Clothes designers, makeup artists, fashion models.. but you could argue they're already useless LOL. A musician or caricature artist could at least entertain you for a while

 

Rembrandt beat me to it
lawyers

if you think of musicians as travelling bards of the past they functioned as travelling newsmen unfortunately they "enhanced: the tale to make it more palatable for the audience

 

meh...lawyers might be good for negotiating and possibly judging personalities, they see some S*** from all walks of life and lot of stuff that people typically hide from everyone else.....

artist is a broad term, singers and such might not be good for anything but there are artist who work with metal,wood and tools...hands on types....

 

Community organizers, welfare advocates, public housing coordinators, food stamp enrollment workers, campaign organizers, lobbyists, healthcare navigators, environmental activists, department of motor vehicle clerks, choreographers, reality tv producers, gender study professors, public awareness marketing specialists, beanie baby collectors and most of all, mimes.

 

But a Mime



is such terrible thing to waste..... methinks a daytrader would be limited

 

Had a list of several, but after I posted, I realized every one of them had some skills affiliated with their job that would be at least somewhat useful in the PAW.

Just my opinion.

 

Congressmen, senators, and….dare I say presidents?
Insurance agents

 

Going to call foul on musicians, since I am one. Even when society collapses, there will still be "rich" elites wanting entertainment. Trouver's and Troubadours survived just fine in the medieval period. Like all other lines of work, we'll have to have some non-musical skills to survive after the fall, but survive I will. Having been a professional musician for my entire adult life, I can tell you we are used to scarcity, good at fixing up old cars, know how to feed ourselves on a shoe-string budget, and can always sing for our supper.

 

Having been a professional musician for my entire adult life, I can tell you we are used to scarcity, good at fixing up old cars, know how to feed ourselves on a shoe-string budget, and can always sing for our supper.

Darn Straight Tex... I played full time from when I got out of the Military til my 2nd kid came along when I was about 40.

that necessitated a lot of "joe" jobs on the side where I learned multiple practical skills, from auto repair to bodyguard, masonry. bicycle repair..
.
and I got very good at keeping junk cars running, catchin fish,, & charming women. LOL
and we , especially those with my paucity of talent , are definitely survivors,, experienced survivors,, capable of finding food and shelter.. some of us have done so much with so little for so long that we can now do anything with practically nothing

 

I wouldnt count out musicians and the more practical arts. If there is significant damage to the electrical grid the only music available will be what you make. The need for music is deeply ingrained in the human psyche.
As for arts...as was said b4 artists that render their arts in wood and metal have a vast overlap of skills with the more mundane applications of wood and metal work. Many ( most probably ) dont live of their art completely and do regular work with their skills as well.

 

I wouldnt count out musicians and the more practical arts. If there is significant damage to the electrical grid the only music available will be what you make.

This too! Thanks DW!

 

Those guys that drive around and spray chemicals on lawns.

Lawn chemical applicators?

 

Environmental activist.

 

Welfare system gamers.

 

Pizza delivery
TV Talk Show Host
Vacuum Cleaner Salesmen


.......my top three. lol.

 

Rembrandt,, you are way off base as to musicians,, people love to,, need to, dance , especially when stressed .

musicians have historically been valued in nearly every society, even primitive hand to mouth societies
..
when I go to a campground I take a harmonica and a guitar and wander about and I never have to worry about cooking myself a meal or bringing my own beer...and I get to sample a lot of fine moonshine..

I play 7 instruments and am an EMT among other things,
one very specific reason I became an EMT so many years ago was specifically that I felt in an SHTF,, that is one skill that might make me more welcome if I came upon a group of Survivalists holed up somewhere

my first thought when I saw the topic was indeed "telemarketers" but someone beat me to it..

fun thread here,, might prompt a few folks to rethink their profession, or at least develop a side, or hobby skill which has universal and practical value to others

 

What fell after Rome?
Professional Athletes
Most of the entertainment industry, apart from a few of the actual artists themselves.
Most of the education industry, apart from a few highly regarded teachers.
Anything regulatory, public or private.
Most of the "appearance" industry, from publications to products and everything in between.

... I cringe whenever I read in the Chronicle at the rising student/personal debt in our country, and the attraction to careers in very short-sighted industries. It won't just be the welfare dependents that are stranded in a crash; many college graduates will find their "passions" aren't really useful to the world.

 

Politician - even if they had skills they probably won't live long enough to be of any use.

 

I dunno...if you're hungry enough, they might taste just like chicken.

 

Musicians NO actors yes, real estate agents, dog walkers, house sitters, jockeys and race car drivers.

 

long term financial planners and those damn bankers

 

IT Techs (most at least)
Salesman (maybe, depends if they can adapt)
Lastly, anyone who cannot adapt. A plumber would be useful, but if they cannot adapt to a different form of work they might have issues.

 

IT Techs (most at least)
Salesman (maybe, depends if they can adapt)
Lastly, anyone who cannot adapt. A plumber would be useful, but if they cannot adapt to a different form of work they might have issues.

Are you talking printer monkeys or the Sr. techs?
The troubleshooting skills learned in IT are pretty amazing, and portable to other areas.
That is of course if they are learned. So I think your "most at least" comment may be accurate.

I can skin a buck, and write SQL lines, and an IT boy can survive.:

 

Afraid my singing in the shower won't be of much help if society collapses. Didn't mean any disrespect to those more musically inclined, you have my admiration for the talent I wish I had.

Doubt anyone is going to be throwing gold or silver eagles to Justin Bieber for humming a few bars. As I said in the original post, most technology will probably move forward into whatever new society emerges....previously recorded music will render the music profession on lean times.

 

Just because a person can paint well or write nice poetry doesn't make them a complete dumbass.

 

social workers

 

What's the least needed skill set?
Lawyers

Musicians

Artists

There will always be lawyers. Even if a major, Armageddon-type, shtf were to happen, there would be trials again soon after.

Musicians are almost always welcome as well. When all the electronic entertainment forms go kaput, people will still want to listen to music.

And most crafts qualify as arts -- wood carving, weaving, knitting, pottery, glass-blowing, metalworking, knife making, quilting and so forth.


Least needed skills? Will depend entirely on the type of shtf, and some skills that seem useless may be repurposed. If you are an assembler of solar panels, then a teotwawki event might make that form of living impossible, but you may be able to repair people's solar panels. Nuclear engineers may be useless, or maybe they'll be in high demand to figure out a way to keep all the reactors from melting down. IT people may have useless skills, or they may work to create small local network infrastructures for their communities.

 

There will always be lawyers. Even if a major, Armageddon-type, shtf were to happen, there would be trials again soon after.

Musicians are almost always welcome as well. When all the electronic entertainment forms go kaput, people will still want to listen to music.

.

you're right lawyers should the first against the wall lawyers beget politicians
except mine :

 

The #1 profession?
What it already is. A politician.

 

I live 20 miles south of Madison Wisconsin, so picture in you mind:

- men carrying a shoulder purse
- men with a ponytail and multiple body/jewelry piercings
- any person that will only use a bike for daily transportation and only wears spandex
- people that only wear Birkenstock sandals and pajama style clothes
- anyone having multiple political/green bumper stickers on their vehicles

These are NOT your goto people.

 

1) meth cook
2) municipal code enforcement
3) county tax assessor

 

Really, trying to list useless skills is just a lack of imagination on our part. The meth cook might turn out to be really good at mixing up pool shock into proper dilution for water purification. The county tax assessor may know the lay of the land really well. The guy who does code enforcement may very well have once been in construction himself.

 

Lobbyists, Administrative assistants and Medical transcriptionists.