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What can we do to help Canadians understand the value of career services?

By Jaime Watt

The first time I came in contact with a career professional was about 40 years ago. I was a confused kid, suffering from an embarrassment of too many options and lacking one clear passion. So I met with a specialist who gave me lots of tests to do, and the verdict was pronounced: I was to be a funeral director.

Over the years, and as my career has developed, I have had a lot of laughs at that advice, but if I am honest, he actually got the core attribute right; just the recommendation wrong. Empathy, central to any successful funeral director, has been crucial to whatever modest career success I have enjoyed.

Without one abiding passion, I spent my working years in a variety of different jobs which I very much enjoyed, but the enthusiasm never lasted. I eventually started my own business. As I look back, I realized that I asked a wide range of specialists and friends for advice, but I never thought to talk to a career professional again.

At this point, you might be asking yourself why I’m telling you this. Perhaps my story matters because my career journey, like that of most Canadians, is far from linear. Of course, it’s unique to me, grounded in opportunity and happenstance, and this is exactly what makes the job of career professionals so difficult. No one-size-fits-all model with what you do; clients are demanding individual, tailored advice.

And now, for you, change is everything: Now that the world is changing so quickly, how can the career development sector cope when the past is no longer prologue to the future and when experience can be limiting instead of affirming? What happens when our experience isn’t all that relevant anymore?

This is the challenge for career development, a challenge that’s compounded by the fact that there’s so much variety, fragmentation within the field and, consequently, with the message that’s conveyed to Canadians, and a lack of understanding of how valuable career development services can be.

Our team at Navigator conducted a poll of 1,500 Canadians to get a better sense of their view of career development services. We didn’t discover anything that would set you back on your heels.The research did confirm the importance of your role and the tremendous opportunities that exist in your sector. However…

People don’t know what you do or how to access your services.

In our research, respondents, themselves, made a clear distinction between a career and a job. A job is a role you’re in to make ends meet, but a career is the role you aspired to and then achieved.

And here is where you come in: Those with a career – work they aspired to and planned for – are significantly more likely to have accessed career counselling services compared to those with a job, and while only small proportions access these services, those that do are inclined to find them more effective.

However, there are barriers to accessing career services:

1. Some respondents said they didn’t think they needed to access these services because they knew what they wanted to do;
2. They never considered career services because they didn’t know the option was there;
3. They had no clear idea of the types of services that were available;
4. They didn’t know how to select services appropriate for them;
5. They didn’t know where to look; and
6. They were concerned about costs.

These results are probably not surprising to you. Taken in sum, the research solidifies and codifies the fact that career professionals have a profile problem. However, as mentioned before, those that do use your services are much more likely to end up in careers they love. And for those that don’t use your services, about 50% said that, in retrospect, they would have benefited from career counselling. So the key is to demonstrate the value of career development services to the Canadian public.

Career professionals have done a great job at creating meaningful services, but if no one knows about it, what’s the point? For instance, when post-secondary career centres fail to articulate their value to students, the institution may perceive the centre as a cost and prioritize spending for areas perceived as revenue generators. After all, price only matters when there is no other concept of value.

So what can you do to raise the profile of the profession? What can you do to adjust your communications so that you speak clearly to your stakeholders and target audiences? And, importantly, how can you demonstrate value?

1. Champion your successes and tell your stories.

Nothing is more powerful and poignant than hearing directly from the ones you helped. You help people find careers they love; you help young, overwhelmed students navigate their academic choices towards a complex job market; you help mid-career workers figure out how to transition in a changing world; you help people leave a dead-end job in which they feel trapped for the greener pastures of a career they will love. I’m sure all of you can think of countless examples of individual success stories that you’ll never forget.

You need to tell these stories. You need to champion these stories.

Use social media. Continue to build relationships with high school counsellors, university counsellors and university professors – typically the first line of defence for young people trying to make it in the job market. Use the resources of CERIC, so that your successes are housed under one succinct umbrella. When you do this, you will garner results tenfold.

