Work Tree: Book Review
By Anne-Marie Rolfe
This lively, colourful book encourages the reader to think outside the box when it comes to creating work inside the reality of our new economy. The author makes the case early on that our economy has changed and relying on the traditional job search is simply no longer a viable option for many long-term jobseekers. While the book is targeted to those who may have given up on the traditional job search, it presents great ideas that would be helpful to those with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Hot Sites
My Career Info is a new initiative from the Council of Ontario Universities that provides career planning guidance to students, new grads and entry-level jobseekers.
mycareerinfo.ca
Employability ePortfolios for Adults in Transition
By Don Presant
There’s more to online resumes than LinkedIn. Based on his experience at Career Portfolio Manitoba, Don Presant discusses the various options available for your clients wishing to take their career development online.
The Internet has had a big impact on career development and employment. In your work, you are probably starting to answer a lot of questions about the advisability and best practices for using ePortfolios, or similar solutions under different labels: online resumes, web CVs, personal career websites, video resumes, LinkedIn profiles, etc. This article, based on our experience with Career Portfolio Manitoba, should provide you with a useful framework for considering the available alternatives.
Change Isn’t Easy for Career Practitioners Either
By Heather Powell
We make a living by helping clients transitioning into new careers. But what about our own ability to adapt? The new Employment Service Model in Ontario has challenged us to “walk the talk.”
Career practitioners spend the majority of their time guiding clients through the transitions and challenges that come with unemployment: the emotional ups-and-downs that hit the ego when losing a job, creating job search materials, preparing for interviews, being rejected from opportunities or never hearing back at all. We provide words of comfort and guidance when faced with statements like, “I just wish I was still working. Everything would be fine if it wasn’t for the company closing,” or “I don’t know why they let me go. It’s not fair, I worked so hard,” and of course, “I feel like I am too old/overqualified/under-qualified to find a new job. No one wants me!” We respond by reaching into our toolbox of counselling techniques and provide support, positive feedback and suggestions. We tell them, “You can’t change the labour market, you can only adapt.”
Career Briefs
Vote in the National Challenge!
In celebration of the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling’s (CERIC) 10th anniversary in 2014, The Counselling Foundation of Canada has provided a grant to facilitate an online competition to increase the recognition of the value of career counselling as well as career development professionals in Canada.
Calendar – Calendrier
NCDA Regional Career Practitioner Institute: Practical Techniques and Strategies for Career Development Service Providers
OCTOBER 17-18, 2013
Denver, CO, UNITED STATES
associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/pt/sp/cpinstitute
Hiring Canada’s Youth: Community Voices
As a not-for-profit employer in downtown Toronto, we cannot find enough experienced and trained career/employment counsellors or job developers. Our mission as an organization is to help thousands of disadvantaged youth to find jobs each year.
10 Questions for Gray Poehnell
Gray Poehnell is an experienced author, trainer and presenter interested in holistic approaches that cultivate hope, practical spirituality, creativity and career integrity. He focuses on developing alternative career approaches, especially for those outside the mainstream. Gray currently trains career practitioners both nationally and internationally.
Gray will be a keynote speaker at the New Brunswick Career Development Action Group conference in November 2013 and will also present at Cannexus in January 2014.
Off the Diving Board: Making the Transition to Work
By Susan Forseille
What are the variables that influence the transition from higher education to meaningful career? How can career development professionals help? Susan Forseille shares the results of research she undertook during her MEd studies.
A student about to graduate from Thompson Rivers University (TRU) told me that education “is a diving board: through our coursework, we slowly make our way to the end of the platform, where we are expected to dive or jump into our career… but we don’t know how to dive, if we can swim, or if there is even water in the pool!” This metaphor brought up profound images for me, making me wonder why some students seem to transition so easily from education to meaningful career, while others really struggle. This led to questions on what career educators can do to better support students in their transition from post-secondary education to meaningful career.