell International in Seal Beach.

Tipton, who started as Rockwell’s sole computer security specialist in 1977, said his department now comprises nearly 100 workers with security-related responsibilities, including a core staff of 10 security specialists within his immediate purview.

While unauthorized computer break-ins at Rockwell are rare, Tipton said his company’s computers have been invaded by dozens of viruses. Rockwell’s 50,000 or so companywide computer users encounter five or 10 viruses a month--more than double the number of incidents only a few years ago, he said.

“Experts say we’re into a statistical situation where the number of viruses doubles every few months,” Tipton said. “A month or so ago we had about 65 known viruses. There now are probably about 80. It’s a real problem.”

Indeed, the National Center for Computer Crime Data estimates the annual cost of nationwide computer abuse at more than $500 million. Some consulting firms place an even higher price tag on high-tech crime--upward of $3 billion to $5 billion each year in the United States alone, according to Business Week magazine.

Computer security involves more than preventing unauthorized access through the use of passwords and secret codes, it also requires preserving the integrity of stored information by safeguarding the system from outside threats and establishing off-site, backup computer centers, said Richard V. Rueb, executive director of the Information Systems Security Assn. (ISSA) in Newport Beach.

Since ISSA’s founding in 1981, the group’s membership has grown to more than 2,000 security professionals in chapters in 30 cities, Rueb said. He estimates that there are between 5,000 and 7,000 security specialists nationwide, but that number is growing.

“If you assume there is going to be increased use of computers, then this definitely is a growing field,” said Carl B. Jackson, manager of Deloitte & Touche’s computer assurance services group in Los Angeles, which acts as a consultant to industry on computer security procedures.

Computer security specialists generally have some college-level computer training. Many are former bank examiners, internal auditors, disaster recovery experts or electronic data processing auditors. While a degree in computer science is not mandatory, a technical understanding of computer systems is essential.

Salaries for security specialists vary from $30,000 at entry level to $50,000 to $60,000 for managers, and nearly $90,000 for directors, Tipton said.

GENETIC COUNSELOR

In medicine, the trend is moving toward a more humanistic approach. At many large hospitals and medical centers, patient advocates are now on hand to make sure that patients’ needs are being attended to.

Similarly, genetic counselors have emerged to fill the gap between the patient and doctor in providing counseling and support to families during and after high-risk pregnancies in which there is a above-average potential for birth defects.

High-risk pregnancies occur primarily in families that have a history of inherited genetic disorders, such as Down’s syndrome or cystic fibrosis, and among women age 34 and over, according to the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) in Wallingford, Pa.

Genetic counselors explain to prospective parents the basis for prenatal testing (to identify potential birth defects). The information they provide helps parents arrive at their own, frequently heart-wrenching, decision whether to terminate the pregnancy or prepare for the arrival of a potentially severely handicapped child.

“We deal with people in crisis situations at a time when they tend to get abandoned by a lot of professionals who don’t know quite what to do with these abnormalities,” said Dr. Ann Walker, director of the Genetic Counseling Program at UC Irvine.

Becoming a licensed genetic counselor requires clinical experience combined with highly specialized medical training, usually a master’s degree in human genetics, although some nurses, social workers, and Ph.D. holders have worked their way into genetic counseling positions, said Bea Leopold, NSGC’s executive director.

Cheryl Dubbell, a first-year student in UC Berkeley’s genetic counseling program and a former research assistant for a biotechnology company, said what attracted her to the field was the opportunity to participate in the human side of medicine.

“When I was in the lab, I knew intellectually that what I was working on would someday maybe benefit people. But in this position, every day that you go in you have the chance to help someone,” Dubbell said.

With more women waiting until after they are 30 and over to become pregnant, and the development of prenatal tests capable of detecting more than 4,000 genetic disorders, the need for these trained professionals is exploding.

“The job opportunities are incredible, and they’re expanding all the time,” Leopold said. “Over the last few years, I’ve had between 30 and 50 openings at any given time.”

