Alternative Careers–Librarians

You find, evaluate, and summarize information for banks, insurance firms, ad agencies, and many other types of organizations.

Duties include:

• develop strategies to search the Internet, databases, publications, and other sources to find information
• evaluate sources and check facts
• write summaries or analyses of your findings

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree is minimum requirement
• many positions also require a master’s degree, either in an area related to the organization’s work or in library or information studies

Skills:

• highly organized
• detail-oriented and analytical
• strong writing skills

Wages:

• median annual wage $70,000
  Source: Career Cruising database (Profile for “Researcher”)

• Natural & Applied Science Policy Researchers [NOC 2021: 41400 / NOC 2016: 4161]
• Economists and Economic Policy Researchers [NOC 2021: 41401 / NOC 2016: 4162]
• Business Development Officers and Marketing Researchers [NOC 2021: 41402 / NOC 2016: 4163] 
• Social Policy Researchers [NOC 2021: 41403 / NOC 2016: 4164]
• Health Policy Researchers [NOC 2021: 41404 / NOC 2016: 4165]
• Education Policy Researchers [NOC 2021: 41405 / NOC 2016: 4166]

You conduct research, prepare reports, analyze information, and manage programs in a variety of areas. You work for federal, provincial and municipal governments, educational institutions, research organizations, and consulting firms.

Natural and applied science policy researchers (e.g. energy policy analyst, environmental impact analyst) may work for environmental and conservation organizations.

Economic policy researchers may work for unions, banks and investment firms.

Business development officers (e.g. community economic development) and marketing researchers may work for marketing firms and business associations.

Social policy researchers (e.g. social policy development officers, housing policy analysts) may work in hospitals, professional associations, non-government organizations and international organizations.

Health policy researchers (e.g. health care planner, health promotion program officer) may work for hospitals, community agencies, professional associations and international organizations.

Education policy researchers may work for school boards, post-secondary institutions and research institutes.

Duties include:

• Natural & Applied Sciences: promote public awareness and education on issues such as the use of natural resources, the environment, and the reduction of waste
• Economics Policy: develop models to analyze and forecast economic growth, income and expenditure, interest rates, unemployment, wages, etc.
• Business Development: manage programs to promote industrial and commercial business investment; carry out social or economic surveys on local, regional or national areas to assess development potential and future trends
• Marketing: design market research questionnaires, survey the buying habits and preferences of wholesale or retail customers; develop social and economic profiles
• Social Policy: develop questionnaires, coordinate and conduct surveys, analyse data, and compile and interpret statistics on social issues and policy areas
• Health Policy: help develop government health policy by doing interviews; collect and analyze statistics provided by health-care institutions; evaluate health-care programs
• Education Policy: manage education policies and programs; evaluate program curriculum and recommend improvements; do statistical analyses to determine the cost and effectiveness of policies and programs

Requirements:

• Bachelors (undergraduate) degree in a science or social sciences field related to the program area
• Masters degree may also be required

Skills:

• analytical
• able to understand complex issues
• strong written and oral communication skills
• knowledge of current social, economic, and environmental issues

Wages:

• median hourly wages:
  • $42.86 (applied & natural sciences researchers)
  • $38.78 (economic researchers)
  • $32.05 (business development and marketing researchers)
  • $32.82 (social policy researchers)
  • $34.00 (health policy researchers)
  • $29.90 (education policy researchers)

Source: WorkBC Explore Careers

NOC 2021: 41201 / NOC 2016: 4012

Also look for this job title: college teaching assistant

You help university professors, community college teachers and other faculty members in teaching and research activities.

Duties as a Teaching Assistant include:

• organize reference materials, visual aids and other materials as required by university professors or college professors for lectures
• conduct seminars, discussion groups and laboratory sessions to supplement lectures
• help with the preparation and administration of exams, and grade exams, term papers, and assignments

Duties as a Research Assistant include:

• conduct literature reviews, surveys, laboratory experiments and other research for use in scholarly publications
• compile research results and help professors with preparation of journal articles or papers

Requirements:

• usually currently enrolled in a Master’s or Doctorate program at a University or College
• teaching assistants usually have a Bachelor’s degree and some previous teaching experience and experience in the course’s subject area

Skills:

• strong organizational skills
• able to communicate ideas, motivate students and be creative
• able to work on your own, as well as work in a team environment

Wages:

• median hourly wage: $20.00
  Source: WorkBC Career Profile 4012

You may also wish to investigate these additional careers:

Indexer: come up with suitable index terms to describe the ideas in a text concisely and precisely; organize the index so that users can easily find what they are looking for

Information architect: design the structure and organization of websites, intranets and online communities

Information Brokers (also known as Independent Information Professional): provide a variety of research services for clients

Competitive intelligence professional: collect and analyze information on the strengths and weaknesses of business competitors

Knowledge management specialist: capture knowledge, especially the knowledge which resides in the heads of people, and organize it to be readily usable and shareable.

Usability specialist: make sure that products, especially technical ones, are easy to use

Sources: ALA: Non-traditional jobs for librarians, AIIP: Discover, SCIP, Indexers.ca