As one of the Best Jobs of 2012, this profession should see significant growth over the next decade

By Emily Brandon

The Rundown:

Operations managers make companies run efficiently. Your job is to make sure the company has the people and materials necessary to provide the goods or services your clients need. This involves making tactical and strategic decisions and communicating with a wide variety of people to make sure everyone is properly coordinating to meet the end goal. "Operations really is the heart of most companies, because the operations department actually gets the job that the company needs to get done, done," says Eric Schaudt, manager of operations programs, material planning, and analysis at Northrop Grumman.

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