Every year the rather-right-of-centre magazine U.S. News and World Report trots out a list of 20 or so of the latest “hot jobs”.
It’s fun to run this catalogue through the reality check of a Canadian’s perspective. Some of this year’s entries, like “Hispanic Marketing Specialist” are simply non-starters here.
But what about “Chief Privacy Officer” which is also on the 2001 list? Our American cousins seem to think this is where the action will be, with starting salaries around $120,000 US.
The driving force is new legislation governing everything from medical information to the privacy rights of children.
Only in America, you say? Well, take a look at the wave of privacy legislation that’s expected to sweep across Canada in the next few years.
The federal government has enacted Bill C-6, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and it will soon touch almost every Canadian business, institution and government department.
It establishes governing principles including accountability, identifying purposes, consent, limiting collection, limiting use, disclosure and retention, accuracy, safeguards, openness, individual access and challenging compliance.
This will mean lots of work for lawyers, and perhaps for corporate privacy officers, though I expect they’ll have other duties as well here in Canada. And they probably won’t get the grandiose title or salary of a Chief Privacy Officer like their counterparts at American Express or Microsoft.
If you’re interested in this path, you should reserve Oct. 18, 2001 for our special one-day seminar on Privacy in a Technological World at the University of Calgary, presented in collaboration with Alberta’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. See Web watch (below) for all the details.
Another provocative job title from the U.S. News and World Report Top 20 list is “EAI evangelist.”
That would be Enterprise Application Integration booster. These are folks who try to push a company, perhaps kicking and screaming, into doing more of its business transactions online.
They encourage you to buy your office supplies or exchange purchase orders over the Internet. Or, and some sales-oriented companies live in fear of this, they help you shop online for the best deals in commodities such as chemicals or electrical power.
Much of this is happening already, and it’s not clear that evangelists are even necessary here in Alberta. If a technology makes sense, Albertans usually embrace it pretty quickly.
And if it’s bunk, they’ll tell you so. So, if you want to make a career out of this kind of techno-preaching, it might be best to pack up for warmer climes. The coolest-sounding job on this year’s Top 20 list is probably “Chief Experience Officer.”
But it’s actually someone who does the rather mundane task of watching how people use a product, and making sure that it meets their needs.
This could be a hot ticket for Alberta, as firms design everything from cellphones to Web pages. The job has other monikers such as “human factors analyst” and “usability tester” but the idea is pretty simple. Watch people and pay attention to them.
One plus is that this job path is a good way into a high-tech company for people without a computer science or engineering degree. Folks in this field come from every discipline, ranging from art history to zoology.
How about some unique local jobs? I asked our Shad Valley students, who are gifted teens from across Canada, what struck them most about our area. The Stampede came out on top of the list, so I guess bullrider and casino dealer are hot jobs from that world. But they also mentioned the strong, friendly customer service attitude, something they say is lacking in many of their hometowns.
So maybe we need some service people who are a little surly, to help our guests feel more at home. You laugh, but Walmart found to their dismay that shoppers in Germany simply hated the firm’s trademark “greeters.” This negative reaction was one reason why the U.S. retail giant scrapped its plans to build 50 new superstores there by 2003.
If Germans like gruffness, maybe visitors to this province are craving the same bad service they get in Thunder Bay or Oakville.
On a more serious note, we can certainly use more Java Developers, Computer Security Specialists and people with a combination of business and computer acumen.
At least these are the jobs that we’re seeing in demand from my university’s perspective.
But please, prospective employers tell us, make sure they also have people skills. Teamwork. Presentation smarts. A decent attitude.
In addition, people are starting to really value loyalty. Of course loyalty works both ways, as Calgary business leader Norm Haines pointed out in a speech to those same Shad Valley students. “It disgusts me when I read about huge layoffs to improve a company’s bottom line,” he says.
“Companies that want their employees to be loyal need to respect them, too.”
Perhaps the real hot job of the future will be the same one we’ve always known. An honest day’s work, properly rewarded by an employer who knows the value of a great employee.
(Tom Keenan is Dean of Continuing Education at the University of Calgary. He can be reached at keenan@businessedge.ca.)
Web Watch:
www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/careers/cchotjob.htm www.ucalgary.ca/cted/esecurity
