Career Challenges Faced by Highly Skilled Professionals

Here are some recent news about challenges that some highly skilled professionals face in maintaining their employability.

• In Sondage AQIII 2010 : La formation continue negligee (Survey 2010—Training continues to be neglected) (http://www.directioninformatique.com/DI/client/fr/DirectionInformatique/Nouvelles.asp?id=59624), Direction Informatique editor Denis Lalonde reports that a recent survey by a professional association serving independent Information Technology (IT) professionals shows that, in this fast-changing field, 51 percent have had no training in the past year and another 5 percent have spent less than $500 on training (well below the Canadian average for all workers, much less the average of all those working in IT).  

The article attributes the drop in training to the Internet; people are learning on their own.  That may be true, but I’m a bit more skeptical given that IT professionals who are employed in full-time jobs continue to receive significant amounts of training, perhaps more than other categories of workers.  So I can hypothesize several explanations for the findings. One is that independent  professionals don’t value training.  Another is that many are un- or under-employed and cannot afford training. A third is that, without a regular employer to cover training costs, professionals are not investing in their long-term skill development.   

• The Montreal Gazette editorial, Foreign-trained doctors get a taste of justice (http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Foreign+trained+doctors+taste+justice/3855116/story.html) supports the finding of a recent report by the Quebec Human Rights Commission that medical schools in the province have unfairly prevented doctors trained outside of Canada from entering the residencies they must serve to earn their local medical licenses.  The editorial notes that although many of these foreign-trained doctors passed the qualifying exam, the medical schools found reasons to deny them placement in residency programs.  What’s worse, the editorial reported that these medical schools are rejecting these findings.