February 25, 2013 | Manitoba

As companies throughout Canada continue to expand and embrace new ways of conducting business, more workers are needed to fill the growing number of responsibilities in these organizations. One of the areas seeing lots of expansion is the information technology (IT) field, where trained professionals are required to deal with the day-to-day issues encountered when businesses get many employees and customers involved in the technical aspect of a company.

The daily tasks of an IT worker can range from setting up new computers and equipment in the office, managing software licenses and handling large company-wide systems, The Globe and Mail reports. For businesses without a full-time IT staffer, these jobs are falling to other employees, piling extra tasks on top of their existing responsibilities. While some of these workers may be adequate enough to manage the most basic aspects of this role, they are not as qualified as trained professionals.

Many companies that use the internet for their marketing needs or deal with e-commerce require a professional tech worker to run these programs, but other businesses are slow to change their ways. Several professionals expressed their frustrations with the current setup, which can mean missed opportunities and a lack of progress.

"We are completely missing out on all the new and innovative software and apps that people have created, that we don't even know can help us with our business," Brent McPhail, a partner at a local manufacturing business, told the news source. "We really don't have an IT plan."

Things may be changing, however, as more than half of all IT hiring managers surveyed reported that they plan to hire full-time employees in the next six months, according to Tech Republic. That is in addition to the 46 per cent of companies that already hired IT staff in the three months preceding the survey.

The ideal IT worker, according to the news source, would split time between performing daily management of internal computer systems and planning ahead more advanced IT duties. This may include adapting new software, helping to create smartphone apps or upgrading systems to cloud computing in order to accommodate business growth. Those who are hiring IT workers should consider what kind of organisation the business is trying to be while also looking at the education and past experience of applicants. Often, the best hires may be those who have recent experience working with the most up-to-date technologies, whether it is in a classroom setting or with their own hands-on projects.

Students interested in pursuing IT careers can enroll in network administration courses at CDI College. For more information, fill out the form on the right.