News

CERIC is pleased to announce André Raymond, CRHA, as the new Chair of its Board of Directors for a two-year term. Raymond, Director of both Career Services and Continuing Education at Laval University in Quebec City, will lead the Board in delivering on CERIC’s mission to advance career development in Canada. A national charitable organization, CERIC has two strategic mandates: promoting career development as a priority for the public good, and building career development knowledge, mindsets and competencies.

As a human resources expert, Raymond brings more than 25 years’ experience in recruiting, education and career management. He is an active member of the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés du Québec (Quebec Board of certified human resources counsellors). He holds a master’s degree in organizational development and a bachelor’s degree in industrial relations.

“We are thrilled to welcome a new Board Chair who helps us to advance our engagement activities with francophone career professionals in all corners of the country,” said CERIC Executive Director Riz Ibrahim. “We are also grateful to have many other volunteer leaders to shape and support these and other endeavours with CERIC.”

Reflecting a cross-section of diverse career development leaders from across Canada, the members of the 2020/2021 CERIC Board of Directors are:

• André Raymond, Laval University, Quebec City, QC (Chair)
• Candy Ho, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC (Vice Chair)
• John Horn, Vancity Credit Union, Vancouver, BC (Past Chair)
• Cathy Keates, Queens’s University, Kingston, ON (Secretary/Treasurer)
• Lorraine Godden, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
• Darlene Hnatchuk, McGill University, Montreal, QC
• Cynthia Martiny, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC
• Rosie Parnass, Coach and HR Consultant, Toronto, ON
• Rob Shea, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL
• Lisa Taylor, Challenge Factory, Toronto, ON
• Sue Watts, Employment + Education Centre (EEC), Brockville, ON
• Donald G. Lawson, The Counselling Foundation of Canada, Toronto, ON (Honorary Director – Ex-officio)
• Bruce Lawson, The Counselling Foundation of Canada, Toronto, ON (Executive Officer – Ex-officio)

Members of CERIC’s three Advisory Committees – Practical & Academic Research; Content & Learning; and Marketing, Communications & Web Services – have been appointed by the Board for the next year. Members of these committees play an important role in shaping CERIC’s projects, programs and publications.

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. We fund projects to develop innovative resources that build the knowledge and skills of diverse career and employment professionals. CERIC also annually hosts Cannexus, Canada’s largest bilingual career development conference, publishes the country’s only peer-reviewed journal, Canadian Journal of Career Development, and runs the CareerWise / OrientAction websites, providing the top career development news and views.

The latest issue of the Canadian Journal of Career Development has just been published and is available to view online. This edition of the journal provides new research in several topical areas including informational interviews as a career exploration technique, graduate students from biomedical science programs facing uncertainty in the labour market and the relationship between psychological flexibility, career indecision and professional burnout.

Articles include:

• Embedding Informational Interviews into Postsecondary Curriculum, Abdullah Al-Ani, Tarryn Bourhill, & Derrick E. Rancourt
• Managing Emergent Knowledge: Addressing the Competency Expectations of Biomedical Employers, Ryan A. Klopp & Derrick E. Rancourt
• Burnout and Vocational Indecision: Psychological Flexibility as Leverage for Intervention (in French), Lise Gallant & Diane LeBreton

The Canadian Journal of Career Development is a partnership project between CERIC and Memorial University of Newfoundland with the support of The Counselling Foundation of Canada. It is Canada’s only peer-reviewed publication of multi-sectoral career-related academic research and best practices from this country and around the world.

CJCD is published twice a year. It is free to subscribe to the digital editions and all issues of the journal dating back to 2002 are available to access online.

Cannexus, Canada’s bilingual Career Development Conference, is going virtual for 2021 and registration is now open! As we move through pandemic recovery, the conference will bring stakeholders together around the theme of Career Development for Public Good. From reskilling to resilience, this is the moment to reimagine the role of career development and its impact on education, the economy and social justice.

Given the unprecedented times, the virtual format allows Cannexus to address ongoing uncertainty but continue to provide an accessible, content-rich and value-packed opportunity for Canada’s career development communities to convene, share and learn. It will be a different Cannexus experience but the conference will offer the same diverse and high-quality sessions delegates have come to expect, gather the broad range of constituents Cannexus is known for, and provide the exceptional networking opportunities that attendees value, all online. The virtual conference will be on a more relaxed schedule – up to five hours of sessions each day over four days and access to recorded sessions over an extended timeframe.

