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If you are a full-time graduate student whose academic focus is career development or a faculty member working with full-time grad students in career counselling or a related field, then you want to know about the CERIC Graduate Student Engagement Program (GSEP). Applications for 2019 are due by Friday, March 29.

CERIC encourages engagement of Canada’s full-time graduate students whose academic research is in career development or a related field. Research areas such as Education, Sociology, Social Work, Counselling Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Business with a focus on Human Resources or Organizational Behaviour are strongly encouraged to apply.

Through this program, graduate students will be introduced to CERIC and invited to:

• Compete for the CERIC GSEP Award, which provides free registration and up to $1,000 to cover expenses to attend and present a poster at the Cannexus National Career Development Conference;
• Join one of CERIC’s committees (one graduate student per year);
• Write for the CareerWise website, featuring the top career news and views, with a popular weekly newsletter curating the best of the site;
• Submit to the peer-reviewed Canadian Journal of Career Development, the pre-eminent open access academic journal dedicated to multi-sectoral career development in Canada and around the world;
• Connect with other graduate students through the GSEP Network, a dedicated LinkedIn group, or through the GSEP group on Facebook.

Interested in getting involved? Complete and submit this quick GSEP application form. If you are also interested in competing for the GSEP Award, please submit a one-page article on a career development-related topic of your choice (including a 60-word bio) to Marilyn Van Norman, National Co-ordinator, Outreach & Innovation at marilyn@ceric.ca.

More than 1,200 delegates from across the country and beyond converged in Ottawa from January 28-30 for the Cannexus19 National Career Development Conference, exploring the disruption that is changing how we define work, find jobs, develop skills and succeed in the labour market.

Conference highlights included:

• Three thought-provoking keynote speakers: MacEwan University President Deborah Saucier challenged the perception that arts degrees are “useless”; Australian career theorist Dr Mary McMahon told the story of the ugly duckling to show how systems thinking can help clients construct their future stories; and the Right Hon David Johnston explored how we can build greater trust across Canada.
• Dr Roberta Neault was honoured with CERIC’s Etta St John Wileman Award for her lifetime of achievement in career development. The award celebrates leaders in the field who combine being a mentor, educator, advisor, advocate and role model.
• CERIC launched its new publication, Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice with all delegates receiving a complimentary copy. This international collection edited by Nancy Arthur (University of Calgary), Roberta Neault (Life Strategies) and Mary McMahon (University of Queensland) features contemporary and emerging career development theories and models from 60 leading researchers and practitioners.

This year’s Cannexus featured more than 150 education sessions with some of the most-attended covering career counselling with soul; trauma-informed career practice, Indigenous stories of post-secondary success; virtual reality tools for career practitioners; and cultivating leadership at all levels.

Other programming included a Workforce Development Spotlight that examined big labour market data, the trend towards micro-learning, and how communities can collaborate for economic inclusion. The ever-popular Spark! TED-style talks returned and a special RBC-sponsored panel of leaders discussed Preparing Youth to Thrive in the Age of Disruption.

The latest programs, products and services were also showcased by 48 exhibitors in addition to special zones focusing on Social Enterprise and Reconciliation.

In a post-conference survey, a total of 95% of respondents rated Cannexus as good to excellent. The majority of delegates indicated that they plan to either use what they learned at work right away or incorporate it over time with 93.1% stating they plan to share what they learned with their colleagues to impact change broadly. Comments included:

“Cannexus 2019 provided valuable insights into the issues that educators, organizations and governments are facing in this transformative time. The discussions and networking provided us with valuable resources that we can appeal to as we tackle the challenges we are facing.”

“As a first-timer and someone who has gone to many conferences in my lifetime, I left Cannexus19 recharged, ready to make changes in my curriculum, but most of all I enjoyed networking and getting to know like-minded people.”

“Cannexus is an excellent venue for networking, learning about cutting-edge research in the career counselling field, and acquiring new tools to bring back to the workplace. It also sparks a new energy and excitement about our work.”

“If you work in career development, this is the conference to attend. I learned practical things, made valuable connections and am confident I can go home and improve my workplace immediately and in the future. I will definitely be back.”

“Heading to Cannexus is like a trip to another planet full of people with common ideals and a genuine passion for people. It is where I find my flock each year to learn, share and grow and fill my basket of inspiration.”

To learn more about Cannexus19:

• Access the speaker presentations and handouts
• View a video recap of the highlights
• See photos from this year’s conference

Cannexus19 was presented by CERIC and supported by The Counselling Foundation of Canada with a broad network of 35 supporting organizations and sponsors.

The dates for the next Cannexus are January 27-29, 2020 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa. The Call for Presenters will open in late March and the submission deadline is June 7, 2019.

With the future workplace demanding more Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills, what should we consider in current educational pathways and employment counselling? This Winter 2019 issue of CERIC’s Careering magazine examines this theme with thought-provoking articles on labour market outcomes, diversity and career exploration in STEM.

Articles in this issue:

• Fostering career agility in STEM, By Caroline Burgess
• How automation and data analytics will affect jobs in Canada’s energy industry, By Breanne O’Reilly
• Changing the status quo for women in STEM, By Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren
• Is a science degree a guarantee of employment? By Lucie Demers

…and much more, including: 

• Got med school hopefuls? Special categories can help, By Christine Fader
• Infographic: The ICT workforce today and in 2021
• Client Side: How I found my career fit in science, By Leola Chow
• Case Study: Bridging the gap through profession-specific mentor matches, By Ritu Ganju
• Principles in Action: Embracing external influences to help guide career exploration, By Gloria Welton
• 10 Questions for the Rt Hon David Johnston

And these online exclusives:

• Women and girls weigh in on gender diversity in STEM careers, By Beverlie Stuart
• How Eastern Ontario is addressing gaps in the manufacturing workforce, By Alysha Dominico
• Why diversity is crucial to success in STEM, By Christin Wiedemann

Careering magazine is Canada’s Magazine for Career Development Professionals and is the official publication of CERIC. It is published three times a year both in print and as an emagazine, including select content in French. Subscribe to receive your free copy. You can also access past issues for free online.

