By Kathy Johnson
Recently I met a young woman who joined a communications training program. When asked why she said, “Well, my boss told me that if I was ever to have a chance to apply for his job I would need better communication skills.” It seems she had picked one skill and one job and had narrowed her focus to that.
by Rich Feller
Arriving a day early from Fort Collins, Colorado to attend two Cannexus Pre-Conference Workshops I regret missing the third. Eager to attend anything Mark Savickas presents I missed the Cannexus Actively Mastering What We Passively Suffer: A Counselling Session. Yet having access to Mark, and networking with him and his lovely wife in the Westin’s restaurant was a special treat. I couldn’t get enough of Chris Kulbaba and his cutting edge work with The Social Media Toolkit and Career Counselors, and immersing myself in Norm Amundson’s Career Flow in Action the first day all expectations were exceeded. From there I joined the audience on the edge of our seats as Trey Anthony’s story and mentoring message inspired all of us to live fully with joy.
by Jan Bottomer
I am a career advisor. I am also a cellist.
For the past five years I have played with I Medici di McGill Orchestra – “the doctors’ orchestra” of McGill. To me, my orchestra is a weekly reminder that musical training is only limiting if you let it be, and that, more often than not, the skills developed along the way can open up worlds of experience and opportunity. The core members of this high-level amateur orchestra include doctors and professors representing specialties from Ophthalmology to Obstetrics, Oceanic Sciences to Electroacoustics. These people have been musicians for most of their lives, and continue to play while also holding down highly demanding jobs in a range of diverse fields.
by John Horn
Knowing how to analyze and measure the online presence of a career centre – or any service, for that matter – provides practitioners, managers, marketers, and front-line staff with the information needed to best serve clients. When measured effectively, understanding how clients access a website, what they do within the site, and where they go when they leave can impact everything from web-content to marketing strategies to in-person programming and advising. Wrapping our heads around the definitions, terminology and jargon of web analytics, however, can be challenging. What precisely is a “bounce rate” or an “impression” anyway?
By Shawn Bakker
Employee engagement is best described by its results. Engaged employees demonstrate higher levels of performance, commitment and loyalty. Disengaged employees do not. Given most organizations strong focus on performance, employee engagement has become a popular topic.
By Maija Wiik
“Book your accommodations now and make them for the conference hotel” was the advice from Jaz to a Cannexus novice from Vancouver in August 2010 while discussing details on the phone. “It will be freezing cold in Ottawa and you will not want to be outside much.”
Arriving at the Westin Hotel, next to the winter wonderland of Rideau Canal and kitty-corner to Parliament Hill peeking from behind snow banks, in a salt covered taxi on the eve of the conference, I was grateful for the guidance!
By Sonny K. H. Wong
The Canadian labour market has become more complex over the last few decades. The unemployment rate is an indicator of economic recovery. However, it does not address the effects job loss has on individuals in society.
By Marlene Pomrenke and Heather Morris
Results of a recent study completed by the authors indicate that social workers have congruent values and skills that fit for many non-traditional employment opportunities in social work (Pomrenke & Morris, 2010). To complement and expand on these findings we examined the challenges for social work students in their career journey.
By Juanita Hennessey
What if you worked your whole life at a job you disliked? What if you never figured out what you wanted to do with your life? What if you knew, but circumstances prevented you from realizing your dream? Are there opportunities in later life to undo the regrets of your past?
By Basak Yanar
Each year Canada welcomes some 200,000 immigrants – over half of which are “skilled” – eager to develop successful careers in their new country.1 Government initiatives and settlement agencies provide a wide array of programs designed to facilitate their entrance into the Canadian labour market. Although 80% of Canada’s immigrants succeed in finding full-time employment after two years of arrival2, this career transition is often defined by underemployment, casual and part-time positions, forced occupational change, and/or lower levels of income.