2023

Announcing Spring Webinars in May 2023: Trauma-Informed Practice, Neurodiverse Clients and more

March 8, 2023By

This spring, CERIC will offer three webinar series to help career professionals in their professional development. The first webinar series will give CDPs a roadmap to support neurodiverse clients effectively. The second series will guide them to establish a trauma-informed practice. Lastly, the third one will help career development practitioners to have an inclusive approach regarding antisemitism.

Recent statistics indicate that approximately one in seven people in North America are wired to think differently under the umbrella of neurodiversity. Unfortunately, because of the invisible nature of these differences, many of the characteristics inherent to a neurodiverse diagnosis may appear to be an attitude or behavioural problem. Developing competency serving people who are wired differently is a critical skill for employment professionals all over the world.

This series will provide participants the tools and systems to not only better understand the spectrum of neurodiversity but also to work effectively with people who think differently. For leaders experiencing workforce challenges, CDPs serving diverse clients and career counsellors needing a fresh perspective, this series is not to be missed.

This webinar series will be presented in English with the option of French subtitles (available in the recordings).

Career practitioners are working with various clients, including those who might come to career services with a history of trauma – from clients who have grown up with abuse, homelessness, war or experienced psychological or physical shocks to those who experienced a job restructuring experience. This 3-part webinar series will follow a continuum of trauma-informed foundations from theory to practice and help career practitioners create a trauma-informed practice in their service-delivering settings.

The webinar series will allow career practitioners to learn and reflect on their current and future practice. Together, through shared experience and knowledge, participants will learn strategies on how to develop safe spaces that support and empower their clients. In addition, as it is equally as important to turn the lens inward to consider how the trauma stories of others could impact CDPs, participants will also learn how to respond and recognize signs of secondary traumatic stress so that they can continue their work in a sustainable way.

Paid webinars will be recorded and individual certificates of attendance will be provided to all registered participants who attend the webinars live.

Reports from Statistics Canada demonstrate an increase in hate crimes in 2021 (27%), with more hate crimes targeting religion (+67%). Although the national Jewish community constitutes only 1% of the total population, hate crimes against the Jewish community remain the second most common hate crimes reported by police after the Black population. Tragically, this type of hate continues to thrive. Yet discussions about antisemitism are often left out of diversity, equity and inclusion training.

This free series will lead conversations about antisemitism to better equip career development practitioners to work toward countering this hate and build allyship between communities. By the end of the series, career development practitioners will better understand the historical roots of antisemitism and the forms in which it takes place in their day-to-day realities and will be able to apply inclusive approaches in their practice to better support their clients and students.

CERIC’s paid webinars are now hosted via the Zoom events platform to provide more interactive learning and networking opportunities. Participants will have access to a lobby where they can interact with other participants before, between and after the sessions, as well as many interaction options during the live webinars. An FAQ answers any technical questions.

CERIC partners with associations and organizations across Canada and beyond to present webinars that offer affordable professional development. Previously, CERIC has also worked with the Association of Service Providers for Employability and Career Training BC, Association québécoise des professionnels du développement de carrière, BC Career Development Association, Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers, Career Development Association of Alberta, Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada, Experiential and Work-Integrated Learning Ontario, First Work, Labour Market Information Council, New Brunswick Career Development Association, Nova Scotia Career Development Association, Ontario Association of Career Management, Ontario School Counsellors’ Association, Ordre des conseillers et conseillères d’orientation du Québec, Vocational Rehabilitation Association (Canada), and the US-based National Career Development Association.

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2023

Etta St. John Wileman Award evolves with focus on Outstanding Achievement

February 13, 2023By

CERIC’s flagship award is evolving to celebrate those who have made a significant impact in enhancing the field of career development, regardless of role or position within an organization. Now called the Etta St. John Wileman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Career Development, the changes seek to build on the award’s proud history while evolving it to become more inclusive and accessible.

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2023

Curious, hopeful, empowered: Recapping Cannexus23, Canada’s Career Development Conference

February 7, 2023By

More than 2,000 career development professionals from across Canada and around the world joined together for the first hybrid Cannexus conference from Jan. 23-25, 2023. Whether attending in-person in Ottawa or virtually, delegates expanded their knowledge, built strong networks and felt proud of the meaningful work they do. They learned about emerging trends and issues from transitioning to a net zero economy to trauma-informed counselling and left curious, hopeful and empowered.