2. Take advantage of digital communications when influencing your target audiences.

Having access to Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels does not necessarily mean they are used efficiently and effectively.

• Humanize your content with your stories of success.
• Talk about yourself and those you champion often and consistently.
• Use your networks to build off of the successes of your colleagues’ work.

There’s no reason why you should not follow or tweet at every single person you know in the field.

Social media is fundamentally changing the public’s expectations of information, and it enables you to speak and ­engage directly with your target audiences. Think, for example, of the government. No doubt an important audience for many of you reading this. You need to know what resonates with them and thread these messages throughout your narrative. For instance, many of you serve in a role that helps lift people out of poverty, get them off EI, out of hospitals and ER rooms, and back into society so that they can live fulfilling lives. This is a compelling case you can present when you’re speaking with government officials you want to influence. It’s not only fiscally smart, but it’s the right thing to do. It demonstrates that your work is important to the economy and worthy of support.

3. Leverage your diverse membership base and the strength of your coalition.

The career development field in Canada is amazing. You come from the youth employment sector, post-secondary career centres, immigrant and Aboriginal services, government, private sector. You are guidance counsellors, vocational rehabilitation specialists, HR professionals, career coaches, and the list goes on and on. You are diverse and multidisciplinary, and you’re not speaking in a unified manner. The diversity of the career development sector is a strength, but one that can only be harnessed with a unified narrative.

Your problem is not dissimilar to that faced by the accountants just a short while ago. For years, there were 40 organizations and designations in Canada. No one, I suspect not even some of the accountants themselves, could tell one from the other. There was no commonality of message, vocabulary or purpose, and it was, ultimately, hurting their credibility. Today, there is one designation. Chartered Professional Accountant. There is one message: They are the professional accountants of Canada. I challenge you to do the same.

As a first step, head to the ContactPoint online community; there you will find a new Glossary of Career Development, trying to harmonize the many terms used in your industry. Read, comment and critique this document; it’s one simple step you can easily take at this very moment.

None of these measures is going to solve all your problems, but it will begin the process of unifying your narrative, raising your profile and demonstrating to the average Canadian the value of what you do. I’m asking you to go out and sell yourself. I was never comfortable with doing that myself, but I learned I’d starve if I didn’t figure it out.

Career professionals, come together. You need to develop a unified narrative that clearly tells people what you do and demonstrates your value. When you get there, the benefits to you, your industry and our society will truly be extraordinary.

Career professionals do important work on behalf of Canadians every day, in every part of our magnificent country. From sea to sea to shining sea. And for that so many of us Canadians are in your debt.

Jaime Watt is the Executive Chairman of Navigator Ltd. He specializes in complex public strategy issues, serving both domestic and international clients in the corporate, professional services, not-for-profit and government sectors. This article is based on Watt’s keynote at the Cannexus15 National Career Development Conference.

By Rebecca McCarthy

Clinton Nellist and Denis Luchyshyn are blazing trails across Canada. Packing all their things, throwing caution to the wind and relying on the kindness of strangers, they lived out of their car for three months. Why would two perfectly employable 20-somethings quit their jobs and live on the open road? To meet over 150 career professionals, employers and recent graduates who were willing to share the best employment advice with the nation through the Road to Employment docuseries and web resource.

The individuals sharing their stories come from diverse backgrounds that include the humanities and social sciences, and aren’t limiting experiences to students in fields typically seen as the most employable such as business, public administration or communications – although, let’s be honest, business students don’t know “what’s up” for themselves more than the rest of us. At its very core, the Road to Employment docuseries, web resources and speaking engagements touch on the interdisciplinary nature of the job market, and the umbrella skills that are often spoken of but aren’t really understood.

“I left [school] with no game plan, no aspiration to do anything, and found myself working at Target selling cell phones. With a Bachelor’s degree,” says Clinton.

As more and more students find themselves out on the job market, competing with the world, and not just their classmates, the realization that they are leaving school without the experience or connections necessary to remain competitive comes crashing towards them in what feels like a wave of emotionless tasks, instead of a trickle of skill-building experiences.

