Herzing Radio/Television Broadcasting student, Harrison Jordan, hones his studio skills on campus

In the occupational health and safety (OHS) field, getting certified by a respected organization proves your skills and opens up more job opportunities.

But navigating all the different credentials available in Canada can be really challenging.

If you’re considering alternatives to a four-year health and safety degree, you may be looking into college-level health and safety programs. In this case, understanding your path to certification is crucial. 

If you feel like it may be time to pursue a new career path, you’re hardly alone.

A report from the spring of 2021 found that one in four Canadians were toying with the idea of changing careers.

At first, pandemic uncertainty caused many people to try to hang on to the jobs they had. But that changed dramatically when vaccination rates increased and the economy began to open up.

Research by RBC revealed that in June 2021, close to 17,000 Canadians left their jobs due to dissatisfaction—almost three times as many as a year earlier.

So should you take the leap?

Before you make any big decisions, ask yourself these important questions.

Getting ready to offer your graphic design skills to the world?

Before you begin applying for jobs or going after clients, it’s good to be aware of common missteps that can derail your efforts and damage your credibility.

After all, everyone makes mistakes—especially when they’re just starting out.

But knowing about the pitfalls you might encounter can help you navigate the field and get your design career off to a smoother start.

In this post, we outline five common blunders new graphic designers make and provide advice on how you can avoid them.

Let’s dive in.

Working with at-risk populations is central to community service work.

CSWs are trained to support people dealing with serious life challenges, which may include addictions, mental health disorders, cases of domestic violence, and other, high-stress situations that sometimes lead to acute crises.

Many students start off by working freelance after graphic design school. They're attracted to the idea of being their own boss, having control over their own work schedule, and pocketing profits directly.

After years of working various retail jobs and then staying home to raise her three kids, Amanda Gauthier decided it was time to get some career training.

She had no post-secondary education and was nervous about going back to school in her 30s. She also struggled with “mom guilt” for taking on this new challenge while her children were still very little. Her youngest was not even school age yet.

But she was passionate about helping people and ready to pursue a new path. So she took the plunge and enrolled in the Community Services Worker program at Herzing College.

It was a decision that changed her life.

We spoke with Amanda recently to learn about her experience with the course, the instructor, and the internship.

Here are the highlights of our conversation.

For students with busy work and home lives, embracing the challenge of going back to school takes a lot of courage. It can be difficult to figure out how to manage your time effectively to achieve your goals.

But take heart—it can be done!

With over 55 years of experience helping students transition back to school and start new careers, Herzing has learned a thing or two about balancing a busy schedule.

If you’re thinking about becoming a student again, read on for our top five back-to-school success tips.

If you’re hoping for an in-demand job in health care but don’t want to spend four-plus years in university, we have some good news.

Many of the fastest-growing roles in Canada’s healthcare system require no more than a college certificate or diploma.

So which ones show the most promise, you ask?

To find out, we looked at data from the Labour Market Information Council (LMIC). That revealed which healthcare jobs had the highest rates of growth during 2021, as measured by the percentage increase in the number of online job postings compared to the previous year.

Then we narrowed the list down to those careers that don’t require a degree.

To help you even more, we collected national and regional salary information for each of those careers, as noted by the Government of Canada Job Bank.

Keep reading to discover five of the hottest healthcare careers in the country right now.

Kierstin Whitney didn’t always have a clear focus for her career path. She just knew that she wanted to have a positive impact on people’s lives.

After high school, she worked a bunch of different jobs, taking note of what she enjoyed and looking for new opportunities to grow and learn. She finally realized her true passion was health and safety.

It was intimidating to go back to school, but she knew she needed some specialized training. She took the leap, enrolled in the online OHS program through Herzing College—and never looked back.

We caught up with Kierstin to find out how she found the whole experience.

Here’s how that conversation went.