The career of your dreams won’t appear overnight. It may be nine months away.
Career colleges like Medix Schools and Herzing College provide students with hands-on knowledge to pursue the career of their choice. The education process is expedited by eliminating electives and providing the students only with the skills they’ll on the job.
Susan Waite-Price, community service worker instructor at Medix School in Toronto, says students benefit from small class sizes and the family atmosphere offered by the school. With opportunity for one-on-one instruction, students can receive the guidance they need to prepare themselves for 500 hours of field work, followed by a career in a growing industry.
“It’s interesting the program is nine months,” says Waite-Price, “because when I send them off, I feel like I’ve given birth!”
But don’t let the family atmosphere fool you — this program isn’t for the weak-hearted. Community-service workers work with clients facing extreme circumstances like abuse, depression, homelessness and a number of other difficult issues.
“I’m going to shock you and trigger you,” she says, “because the place for you to break down is in the classroom, not out in the field.”
Some skills good community workers possess are their ability to display understanding, empathy, warmth and respect towards clients, Waite-Price says. Excellent listening skills are of the utmost importance.
“You must listen to the words,” she says, “but also what’s not being said”; referring to body language.
In Ottawa, Herzing College offers a one-year pharmacy technician program. The program is one of only a handful that’s accredited by the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs.
It includes an eight-week field placement where students can work in hospital or community pharmacies.
One of the main differences between a pharmacy technician and a pharmacy assistant, explains Dave McCormick, vice-president of Herzing College, Ottawa, is the technician’s training in administering IV pharmaceuticals in a hospital setting.
“You won’t walk into a hospital or pharmacy in Ottawa without seeing Herzing grads,” he says.