“Are you worried about your job prospects once you graduate?” Denis asks a female student in the opening of the docuseries. “I don’t want to think about it yet, so, I don’t know,” she replies.

Pressing pause, Denis leans back in his chair, pointing to the screen. “This is what we keep hearing over, and over again. It doesn’t matter where we were in Canada, everyone said the same thing. Students are afraid of leaving the safe routine that school provides for them.”

Graduating students are finding out more and more that just getting the degree isn’t enough. The skillset that is cultivated in the academy is not enough to land a job; students also need connections, experience and the ability to articulate their skills to potential employers. And although career professionals have been pushing hard for students to wake up and take charge of their career development, many are just not taking the bait.

Road to Employment’s message about how classwork does not equate real-world experience isn’t new. Students need to be leaving campus and do something they haven’t tried before in order to put themselves out there. Getting this real-world experience can be an overwhelming, intimidating and daunting task, especially when it’s the job of your dreams on the line. Clinton and Denis know it, and they’re meeting students where they’re at: online, using YouTube, social media and blogs.

The docuseries and the featured videos are at the heart of Road to Employment, acting like a “virtual reference book.” It’s a great source for both aspiring and established professionals, but the magic really comes into play when used in small group discussion. Videos sparking discussion online on Facebook or on the Road to Employment blog provide the opportunity for students to connect and ask questions that connect to youth experiences both on and off screen.

It’s all very tongue-in-cheek online. Inspired by television satirists and sites like BuzzFeed, the videos and blog entries are lighthearted and funny. Although the job market for recent graduates is peppered with depressing stories of struggle, Road to Employment positively delivers the most valuable information to youth.

“What we want to do is to bridge that communications gap between students and the career development programs in place that are there to help,” Clinton says. “This is the exact information and network that I wish I had before graduating.”

Each episode of the docuseries is less than 30 minutes long, leaving the audience energized. Part One of the series, “Engage”, was made available in April, and Part Two is set to launch in September. Feedback for Part One has been overwhelmingly positive, as professionals and students across the nation share the video through their personal networks.

These networks are driving Clinton and Denis back across Canada. Now that the creative aspect of the documentary is in its final stages, Clinton and Denis have been invited to attend conferences and events across Western Canada as keynote speakers. Talking to career developers as advocates for youth, and connecting with youth about their relevant experiences, the lessons they learned through their journey across Canada are shared through their personalized, dynamic appearances.

“If future graduating classes are better prepared for the job market, regardless of their academic or personal background, we’ll know that we’ve done our job. All the sleepless nights in the cars,” Clinton remembers, “and all the meetings we’ve had from day one will all be worth it in the end when students reframe how they understand their careers.”

“Our friends thought we were nuts for starting what we did,” Denis adds. “But we couldn’t just hang around trying to convince them of something they weren’t able to see yet. We had to get out in front of everyone and put into practice everything we wanted to learn.”

Clinton and Denis are youth of today, on a mission for the youth of tomorrow. You can find them online at roadtoemployment.ca where you’ll find links to their social media channels and blog. You’ll also find Part One of the docuseries available for streaming through both their website and YouTube. It’s all there, ready to browse through, because learning to succeed should not be harder than taking the action necessary to succeed.

Rebecca McCarthy is a writer and editor from Victoria, BC living in Chicago, IL. She writes for Road to Employment, sharing only the most embarrassing stories that matter. She’s worked as a babysitter, theatre producer and department store employee, but has since found her calling as an academic ESL editor.

Mark Franklin is Practice Leader of CareerCycles and President of One Life Tools. He developed the CareerCycles narrative method of practice, co-authored related peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and co-developed the Who You Are Matters! game and online Storyteller tools. Franklin presents internationally, hosts the Career Buzz radio show, and worked as a career counsellor at two of Canada’s largest universities after a first career in engineering. He earned an MEd in counselling psychology, Career Management Fellow and Canadian Certified Counsellor designations.

Franklin was the recipient of the Stu Conger Leadership Award for Career Development in 2015.

