Jobs with a future
By Melanie Chambers • Bankrate.com

Travis Lindgren has an accounting degree, but he hasn't made a spreadsheet in years.

That's because in a knowledge-based economy, understanding finances is only one aspect of his job as the president and general manager of The Learning Tree International, an Ottawa-based business, management and information technology, or IT, training centre.

"On the training side, we see companies asking a lot more of their employees," says Lindgren.

That is especially true with two sectors of the job market that continue to grow, even in these tough economic times, according to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada: health care and IT.

Looking for well-rounded workers
"The unemployment rate for IT is about half, about four per cent, of the national unemployment rate," says Sergio Mateus, executive vice-president of Sapphire Technologies Canada, an IT recruiting company in Toronto. 

He contends that now more than ever, IT touches every facet of business, and companies need good IT employees to remain competitive.

The need for health care workers is more obvious: The explosion of retiring baby boomers is creating job vacancies as well as demand for a range of health care services.

However, conventional IT and health care jobs are a thing of the past. Today, employers are looking for workers with varied skill sets.

Health care hopefuls
According to Statistics Canada, in about 10 years, there will be more people who are retired than people who are working. To prepare for that shift, many health care employers are hiring sooner rather than later.

"(Employees) need a number of years grooming time," says Zag Dutton, owner of Career Connections Canada Inc., a recruiting agency in Mississauga, Ont.

One such job that requires working through the ranks is a regulatory affairs officer. "It's going to take them a few years to get them to that level where they're ready to deal with the minister of health and minister of labour," says Dutton.

Regulatory affairs officers work for pharmaceutical, medical device, life science and biotechnology companies and are responsible for tasks such as writing government submissions to ensure their products are safe for use.

Instead of focusing only on health care policies and practices, a regulatory affairs officers work with many different departments, including finance and human resources, to put together a successful submission.

Typically, a regulatory affairs officer has a Bachelor of Science and a specialized college certificate. The course is a combination of technical writing as well as learning about health care and the legislative process. Knowledge of international and U.S. regulatory procedures increase their job opportunities.

Taking care
Jobs in the pharmaceutical and long-term care fields are also on the rise. And if the federal government's plan to allow pharmacists to prescribe certain medications goes through, those jobs will only grow.