Yet for those on Wall Street who fear for their livelihoods, there's hope. In the Integreon example, more complicated tasks that require local knowledge and analytical skills are retained for the bank's own employees. For instance, a junior analyst in New York might unearth a great acquisition opportunity that's not readily apparent from simply studying financial reports. The bank's clients are looking for just such surprising bits of insight that give them an edge over their competitors. The bank's researchers "are moving up the value chain and providing more sophisticated pieces of research," says the bank's research director. In the process, the junior analysts are improving their job security and setting themselves up to become investment bankers.

Law is another developing hot spot for offshoring. While large law firms have been slow to shift work to India, corporations and smaller firms are taking the plunge. LegalEase Solutions, a Detroit outsourcing business with 50 clients in the U.S., shows how it's done. The firm's 20 Indian lawyers handle everything from researching legal precedents to writing drafts of briefs. Clients submit requests by e-mail. A LegalEase lawyer in the U.S. reviews them and assigns them to lawyers in India. The Indians do the research, analysis, and writing but are supervised by the U.S. attorney.

The service lessens the need for LegalEase clients to hire associates to do legal grunt work. At Fausone Bohn LLP in the Detroit suburb of Northville, Mich., a staff of 10 lawyers farms out tasks, such as writing case law memos, that the attorneys use when preparing briefs. The main challenge is getting lawyers comfortable with the process. "There's a certain amount of worrying that if we take this offshore, their jobs might be next," says partner Paul F. Bohn. But lawyers who excel at taking depositions, cross-examining witnesses, and writing complex legal briefs that require detailed knowledge of a particular case still have a place. It's the interpersonal and communication skills that will make them vital additions to a legal team in Detroit, New York, or London.

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For financial firms and law offices, outsourcing usually involves less complex entry-level tasks. Yet some professional jobs that are moving offshore require elite skills, and that makes the task of holding on to your position trickier. Accenture, the consulting giant, has a team of chemists, physicians, statisticians, and pharmacists in Bangalore helping Western pharmaceutical companies review and document the results of clinical trials. Emboldened by the results Accentureachieved for them, Wyeth executives have opened a clinical research lab in Bangalore where they design new drug-testing protocols. When the lights go out at the company's research center in Collegeville, Pa., its Indian researchers start their day in Bangalore — performing exactly the same work. One of the keys to career security at U.S. research labs is to craft a job that requires frequent interactions with customers or government labs — stuff that can't so easily be done by a brainiac in Bangalore.

Individuals worried about their careers should try to spot trouble and make adjustments early. Four years ago, Iain Davidson, a 25-year IBM veteran who lives in Raleigh, N.C., saw that the work he was doing as a procurement manager for the company's PC unit was increasingly moving to Asia. So he set about reinventing himself. Davidson took a course offered by IBM in how to communicate well with clients. He now manages procurement for an IBM client, NiSource, a Midwest utility company. "You can't take anything for granted, but so far, they want this job done face to face," Davidson says.

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