There are 17 accredited genetic counseling programs nationwide, including two in California: at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley.

The first class of genetic counselors graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in New York in 1971. Now, there are about 1,000 such professionals. But the health-care industry is crying out for more. “It’s definitely a seller’s market,” UC Irvine’s Walker said.

Salaries for genetic counselors with one to four years’ experience average in the mid-$30,000 range, and top out at just over $50,000 for professionals with 10 or more years on the job.

TRANSPORTATION COORDINATOR

Stringent air quality guidelines adopted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) in December, 1987, have, virtually overnight, created a career opportunity for the ‘90s--employee transportation coordinator.

Regulation 15 of the AQMD’s regional plan requires companies with more than 100 employees at a work site to have a trained transportation coordinator on hand. By mid-1991, the regulation will apply to more than 8,000 Southland employers in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Similar guidelines have also been adopted in Ventura County and San Diego. Many other Southland cities are implementing their own transportation ordinances.

Coordinators are charged with designing and managing “trip reduction plans,” with the goal of increasing the average number of people per car to 1.5 from the current 1.13.

To this end, they promote and help coordinate ride-sharing programs such as car pools and van pools, as well as commuter alternatives like mass transit. They also develop incentive plans to reward cyclists and people who walk to work and offer subsidies to bus riders and car poolers--all this so there are fewer people driving to work alone.

Part advocate and part planner, an employee transportation coordinator needs to have a technical understanding of transportation management as well as the ability to sell fellow employees on changing their commuting habits. The job requires patience and persuasiveness to win people over.

“What an employer looks for is someone with a good marketing perspective, who is innovative and can convince people,” said Peter Hidalgo of Commuter Transportation Services (CTS) in Los Angeles, a publicly funded agency that promotes ride sharing and mass transit regionally.

Currently, there are between 1,500 and 2,000 transportation coordinators in the Los Angeles area, said Dominic Menton, regional manager for CTS and president of the Southland chapter of the Assn. for Commuter Transportation.

The vast majority, however, work part time and handle their transportation-related duties on top of other job responsibilities, Hidalgo said.

Hidalgo said less than 5% of the businesses affected by Regulation 15 have full-time transportation coordinators, but the number is expected to increase primarily because of the fines imposed.

Another sign that transportation coordinators positions may grow into more full-time opportunities is the emergence of transportation management associations, or TMAs, whose purpose is to coordinate ride sharing programs and trip reduction plans for clusters of small employers located in the same business complex.

“The job market is growing with the regulation,” said Christopher Park, executive director of the Warner Center TMA in Woodland Hills. “Many people who aren’t in the field are looking at it because salaries are rising. They’re seeing that there’s an opportunity for a career.”

Park, who has an MBA in marketing, said employee transportation coordinators can come from a variety of backgrounds, including planning, marketing, public relations or human resources. Salaries for full-time transportation coordinators vary from $28,000 at the staff level to $60,000 or more for managers and directors.

Statewide, there are about 40 TMAs, including 25 or so in the Los Angeles area, said John Wolf, head of Caltrans’ Office of Transportation Management in Sacramento. The average number of employees at a TMA is small, typically two or three, Wolf said.

But large employers, including universities, energy suppliers, major aerospace companies and some governmental agencies frequently have sizable commuter services departments with up to a dozen or more staff.

Basic transportation coordinators training is available through a variety of consultants and agencies, including Commuter Transportation Services and the Orange County Transit District in Garden Grove. For in-depth instruction, the public policy department at UCLA Extension offers a 12-month certificate program in transportation demand management.

Although trying to persuade people to change their driving habits in the city of cars can be a little like telling a teen-ager not to watch so much television, coordinators say they soon are made aware of their critical role in helping to improve regional air quality while reducing traffic.

“It took a few short months for me to realize this is a job where I can make a good, solid contribution to the environment,” Menton said. “If we could get everyone to ride share just one day week, we could have a tremendous impact in the long term.”