What to expect at virtual Cannexus

• Cannexus21 will take place on January 25 & 27 and February 1 & 3, 2021
• Days will begin at 12:00 pm ET and run until the late afternoon, accommodating all Canadian time zones
• Be inspired by world-class live keynotes and “Around the World” international presenters
• 150+ live and on-demand concurrent sessions in both English and French
• Gain practical knowledge and skills-building content (mental health, online technologies, current LMI) to help you adapt and more effectively serve your clients during recovery
• Critical big-picture conversations around equity, climate and careers and the innovative thinking that is redefining career development
• Virtual networking across Canada and beyond, including peer-to-peer matchmaking
• Interact with other delegates and engage with speakers through live chats and Q&A
• Online Exhibitor Showcase highlighting programs, products and services to help you in your work
• All sessions will be recorded and available for later viewing – so you don’t miss anything and can view them at your convenience!

The pricing recognizes the financial constraints that the current situation has put on both individuals and organizations so this instalment of the conference is being made more accessible through special Gratitude rates, in addition to deep discounts for Groups, Students as well as Members of Supporting Organizations. The Gratitude rates – available until September 9 – express appreciation for the hard work and commitment of Canada’s career development professionals throughout a chaotic period. Plus, with a virtual conference there are additional cost savings; no need to worry about travel and hotel, and you can learn from the comfort of your own home or office!

Cannexus is presented by CERIC and supported by The Counselling Foundation of Canada and a broad network of supporting organizations. For more information on the virtual conference and to register, visit cannexus.ceric.ca.

The Counselling Foundation of Canada has established the new Marilyn Van Norman Bursary to support community-based career development and employment practitioners in attending the Cannexus conference each year. The bursary is given in recognition of Van Norman, the recently retired Director of Research Initiatives at CERIC and one of its founding Board members. Known as a collaborator, visionary and expeditor, she is widely respected for her more than 40 years of leadership in the career development field with particular expertise in career centre and student services management.

“Marilyn has had an incredible impact on the career development community throughout her lifetime. When she joined CERIC, she had a title, but most of us considered her as our ‘Elder in Residence;’ and I’m using that in the way that Indigenous peoples would think of Elders – someone who has gained a high degree of recognition because of their knowledge and expertise within their community and who passes this wisdom on to the next generation,” said Bruce Lawson, President and CEO of The Counselling Foundation of Canada. The Foundation is CERIC’s funder and is the Founding Sponsor of Cannexus.

For the past 12 years at CERIC, Van Norman has led several innovative initiatives:

• Establishing the Graduate Student Engagement Program (GSEP) to nurture the next generation of researchers;
• Creating the Canadian Career Development Researcher Database to track who is doing what research in Canada; and
• Producing 60 literature searches that identify critical points of knowledge in the field.

She also authored two popular books for CERIC, From My Perspective: A Guide to Career/Employment Centre Management and From My Perspective: A Guide to University and College Career Centre Management.

Beyond these remarkable achievements, she has been considered a treasured colleague, sharing her extensive knowledge and acting as a career coach and mentor to staff.

Previously, she held key roles at the University of Toronto as the Director of the Career Centre and later Director of Student Services. Her earlier book, Making It Work: Career Management for the New Workplace, was a Canadian bestseller.

Van Norman has been active on numerous Canadian committees and Boards relating to career development including: a Past President of the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers (CACEE); member of the ContactPoint Board; member of the founding Board of CERIC and Chair of the National Consultation on Career Development (NATCON) for 15 years.

Recognized with multiple awards, she was the first recipient of CERIC’s Etta St John Wileman Award for Lifetime Achievement in Career Development in Canada. She has also received the Award of Merit, Outstanding Contribution, Life Membership, CACEE; Contribution to Career Counselling, Ontario College Counsellors; and The Joan Foley Award for Significant Contributions to Enhancing Student Life, University of Toronto.

Now retired, Van Norman is enjoying spending time with her family and at her cottage and is looking forward to travel south again when possible.

For the 2021 virtual Cannexus conference, there will be 13 bursaries available with one awarded within each province and territory. Applications must be from charitable or non-profit Canadian community-based organizations. Bursaries will be for a single full conference registration. The application deadline is September 30, 2020.