Jobs with a future
By Melanie Chambers • Bankrate.com

A pharmacy owner must have a university degree, but a pharmacy technician or assistant can take a college course that runs from four months to a year, depending on the province.

At the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, in Calgary, Alta., high school students can graduate with a high school diploma as well as pharmacy technician's certificate as part of a pilot project aimed at filling the gap in pharmacy jobs.

Personal support workers, or PSWs, who work with home-care agencies or long-term care facilities to care for the elderly, will also be in demand in the near future. "It's very difficult work, but it is very rewarding," says Dutton.

To earn a PSW certificate, which is offered at the college level, you need a high school diploma, and the program usually takes more than a year. For more of a challenge and a jump up the pay grid, PSW workers can become registered practical nurses, or RPNs, with only two more years of schooling.

Well-rounded techies
Between 2008 and 2015, Canadian employers will need to hire between 1,410 and 1,862 computer and information systems managers annually, according to a 2008 report published by the Information and Communication Technology Council.

But unlike the dot-com-era employee, who was typically a computer science graduate in programming or development, today's IT employee needs to have more diverse experience and interests. "If you can marry your passion with technology, you've just increased your opportunities for jobs," says Mateus.

Such jobs include business analysts or project managers, who make IT recommendations to improve the efficiency of a business. Instead of coming from an IT background, someone might start with a specialty such as health care or finance and then take some IT training.

Another option is starting with the technical foundation first. "They can then specialize and learn higher-level project management procedures and certifications," says Kevin Cudihee, part-time studies program head for the School of Computing and Academic Studies at British Columbia Institute of Information Technology.  

Coping with information overload
Other growing job sectors of the IT job market include information system analysts and consultants. From medical patient records to electronic correspondence, companies are trying to simplify and consolidate their information and filing systems and need people with the experience and skills to guide them in making the right decisions.

A computer IT diploma from an accredited technical college teaches a student various technologies and platforms and which ones are suitable for which types of organizations.

"It's not necessarily one piece of software that is required," says Kevin Weaver, chair of the School of Information Technology at Fanshawe College in London, Ont.

He says that every business has specific requirements, but that "at the core level, one should understand information technology and how that can be used and what that means to the business."

Melanie Chambers is a writer based in London, Ont.