Nurturing Models for Youth-Focused Internships
September 23, 2026Project Partner
Language
English
In Progress
Synopsis
Challenge Factory, in partnership with the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers (CACEE), is leading a new CERIC-funded project to help organizations reimagine how they leverage career development in their workplaces. This initiative will produce a playbook and workshop that guide employers in establishing internal career development centres of expertise – strategic hubs that strengthen employee engagement, retention and workforce resilience.
In today’s labour market, organizations face persistent talent shortages, shifting employee expectations, and the need to invest in continuous upskilling. While career development is a proven driver of retention and organizational performance, it is often siloed, reactive or focused only on certain groups of employees. This project will help leaders embed proactive, organization-wide career development strategies into everyday business practices.
It will also build on Challenge Factory’s past collaborations with CERIC, including the Retain and Gain series of career management playbooks for employers and the first-of-its-kind Hidden Sector, Hidden Talent research on Canada’s career development sector.
Career coaches, counsellors, HR professionals and hiring managers working with veterans and military families will benefit from this specialized resource guide. This updated edition reflects recent changes within the Canadian military ecosystem and provides the latest tools, strategies and insights to help professionals support transitioning military members into civilian roles or further education.
Key topics include:
- Understanding military culture and transition challenges
- Strategies for “demilitarizing” resumes to translate military experience into civilian terms
- Trends in occupations suited to veterans’ skills
- Lists of veteran-friendly employers, education providers and training resources
- Supporting the often-overlooked career development needs of military families
Project Goals
This project will give employers the tools, strategies and insights they need to embed career development as a core driver of workforce success. Specifically, it will:
- Help leaders and HR teams assess readiness to create internal career development centres of expertise.
- Provide a clear business case and ROI framework to demonstrate how career development boosts retention, engagement and productivity.
- Equip organizations with actionable tools and proven strategies for building enterprise-wide career development practices.
- Strengthen collaboration between employers and career development professionals (CDPs), ensuring organizations benefit from nationally recognized best practices and expertise.
Deliverables
- Playbook: A practical resource offering strategies, frameworks and success measures.
- Workshop: A synchronous session for executives and HR leaders to design, test and implement their own internal career development centre.
- Case Studies and Insights: Examples of how integrating career development can transform retention, engagement, productivity and culture.
Timeline
The project runs through 2025, with findings and resources to be presented at Cannexus in January 2026, Canada’s largest career development conference.
This project resulted in Career Development as Strategy: A Practical Guide to Creating Internal Career Centres, a practical resource to help organizations embed career development more strategically and build internal capacity.
Learn about the experience of the project partner in delivering this project with key findings and insights.
About the Project Partners
Challenge Factory is an internationally trusted advisory and research firm that supercharges talent across organizations, industries and economies. We partner with leaders to unlock the full potential of their people, navigate workforce transformation and build future-ready talent strategies. By applying best practices from the career development field, we build thriving, human-centric workplaces. Our clients don’t just prepare for the Future of Work – they shape it.’
As a Canadian, woman-owned, certified B Corporation, we embed purpose alongside performance, designing solutions that drive measurable impact for organizations and their broader ecosystems.
challengefactory.ca
The Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers (CACEE) is the pan-Canadian network and leading authority for professionals focused on supporting students on their journey from post-secondary studies to career success.
CACEE empowers its members by providing access to expertise, tools, exchange of ideas, relationships, thought leadership and resources needed to excel in their work.
CACEE’s offerings include micro-credential and certificate programs, regional professional development events, community of practice roundtable discussions, virtual workshops and webinars, networking opportunities, research and advocacy initiatives, partner access to programming offers by other national and international associations, and a national conference.
cacee.com