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Careering magazine cover showing hourglass with green sand and text HINDSIGHT AND FORESIGHT | 10 years of Careering magazine2023

‘Hindsight and Foresight’: Winter 2023 issue marks 10 years of Careering magazine

February 1, 2023By

This special 10th-anniversary issue of Careering magazine, on the theme of “Hindsight and Foresight,” welcomes back many past contributors to reflect on where the field has been and where it needs to go. In our 10 Questions interview, we also speak to outgoing CERIC Executive Director Riz Ibrahim, without whom Careering would not have existed.

Articles include:

As we celebrate this milestone, we are mindful of ongoing shifts in how people learn and consume information. After two years of publishing Careering exclusively online, we recognize that we need to continue to evolve to meet career professionals’ learning needs. In our 2022 Content and Learning Survey, respondents also expressed an appetite for change.

With a sense of nostalgia, gratitude and excitement, CERIC has decided to turn the page on this chapter of Careering. The Winter 2023 magazine will be the final issue of Careering as we currently know it.

Thank you for coming with us on this journey, as we all work to advance career development in Canada. The road ahead will be winding and require ongoing learning, but we’re excited about the opportunities that lie in wait.

You can access past issues of Careering magazine for free online.  

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2023

CERIC-funded project to examine how career professionals can help workers manage career shocks

January 17, 2023By

CERIC will provide funding for a new research project that aims to prepare career development professionals to help workers handle career shocks such as the recent pandemic. The project entitled “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Career Development” is being led by Réginald Savard and Elodie Chevallier of Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). The research will examine how career concerns have evolved during the pandemic (exemplified by the “Great Resignation” and “quiet quitting”) with greater focus on doing meaningful work that allows for more balance – and how career professionals can respond to these new concerns. 

Career shocks are expected to be increasingly numerous (pandemics, climate change, technological changes, etc.) and constitute one of the major challenges in the field of career counselling and development for the coming decades. This project will seek to address:  

  • The need to shed light on an unprecedented phenomenon that affects the work of career development professionals (increased demand for guidance, questioning about meaning at work and the meaning of life, increased anxiety among clients). 
  • The need for career development professionals to acquire complementary skills to respond to a new demand for assistance with issues about the meaning of work and the meaning of life in the context of an event like COVID-19. 
  • The need for workers to develop personal resources (values, interests, aptitudes, personality traits, etc.) and environmental resources (social support, tools, etc.) to cope with future career shocks.  

Savard is the principal investigator for this project. He is a research professor in the Department of Education and Pedagogy at UQAM and a psychotherapist and career counsellor. Chevallier is the co-principal investigator for this project. Currently a postdoctoral researcher at UQAM, she holds a PhD in Education from the Université de Sherbrooke. The project includes funding support from Mitacs. 

Combining exploratory research as well as a mixed-method approach involving a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, the project will allow a comparison of the characteristics of previously documented career shocks to the one related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also make possible an understanding of the specific attributes of the pandemic career shock and its impact on career development choices. The questionnaire remains open and career development professionals are encouraged to share this 15-minute survey with clients they have worked with during the pandemic. 

Results of the research will be disseminated through journals and conferences throughout 2023. The researchers will be presenting at the Cannexus23 conference on Jan. 24 in Ottawa. Training for career professionals will also be developed to equip them to intervene with clients showing signs of career shock, based on solid data. Career professionals will gain new skills to better respond to clients who are facing a career shock. At the same time, workers will learn what personal resources and environmental resources to mobilize or develop in order to foster the autonomy needed to cope with career shocks. 

CERIC provides funding and other support to develop innovative career development resources. Individuals and organizations are welcome to submit project proposals for career counselling-related research or learning projects. This project aligns with the CERIC priority funding area: Shifting career mindsets and the role of career development professionals in evolving times. 

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2022

CERIC to publish new companion guide to popular Career Theories and Models at Work book

December 19, 2022By

Building on the success of Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice, CERIC has approved funding to develop a “companion” book that will provide career professionals with theory-informed principles for everyday application. This sequel project called “Career Theories and Models in Practice” will be led once again by Dr. Nancy Arthur, University of South Australia (formerly University of Calgary), Dr. Roberta Borgen (Neault), Life Strategies and Dr. Mary McMahon, the University of Queensland (Australia).  

