Ottawa, Jan. 18, 2016 – More than 800 career development professionals will gather in Ottawa from Jan. 25-27, 2016 for the Cannexus National Career Development Conference. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the event is Canada’s largest for career professionals to explore the latest research and hot topics in career counselling, employment and workforce development.

Highlights of the three-day conference include keynotes from Ratna Omidvar of Ryerson University and Lifeline Syria, as well as Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) and author Wab Kinew. It will also feature the launch of the new Military to Civilian Employment: A Career Practitioner’s Guide developed in partnership with Canada Company, the leader in military employment transition.

This year’s Cannexus comes at a time when Canadians are navigating a rapidly changing work world, shaped by a plunging dollar, the “uber-ization” of the economy, and the prospect of robots replacing jobs. More than 130 sessions at the conference will explore such trends as:

  • Helping post-secondary students manage their career-planning anxiety
  • The redefinition of “retirement” as 50+ Canadians seek out second and third careers
  • Women’s career development and managing maternity leave career transitions
  • Career development for children (K-Grade 3) and the role of parents and teachers
  • Culturally responsive career development for refugees and newcomers

What: Cannexus National Career Development Conference

When: January 25-27, 2016

Where: Shaw Centre, 55 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa

Key times:

Monday, Jan. 25

8:30 a.m. – Career development expert Spencer Niles, dean of education, The College of William & Mary (Virginia), will talk about his research on creating and sustaining hope in your career.

5:00 p.m. – Launch of the Military to Civilian Employment: A Career Practitioner’s Guide, which will provide career professionals with the tools they need to help veterans transition into civilian careers, including the 5,000 new veterans hitting the job market each year.

Tuesday, Jan. 26

9:30 a.m. – Ratna Omidvar, executive director of the Global Diversity Exchange at Ryerson University and chair of Lifeline Syria, will discuss her own journey to Canada as a reluctant immigrant and how Canada can benefit from the skills of newcomers at a time when the country is welcoming 25,000 Syrian refugees.

12:00 p.m. – TED-style talks called Spark! will offer insights from speakers such as Andreas Souvaliotis (AIR MILES) on harnessing your inner misfit, Kelly Peters (BEworks) on “nudging” to create behavioural change and Jim Davies (Carleton University) on the science of imagination.

Wednesday, Jan. 27

7:20 a.m. – Release of the CERIC 2015 Survey of Career Services Professionals, which will deliver a snapshot of today’s career services community in Canada, including demographics, training needs and the issues that are keeping career professionals up at night.

10:30 a.m. – Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the TRC will be joined by Wab Kinew, author of the new memoir The Reason You Walk and honourary TRC witness, to discuss reconciliation in Canada between aboriginal and non-Aborginal peoples.

Cannexus is hosted by the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) and supported by its founding sponsor, The Counselling Foundation of Canada, along with a broad network of 40 organizations in the career development sector.

The full agenda for the conference is available at: www.cannexus.ca/schedule. Follow the Cannexus National Career Development Conference on Twitter at @cannexus or with the hashtag: #Cannexus16.

About CERIC

The Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) is a charitable organization that advances education and research in career counselling and career development, in order to increase the economic and social well-being of Canadians. It funds projects to develop innovative resources that build the knowledge and skills of diverse career professionals. CERIC also annually hosts Cannexus, Canada’s largest bilingual career development conference, publishes the country’s only peer-reviewed journal, The Canadian Journal of Career Development, and runs the free ContactPoint / OrientAction online communities, which provide learning and networking in the career field. www.ceric.ca

For further information:

Sharon Ferriss
Director, Marketing, Web & New Media, CERIC
sharon@ceric.ca | 647.466.0564