The next issue of Careering magazine (Spring-Summer 2019) will be a collaboration with the National Career Development Association (NCDA) on the theme of “Assessments.” Please review our submission guidelines and send your article pitch to lindsay@ceric.ca by February 22, 2019.

With the changing nature of work and labour markets, effective workforce development strategies are increasingly viewed as pivotal to identifying emerging skill needs and supporting economic growth. CERIC’s new literature search, Workforce Development, highlights important implications for how career services professionals can better prepare their clients in adapting to the future workplace.

Topics covered in the literature search include:

• Strategies and practices in workforce development
• STEM required to building the future workforce
• Labour market trends and workforce development policies
• Specific populations (e.g., youth, veterans, immigrants) and workforce development
• Workforce development in relation to career development
• Rural workforce development
• Employer and government involvement in workforce development

There are now 52 literature searches available, including Career Development Theory and Career Management Models, Economic Benefits of Career Guidance, Parental Involvement in Career Development, Labour Market Trends, Mental Health Issues in the Workplace, and more.

Featuring comprehensive listings of key research and articles in career development, literature searches highlight critical points of current knowledge.

As a student, academic or practitioner in the field, literature searches are helpful if you are researching the latest thinking or proven best practices. They are also valuable if you are considering a submission to CERIC for project partnership funding in order to gain an overview of major work already done in your area of interest.

The newest edition of the Canadian Journal of Career Development (CJCD) has just been published, with five articles that range from the vocational needs of adolescents with learning disabilities to a model for how employers might “convert” co-op employees to full-time hires to a new theoretical framework for understanding social anxiety in career development. 

Articles include:

• Employment-Seeking Behaviours Among Newly Certified Ontario Teachers, Nancy Maynes, Blaine E. Hatt & Anna-Lisa Mottonen
• A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Social Anxiety in the Context of Career Development, Christine M. Yu
• Testing a Model of Co-op Students’ Conversion Intentions, David Drewery, Dana Church, Judene Pretti & Colleen Nevison
• Developmentally Relevant Career Constructs: Response Patterns of Youths with ADHD and LDs, Abiola Dipeolu, Samuel Deutch, Stephanie Hargrave & Cassandra A. Storlie
• Context Counts in Career Development, William Borgen & David Edwards

Starting in 2019, CJCD will be introducing a new section for community career practitioners to write on their best practices, innovative programs, techniques and career-related book reviews. This section along with book reviews are not peer-reviewed.

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, once in digital format in the fall and then in both print and digital formats in the winter. It is free to subscribe to the digital editions and all issues of the journal dating back to 2002 are available to access online.

In recognition of her contribution to the growth of career development, not only in Canada but around the world, Dr Roberta Neault was honoured with CERIC’s Etta St John Wileman Award on January 29 in Ottawa at the Cannexus19 National Career Development Conference, attended by close to 1,300 of her peers. The award celebrates leaders in the field who combine being a mentor, educator, advisor, advocate and role model.

CERIC Board Chair John Horn presented the award to Dr Neault, highlighting her lifetime of achievements. “From providing local in-person skill development for front-line workers to overseeing pan-Canadian research into the dissemination of labour market information and the use of career assessment within career development practice, her impact on the career development sector can be found everywhere,” Horn said.

Dr Neault, CCC, CCDP, GCDFi, is President of Life Strategies Ltd., Project Director with the Canadian Career Development Foundation, and President of the Counsellor Educators Chapter of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. She has almost four decades of accomplishments in counselling, coaching, consulting, training, curriculum design, research and writing.

She has served on countless distinguished boards and committees committed to advancing the professionalization and training of career development practitioners in Canada at local and national levels. She’s supported revisions to the Canadian Standards & Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners and the advancement of the national Canadian Council for Career Development as a member since its inception.

Dr Neault has been a passionate contributor at The International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy International Symposium as a member of Team Canada. She attends and presents at international conferences, regularly learning from professionals across the globe and sharing Canadian career strategies.

She has authored countless blogs, articles, papers and books on career development, including a chapter within CERIC’s Career Development Practice in Canada. She continues to look for strategic partnerships and innovative ways to bring the career development community together both nationally and globally. This is exemplified recently in her role as co-editor of the new CERIC publication, Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice, which brings together 60 leading researchers and practitioners from four continents and nine countries.

Initiated in 2007, the Etta St John Wileman Award for Lifetime Achievement in Career Development recognizes individuals who have devoted their lives to furthering the profession of career development and the sector as a whole. It is given on less than an annual basis. Past recipients have included Marilyn Van Norman, Denis Pelletier, Norman Amundson, Mildred Cahill, Bryan Hiebert, Donald Lawson and Michel Turcotte.

In the early 20th century, Wileman was a champion and crusader of career, work and workplace development in Canada. She believed that work was about the individual and in the importance of work to the human soul. Wileman was a strong advocate for a national system of employment offices. She also lobbied for the role of parents and schools in the career development guidance of children.