The new project will see the authors conduct a qualitative research analysis of the practice points at the end of each of the 43 chapters of the original Career Theories and Models at Work book to organize them into guiding principles for theory-informed career practice. The new guide – slated for release in January 2024 at the Cannexus conference – is intended for both current practitioners and as well as those just entering the field. It will provide a practical primary resource to gain knowledge about foundational principles for career development. 

Filling a gap in the field, this will be the first book that addresses foundational career practice principles, ensuring that techniques used by practitioners are linked to actual theoretical underpinnings. Readers will have the opportunity to learn about foundations of the principles and follow their interests back to the practice points that are used as examples in the chapters. The project advances the effort to increase the theoretical and practical knowledge of career practitioners by emphasizing practice-to-theory connections.  

Specific goals for this project include:  

  1. To advance the field of career development by identifying practice principles that cut across multiple international theories and models; 
  2. To stimulate career practitioners’ interest in linking their practices to theoretically derived principles; 
  3. To update career practitioners about practice principles derived from contemporary theories and models of career development and career management; 
  4. To provide practitioners with a foundational resource they can use to build upon and enhance their approaches to career interventions; and 
  5. To provide career practitioners with an accessible resource to add to their toolkit. 

Published in 2019, the initial Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice book features more than 60 authors from nine countries. The book has been translated into three languages so far (including the award-winning French edition published by CERIC last year) and resulted in a popular series of free webinars (recordings still available), each one drawing 1,000+ participants. Likewise, the follow-up manual is expected to have broad appeal nationally as well as internationally and will include podcasts. 

CERIC provides funding and other support to develop innovative career development resources. Individuals and organizations are welcome to submit project proposals for career counselling-related research or learning projects. This project aligns with one of CERIC’s four priority funding areas: New emerging career development theories and career service models. 

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2022

Professors honoured by OCCOQ for their revision of CERIC’s Career Theories and Models for the francophone professional community

December 12, 2022By

The Order of Orientation Counsellors of Quebec (OCCOQ) presented the Order’s Professional Award 2022 to Louis Cournoyer (Quebec University at Montréal), along with Professors Patricia Dionne (Sherbrooke University) and Simon Viviers (Laval University), for their coordination of the translation, revision and adaptation of CERIC’s French-language reference book Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice, otherwise known as Théories et modèles orientés sur la carrière : des idées pour la pratique in French.  

The popular international collection brings together contemporary and emerging theories and models of career development and is intended to serve as a reference document for the practice of career development among professionals around the world. In addition to being useful to both new and experienced career counsellors, the publication can be used as a reference book for undergraduate and graduate career counselling courses.    

In awarding this recognition on November 18, the members of the jury acknowledged the importance of the efforts invested and the complexity of coordinating the French translation work, while confirming the usefulness of the book Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice for guidance and career development professionals in all sectors of activity, as well as for those in training in this field.   

The book, which includes contributions from 60 researchers and practitioners from nine countries, contains approximately 40 chapters on the theories and models that define contemporary career development practice. Key contributors include the researchers who developed the theories presented in the book, as well as practitioners who have used them in original ways to guide their career development practice. 

Presented in a reader-friendly format, each chapter includes a Case Vignette that illustrates how a theory or model can be applied in practice, and Practice Points that summarize key takeaways for career practitioners to implement with clients. 

The book, which has received rave reviews from the Francophonie globally, is available for purchase in print or as an ebook on Amazon or Indigo. Learn more at  ceric.ca/lestheories.
 

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2022

New research explores career-related learning in Canadian elementary schools

November 28, 2022By

The first phase of a CERIC-funded research project has now produced three literature reviews that examine what is happening in elementary education across Canada related to introducing and building career-related foundational skills. These newly available documents include: a review of scholarly literature; a curriculum and policy review; and a review of business and industry partnerships. 

The project, Career Development in Children: Identifying Critical Success Conditions and Strategies, is being undertaken by an international team of academic researchers led by Dr. Lorraine Godden of Ironwood Consulting and Carleton University. The research seeks to understand how foundational concepts and skills that are introduced and developed by teachers in Grades 4 to 6 connect to career-related learning in Canadian classrooms. 

