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Leadership, communication skills in demand

Job trends: What's hot

Demand for accounting, finance, IT, engineering and health-care professionals will continue to dominate this year's want ads, while skills in communication and project management will remain red hot, human resource professionals predict.

LINDA WHITE
[ 2007-05-23 ]

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"We're seeing huge IT needs consistently and the demand continues to get bigger and bigger," says Kimberley Wakefield, director of marketing and communications at The Career Edge Organization, a national internship facilitator based in Toronto.

"We're also seeing an uptake in the need for business and financial analysts," she says. "Engineering is the third big field for us. More and more foreign-trained engineers are coming to Canada. It's quite a hot area. I think the government is going to become a huge employer of engineers."

According to Martin Rivard of Service Canada, the following industries have good job opportunities through 2009:

- Healthcare, including physicians, specialist physicians, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and pharmacists;


- Engineering and science, such as engineers and technicians, information systems professionals, electronic service technicians (household and business equipment);

- Businesses such as HR professionals, financial auditors and accountants;

- Trades, including transport and equipment operators, automotive service technicians, heavy-duty equipment mechanics, steam fitters, pipe fitters and sprinkler system installers.

More and more, employers are looking for soft skills, reports Gerlinde Herrmann, chair of the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario and president of The Herrmann Group in Toronto, a provider of talent management solutions.

"People with leadership skills are in demand. China is importing them, which creates a shortage in other countries. It's not unusual for Canadians, Americans, Swedes and Brits to go to countries with accelerated economies," Herrmann says.

Math and science skills are among those most in demand. "There are massive shortages in those areas," says Herrmann, a member of the global panel of Society for Human Resource Management. "We're not enrolling enough students in those programs. In the past, we counted on students from China, Hong Kong and India to come here to study and to work. Today, they are coming here to study and get work experience before returning to their home countries."

"COMPETITIVE EDGE"


In today's global economy, those skills are crucial. "If you lose your scientific edge, especially in the States, then eventually you lose your competitive edge in the world," Herrmann says, pointing to robotics and the aerospace industry as examples.

Communication skills are also in demand, reports Wakefield of The Career Edge Organization. "Communication skills are always huge and continue to be so important. You must be able to communicate effectively in a variety of media. It requires a certain skill to adapt to technology and to manage it while getting your ideas across."

Project management skills are also crucial. "This newer skill set is in demand," Wakefield says. "Employers are looking for people who are able to do project management for themselves, for teams and for the operation."

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USEFUL WEBSITES


Interested in learning more about the hottest jobs? Visit the following government websites for helpful information:

www.ontariojobfutures.ca

It includes job market assessments for 163 occupational groups within the Ontario labour market, as well as an overview of Ontario's employment patterns.

www.jobfutures.ca

www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/epb/lmd/fw/occunderpres.shtml

It includes Regional Occupations Under Pressure lists.



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