I found Chemists to be quite useful, actually. As a Chemist, you can Throw Item too. I had Mustadio as an Engineer with Item as a secondary, to round him out as a status attacker and mild healer. Stealing Belk's gun was key. I personally would spread healing abilities out between two people though.

My beginning game setup looks a bit like this.
Ramza - Guts and whatever else
Rad - White/Black Magic
Guy #3 - Time/Summon Magic
Guy #4 - Attacker/thieving dude
Guy #5 - Item/Attacker dude

It's been a while since I've played, but this was pretty effective. Ramza as a Samurai with Guts worked well, Thieving dude turned into a Ninja with Steal, Item guy had Snipe (Mustadio) or Throw when Snipe became obsolete. Rad and Guy #3 eventually both learned Summon and Math abilities, became Summoners with Math Skill, and lived happily ever after with those +2 Speed hats and other +Speed accessories. Or Priests with Math Skill - you know, whatever.