The reviews have found that across Canada, provinces and territories have implemented a variety of educational strategies, initiatives, policies and programs to help young people achieve productive and fulfilling lives. Ministries, school boards and schools have a range of proactive frameworks and policies. However, several challenges impact their successful implementation. For example, many elementary schools have limited resources beyond the classroom teacher to support students’ career and life planning, and many teachers are not aware they are developing critical career skills in their students. 

Supporting Career Development in Children: A Literature Review 

This document contains a review of literature which investigates the practices to support the development of career-related foundational skills in children aged 9-11 in Canadian elementary schools. The review explores the scholarly literature related to career development terminology, career development frameworks and theoretical understandings, and empirical work that examines the ways teachers introduce and develop foundational career skills (e.g., healthy habits of mind and being, social and emotional skills, self-confidence, self-efficacy). This literature review recognizes that career vocabulary and terminology are the building blocks on which all career interventions are built. 

The literature review includes: 

  • An extensive exploration of career-related terminology that educators might encounter in the career-related work in schools;  
  • An exploration of how work is linked to career development;  
  • A detailed overview of typical expected outcomes of career development;  
  • An overview of empirical career-related learning and career development theoretical frameworks;  
  • An outline of typical career-related learning outcomes seen in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom;  
  • An examination of what career-related learning looks like in elementary schools; and  
  • A summary of contemporary issues related to career.  

Supporting Career Development in Children: Curriculum and Policy Review 

This curriculum and policy review examines provincial and territorial policy, reporting and curriculum documents for career-related learning, including relevant social studies, health and wellness, and social and emotional learning documents. This pan-Canadian exploration provides insight into what is happening in career education in Grades 4, 5 and 6, showing differences across the country. This review has involved developing a greater understanding of the role that geographic context plays in influencing practice related to delivering career-related learning.  

Findings include: 

  • Some provinces and territories, such as Ontario, British Columbia and Yukon, have embraced a Kindergarten to Grade 12 approach to career education.  
  • In other areas of the country, career education begins to emerge in Grades 5 and 6 (e.g., Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces).
  • Still other regions do not appear to have any formal career education currently in place at the elementary level (e.g., Nunavut). 

Supporting Career Development in Children: A Review of Business and Industry Partnerships 

This review examines partnerships between elementary schools and business and industry. It reports on industry perspectives regarding the importance of developing foundational skills and investigates formal partnerships between business/industry and schools or school districts. It also establishes where and how the wider business and industry community are providing services, programming, training, resources or partnerships to and with elementary schools across Canada. This exploration provides some important insights into these partnerships and confirmed that some elementary schools do partner with business and industry through various agreements and specialist councils. However, the research revealed partnerships to be more widespread for secondary schools. 

The review answers: 

  • Which provinces and territories have business and industry partnerships?   
  • What partnerships and programs currently exist between business and industry and elementary schools?   
  • Which provinces and territories have Industry Education Councils?   
  • What connections do Industry Education Councils have with elementary schools? 

  These three literature reviews are intended for and can benefit: 

  • Teachers – in elementary and secondary schools who are supporting their students with career-related learning;  
  • Guidance counsellors – who are delivering and managing career-related knowledge, information and services across their schools;   
  • School leaders and district school board administrators – who are determining the scope of career-related learning across their schools;   
  • Curriculum developers – who are looking for worthwhile practices to incorporate into career-related programming and development;  
  • Policymakers – who are directing courses of action across the policy life cycle, and are evaluating the role of different policy actors within career-related policy in schools;  
  • Government – who are making decisions as to what career-related learning should look like in schools; and   
  • Business and industry partners – who are making decisions to form or undertake strategies that support career-related learning in their local and broader community schools.   

Research for this project is ongoing with data being collected from educators, parents and Grade 4-6 students in public school settings across Canada. This has involved ensuring the inclusion of diverse perspectives: Indigenous communities, immigrant communities, francophone communities, special needs educators, and urban, rural and remote communities.  

The next phase of this project is focused on the development of a teacher’s toolkit, including strategies and interventions teachers can use to develop critical career-related foundational skills with students. On Monday, January 23 at Cannexus, Canada’s Career Development Conference, Dr. Godden and fellow researchers will be leading a virtual research circle entitled Teaching Careers to Grades 4-6? Pilot Our Toolkit! In this interactive community consultation, participants can review the evidence gathered to support toolkit development, sample different class-based activities and provide feedback to help shape the final toolkit. 

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