Career Briefs

Cannexus20 offering discounted registration until Nov. 6

CERIC’s Cannexus National Career Development Conference, taking place Jan. 27-29 in Ottawa, is shaping up to be even bigger and better in 2020. Delegates can save $50 on the regular one-day or three-day rate by registering by Nov. 6, 2019.

Cannexus will feature more than 150 education sessions on a wide variety of topics in career counselling and career and workforce development. With more than 1,200 people expected from across Canada and abroad, attendees will also have the opportunity to connect with peers from a cross-section of the career development field.

Cannexus20 will host keynote addresses from Natan Obed, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami; Tristram Hooley, Director of Research for the UK-based Careers & Enterprise Company; and Zita Cobb, Founder & CEO, Fogo Island Inn and Shorefast Foundation.

Learn more about Cannexus20 and register at cannexus.ca.

Future Skills Centre takes steps to support mid-career workers facing transition

The Future Skills Centre is spending $7.65 million to fund 10 projects aimed at helping mid-career workers adapt, retrain and/or upskill to be successful amid a changing labour market. The projects include:

• Helping prepare oil and gas workers in Calgary to take on jobs in the growing tech sector;
• Testing training models to upskill cashiers for higher-skilled jobs in food and retail;
• Exploring upskilling opportunities for workers with disabilities across Canada;
• Identifying skills needed for auto workers in Oshawa, ON, to transition to high-demand jobs in the trades.

More details are available at fsc-ccf.ca.

CERIC to fund project that demonstrates how career development can improve mental health

Led by Life-Role Development Group Ltd., with the support of Simon Fraser University and the Career Education Association of Victoria in Australia, this project will produce a handbook for career practitioners that addresses their role in supporting or improving client mental health. Expected to be released in early 2020, the book will help career practitioners learn about:

• How their work bolsters mental health and potentially intervenes with mental illness;
• How they can more effectively strengthen clients’ mental health;
• Ways to measure mental-health outcomes in their practices;
• Ways to communicate to stakeholders the vital role of career development in enhancing mental health.

Visit ceric.ca/projects to learn more about the forthcoming resource.

Study explores ‘emotional tax’ carried by people of colour at work

A study of over 700 Canadian women and men of colour by Catalyst found many experience an emotional tax in the workforce, described as a combination of being on guard against bias, feeling different from peers at work and the associated effects on well-being and ability to thrive in the workplace. Among the findings:

• 33% to 50% of Black, East Asian and South Asian professionals report being highly on guard to protect against bias;
• 50% to 69% of those professionals who are highly on guard against bias have a high intent to quit;
• 2% to 42% of those who are highly on guard against bias report high rates of sleep problems.

Read more about the findings at catalyst.org.

Popular CERIC-funded Computing Disciplines guide to see update in 2020

CERIC is funding a project for Mount Royal University to update its popular guide to computing careers, which will now add two emerging areas: data science and cybersecurity. The second edition of Computing Disciplines: A Quick Guide for Prospective Students and Career Advisors will also expand on training opportunities such as college programs and coding camps, as well as incorporate profiles of diverse alumni. The aim of the guide remains to support career counselling for students interested in technology.

The new guide is expected to be released in early 2020, and once again will be made available for free download.

The current guide can be found at ceric.ca/computing.

Compiled by Lindsay Purchase.