Careers for the Future

When you think of Canada, trees and mountains inevitably come to mind. Canada is known for its abundant supplies of natural resources. As such, it's no surprise that for decades, derivative industries such as forestry, mining, oil and gas, farming and fishing were the main source of jobs and exports for the country. While such sectors continue to be the core of the Canadian market, what's less well known is that Canada is quickly becoming a world leader more diverse areas such as telecommunications, biotechnology, aerospace technologies and pharmaceuticals.

For instance, Canada's aerospace industry comprises over 400 firms in every region of the country; collectively employing 80,000 Canadians with billions of dollars of sales annually. And nearly every major pharmaceutical company has manufacturing and/or R&D operations in Canada, also boasting billions of dollars in sales each year. Both sectors benefit from a well-educated workforce and a business environment that allows for high quality (and low cost) research, compared to other countries.

The watery silicon valley

Research in Motion (RIM), the creators and innovators of the ever-popular Blackberry mobile device, are based out of Waterloo, Ontario, which houses their incredibly large (and proudly Canadian) headquarters. But they are just one of hundreds of tech companies in the region, which is a perfect example of Canada's changing job market, where cities that were known for manufacturing jobs have turned into technological hubs.

The local tech school, the University of Kitchener-Waterloo, is world-renowned for its math and computer science courses, which boast Microsoft as regular headhunter on campus. The city capitalised on this, and encouraged tech sector growth in the region, turning the area into what is known as (if you count Cambridge, Ontario) the "Technology Triangle".

The growth is so rapid in the south-western Ontario region, that it's having a hard time keeping employees, as many get headhunted to even higher paying jobs in the US. Companies are finding it so hard to fulfil their staffing needs, that the University of Waterloo and local industry partners have gone so far as to travel to Silicon Valley South, to stage picnics and Canada Day events in an attempt to "woo" back ex-pats to their Northern home.