TRAINING FOR FUTURE JOBS
I do think I chose a good path because technology just keeps going and going.”
When Asma Arshad graduated from high school in 2016, she wasn’t sure what to do next.
Enrolling in a post-secondary program is a big commitment and like many of today’s students, Arshad didn’t want to gamble on an education that might lead to a profession with a limited shelf life.
With so many layoffs in various sectors due to changes in the economy, it’s no surprise that both students and their parents might struggle to predict which jobs will be the most secure five or 10 years down the road.
After taking some time off to think, Arshad consulted her uncle and he encouraged her to pursue an education in technology. She’s now enrolled in Bow Valley College’s software development program and feeling much better about her future.
“I took my uncle’s advice and on the first day of classes I realized it was perfect for me,” Arshad says. “I do think I chose a good path because technology just keeps going and going. In the future there’s going to be so many cool new things and obviously there will have to be people behind those things.”
Students aren’t the only ones concerned about predicting which jobs will have the best employment prospects as time marches on — Calgary’s various post-secondary institutions are all keeping an eye on what routes students need to take to ensure future success.
Tom Bornhorst, the associate vice-president of Learner and Academic Services at SAIT, says that his school works closely with industry partners not just to identify what industries will be hiring students, but what specific skills those industries will look for as they evolve.
“It’s so important for SAIT to have a connectivity with industry,” Bornhorst says. “We’re ensuring that as industries change, that we’re changing our curriculum and our programing so that it’s reflecting those changes. We’re always speaking with our industry partners to make sure we’re providing what they need.”
When it comes to identifying the so-called jobs of the future, Bornhorst says choosing tech professions is a given — relatively new fields such as cyber security have been of particular interest — but he adds students should expand their ideas of what “tech” means.
With the computer systems in new cars, for example, newly trained automotive service technicians are in high demand. He’s also seeing an increase in job postings calling for new media specialists, tourism and hospitality professionals, supply chain management experts and, with our aging population, the demand for health-care workers ranging from nurses to technicians continues to rise.
Misheck Mwaba, vice-president, Academic, at Bow Valley College, says since job trends are bound to change substantially over the course of any student’s career, it’s important to develop skills that are transferrable.
The first step is to enrol in programs that offer the fundamentals of business, communications, software development, hospitality or whatever else a student’s core area of interest may be. From there, he says students should start to look at post-secondary learning as a lifelong process and expect to come back to pick up more specific skills as needed. Bow Valley College has a new program called Pivot-Ed that offers short-term programs so students can continue learning as job requirements change in the future.
“Even when technology is changing, when we talk about things like drones or artificial intelligence, really the fundamental skills are the same,” Mwaba says. “For companies doing artificial intelligence, they will need software programmers to do the programming. You’ll need electrical engineers to design drones. Those fundamental skills are not changing.”
Administration at the University of Calgary is also keeping a close eye on job trends to make sure students are prepared for the future.
Nora Molina, the university’s director of career services, says she sees a lot of demand for professionals that can research and analyze information or organize people and resources. She encourages students to pursue their area of passion, knowing that any university program will give them high-level skills that can be applied in a number of different professions.
“In an undergraduate program you’re gaining the advantage of a breadth of knowledge,” Molina says. “You have your focus within your discipline, but the research and analytic skills come when you’ve been working for four years on a program of learning.
“Many of our students are also engaging in internships and coops, where they can get those hands-on skills and use the application of their knowledge toward that.”
While nobody can see exactly what the future might hold, Calgary ’s post-secondary institutions are doing their best to prepare students to handle whatever comes their way.