With a record 750+ attendees, the Cannexus15 National Career Development Conference brought together career development professionals from across Canada and beyond to exchange information and explore innovative approaches in the field.

Career counsellors, employment advisors and coaches representing K-12, post-secondary, community agencies, government and private sectors gathered Jan. 26-28 in Ottawa. Delegates included international participants from the United States, Netherlands, Brazil and Japan.

The 2015 Cannexus conference marked the end of CERIC’s 10th anniversary year with many special program highlights:

  • Thought-provoking keynotes by Jaime Watt on influencing public opinion, Professor Nancy Arthur on advocating for social justice, and Adrienne Clarkson on her journey from refugee to Governor General
  • Launch of Career Crafting the Decade After High School: Professional’s Guide, which dispels the “Career myth” that young people should follow a linear, predictable route in their school-to-work transition
  • TEDx-style talks called Spark! with insights from speakers such as Colette Murphy (Atkinson Foundation) on creating decent work for all, Mark Wafer (Tim Hortons) on hiring people with disabilities and Alyse Schacter (University of Ottawa) on living with mental illness

Cannexus also featured 150 different concurrent education sessions from motivating “job search zombies” to new research on how mother entrepreneurs are balancing career and life. There was media coverage of several sessions dealing with the military to civilian career transition for Canadian Armed Forces personnel, including an article in the Ottawa Citizen and an interview on CBC radio’s Ottawa Morning.

A total of 97.2% of delegates rated Cannexus as good to excellent in their post-conference survey. As well, 85.8% of delegates reported they would use what they learned right away at work, while 94.3% said they would be sharing their learnings with colleagues.

Thank you to all the delegates, presenters, sponsors, exhibitors and our 36 supporting organizations for making Cannexus15 a success!