Canada’s environmental sector has shown increased growth over the past three years, increasing from 682,000 environmental professionals in 2010 to over 730,000 workers who spend at least half of their time on environmental work activities.
Still, skill shortages represent the number one challenge for environmental employers as they attempt to meet the demand for more staff.
In 2010, 39 percent of environmental employers had a tough time finding the staff they needed. Their most commonly cited reason was a lack of workers with the right mix of skills. Environmental employers want staff with both specialized expertise and strong business skills.
To address the business skills gap we have taken our over 20 years of labour market research and collaborated with leading environmental employers to develop targeted online professional development courses. The suite of courses is found in our lifelong learning section and it will help environmental professionals build the business skills they need.
“The ECO Academy represents an important step in the development of Canada’s environmental workforce,” said Jon Hantho, President and CEO, Maxxam Analytics. “It reflects the growing importance of ongoing professional development with course topics that directly reflect industry’s most important skills needs.”
The ECO Academy officially launches on April 2, with courses in Project Management and Technical Writing.
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