With Metro Vancouver’s current social and economic demands, industries across the city need new talent now more than ever.
Industries ranging from construction and animation to cyber security, addictions and legal services are all looking to recruit staff with the latest skillsets.
The training needed to excel in these fields is available at Vancouver Community College (VCC), a recognized leader in education that was voted Best Continuing Studies Institution in Vancouver is Awesome’s Stars Reader’s Choice Awards.
VCC’s Continuing Studies programs are spread across 40-plus different course offerings to help learners upskill, adapt and thrive in the 21st-century marketplace of jobs and ideas. Programs are created in collaboration with industry leaders and led by experts in their fields. They’re tailored for working professionals, offering students the opportunity to upgrade their skills and talents around other work and life commitments. In-person and online course options are available.
“From talking to our students and paying attention to their needs, we have built customized training that is available to them over a few months, on a part-time basis or up to full-time studies for larger-scale programs,” says Adrian Lipsett, VCC’s Dean of Continuing Studies.
Take the Construction Finance Monitoring micro-credential program as a primary example.
In just 80 hours of learning time, students gain the essential knowledge and practical skills to manage and monitor construction loans effectively. Designed with industry input, the program equips learners with expertise in budgeting, risk assessment, compliance and stakeholder communication for an industry that shows no signs of slowing down.
“We wanted to make sure this program is short and focused to provide a very specialized set of skills for those who are going to be involved in a large-scale construction project from the outset,” Lipsett says.
Some of the other programs VCC offers are:
- An addiction counselling skills micro-credential program. This is perhaps the most prescient offering of all, particularly in light of the sobering substance abuse numbers B.C. is contending with; around one in five Canadians will be impacted by substance use and related harms in their lifetime. “This is supplemental training to add to the toolkit of those who are already working as either counsellors in the field or social workers,” Lipsett says.
- A micro-credential program in production for animation and VFX, designed in partnership with DigiBC, focusing on budget prep, project management, interpersonal skill development, and more.
- A paralegal diploma program helping those in the legal field specialize in a myriad of different areas of practice. Legal terminology, research and ethics are covered to give graduates a foundational understanding to equip them, no matter what law office they work in.
- VCC’s cybersecurity governance, risk and compliance post-degree program, designed in collaboration with a professional IT association known as ISACA. The program keeps students abreast of all current trends in the growing areas of IT and cybersecurity for organizations both large and small.
“Short, focused, affordable training is a great way to sample something without incurring a major risk of time or money – you can broaden your training and horizons in a very risk-free way,” Lipsett says. “I heartily encourage everybody, myself included, to explore your curiosity and learn new things.”
Take the next step in your professional journey – visit vcc.ca/programscourses/continuing-studies/ to find the VCC program that's the best fit for you.
