Herzing Blog

With healthcare resources stretched thin and doctors becoming increasingly burdened by administrative tasks, it’s not surprising that the demand for medical office assistants and administrators (MOAs) across Canada has taken off.

MOAs are the front-desk professionals who greet all incoming patients, collect their information, confirm their appointments, and direct them to the correct department or clinician. They also do a lot of work behind the scenes to help the healthcare office run smoothly.

In this post, we explore the increasing importance of and demand for MOAs in the evolving healthcare landscape.

Here’s what you need to know.

Karmina Nieto had spent years working in odd jobs, eventually ending up in a management role for a cleaning services company. But when the pandemic hit, her job disappeared, and another promising opportunity fell through at the last minute.

Her career needed a reset. She took a pause and did some soul searching to figure out what she wanted to do.

She completed the medical office administration program at Herzing, but found it wasn’t quite the right fit. After working in an office for a while, she realized she really enjoyed the financial aspect—so she took advantage of the Herzing Open Education Program (HOEP) to do an accounting and payroll diploma tuition-free.

She struggled initially, but thanks to hard work and lots of instructor support, she made it through.

Read on to learn more about her remarkable story.

It’s a classic problem: you need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience. Internship programs offer the ideal solution.

Internships are the real-world application of what you learn in college. Lasting anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, they are a unique opportunity to work in a professional environment and refine your job-specific skills (like accounting or computer programming) as well as your transferable skills (like communication or teamwork).

If you’re new to a career field, an internship is an excellent way to boost your industry experience and knowledge and get your foot in the door of a company.

Read on to learn how internships provide valuable practical experience, foster professional development, and open doors to future employment opportunities.

Campus President Kevin Crupi, National Director of Academics Robin Day, The Hon. Jill Dunlop, and Academic Dean Lama Ziad

This week, Herzing College Ottawa was pleased to host The Honourable Jill Dunlop, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities, for her first visit since her appointment in 2021. 

Minister Dunlop was welcomed by several members of Herzing staff, who provided a guided tour of the campus’s classrooms and facilities. The minister also spoke with students in our Personal Support Worker program and met with some of our employer partners.

Nothing in Ayodele Daini’s background had prepared him for a career in information technology. On the contrary, he’d spent years working in the fields of agronomy and property management. But he’d always been interested in tech, and when he moved to Canada he decided to make that his new career path.

That led him to enrol in the online cybersecurity program from Herzing College. After an intense year of study, he graduated in April 2023 and quickly landed an IT security job with a major Crown corporation.

We spoke to Ayodele to get his thoughts on the training and his overall career journey. Here are the highlights of that conversation.

It was her personal experience with immigrating to Canada that got Michelle Peralta interested in the field.

A nurse in her native Philippines, Michelle came to Canada as a caregiver in 2018. After going through the steps to get her work permit and become a permanent resident, and helping some of her loved ones through the same process, she decided to pursue formal training in immigration.

So she enrolled in Herzing’s online immigration case manager program—and landed a job in the field even before she graduated!

We spoke with Michelle to get her reflections on the training and learn more about her career journey. Here are the highlights of that conversation.

For people with busy work schedules, embracing the challenge of pursuing additional education takes a lot of courage. It can be difficult to figure out how to effectively manage your time—and stress level—to achieve your goals, especially in a self-paced online course.

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 work and school and avoiding student burnout.

If you’re wondering how to fit an online course into your life while still meeting your job responsibilities, check out our productivity tips for students below.

Congratulations on landing your first job after graduation! Making the move from college to the workplace can be both exciting and challenging. So what can you expect in this new world? And how can you best prepare?

In this blog, we cover essential strategies to set you up for success, from building strong relationships with colleagues and mentors to developing a growth mindset and embracing continuous learning. We also provide practical advice to help you avoid common missteps.

Following the tips outlined here can help you navigate the transition from student life to the professional realm with confidence and competence.

With increasing access to resources that can help you learn computer networking skills on your own, is there any reason to enrol in a more traditional program? What advantages does learning from an instructor offer over going the self-taught route?

Instructor-led training offers a more personalized, interactive learning experience. Course leaders can tailor the content and teaching approach to their audience’s needs, and students can get real-time feedback from an experienced IT pro and build connections that can help them establish and advance their careers.

In this post, we explore the advantages of instructor-led computer networking training and offer some tips on choosing the right course.

To succeed as a medical office administrator, you need to be both highly organized and deeply caring. You must be motivated by a desire to make a positive difference in the lives of patients.

Chantelle Ducolon exemplifies all of these traits. Her dedication and commitment to delivering the best possible educational experience consistently earns her the respect of her students—and recently, it earned her recognition as Herzing College Ottawa’s instructor of the year!

We caught up with Chantelle this week to get her reflections on the honour, the MOA program, and her own career journey.

Here’s her story.