In one sentence, describe why career development matters.
Managing your career now and for the future is incredibly important because the world of work continues to be complex and fast changing, requiring individuals to notice clues and take inspired action to navigate an uncertain world with hope and confidence.

Which book are you reading right now?
Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation by Gabriele Oettingen. With a different perspective on positive psychology, Oettingen provides a fresh and evidence-based method to turn career and life dreams into reality.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
An astronaut! As an adult I actually applied to the Canadian Space Agency for the job – they opened it up to engineers and that was my first career. I was thrilled to have made it past the first round. Alas, I’m still on the ground; instead, I explore “inner space” with clients.

Name one thing you wouldn’t be able to work without?
Not a thing but a team. We have an amazing team at CareerCycles anchored by our Client Service Manager, Jennifer Mackey. I wouldn’t want to work without them!

What activity do you usually turn to when procrastinating?
I like to listen to radioparadise.com when working; it’s a wonderful San Francisco-based Internet station. When procrastinating I click the musical artist’s site or Wikipedia page, which radioparadise conveniently provides for each song, and I learn all about that artist.

What song do you listen to for inspiration?
I like spoken word shows a lot, even more than music. For inspiration I listen to the fascinating RadioLab.org podcasts. If you’re new to RadioLab, some episodes reveal fascinating career stories; for example, try The Trust Engineers podcast about “how a tiny group of social engineers are making our online relationships kinder and gentler, whether we like it or not.”

Which word do you overuse?
Right on! When I’m hosting the Career Buzz radio show, and a guest tells a fascinating career story or shares a useful insight, I often say ‘Right on!’ – maybe too often.

Who would you like to work with most?
Our CareerCycles team is amazing, though as an independent career management social enterprise, we’re under-resourced. To get our narrative game and online tools “out there” more, I’d most like to expand our team and work with a creative digital marketer, a results-focused business development professional, and a talented web programmer. Know anyone?

Which talent or superpower would you like to have?
I’d love to have the superpower to completely clear my email inbox, daily, with articulate and effective responses.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being a father to my daughter is my greatest personal achievement. Professionally, it’s been very gratifying to see our narrative method of practice be effectively used by over 300 career professionals we’ve trained, who in turn use it to enrich their clients’ careers and lives.

Practical advice on successfully navigating the tumultuous transition from school to work

By Cathy Campbell

Despite the rhetoric that today’s young people have been pampered, the reality is that they are confronted with more challenges than previous generations as they make the school-to-work transition:

• Lengthy stints in training institutions
• Student debt that takes years to pay off
• An enigmatic labour market
• Having to put marriage and family on hold
• Endless sorting through an overwhelming number of options to find a viable career fit

Further complicating the process is the expectation that young people’s careers should follow a linear, predictable route from high school to post-secondary education, and then on to a permanent, full-time job. Many adults, with the sharp clarity of hindsight, would have to admit their own career journeys weren’t all that orderly. Few are doing work today they could have predicted, or even imagined, they’d be doing when they were 20. And yet, the “Career Myth” persists. The Career Myth goes something like this: “Have a plan (preferably the right one and preferably made early), stick with it, and you’ll proceed in a straight line from school to work to retirement.”

Because the Career Myth is considered the normal or correct way to make the school-to-work transition, it is held up by youth and those around them as the gold standard to which young people should aspire – and to which they are measured. Little wonder then that so many young people feel anxious about finding a career when the reality is so out of line with what they and others expect.

What alternatives do we have to the Career Myth?
What can we offer young people, if not the mythic idea of security and certainty? In response to this challenge, I have proposed eight « Career Crafting Techniques » that speak to young people’s experiences and draw on recent career counselling approaches that embrace unpredictability and change. The techniques marry the strengths of more traditional approaches to career counselling with chaos-friendly methods that normalize the convolutions that characterize many young people’s career journeys.

Forefront in the thinking of each technique is the emphasis on doing first, reflecting second; being strategic about what the young person is doing; keeping change and unpredictability clearly in the picture; and continuing to move forward in the absence of having made a firm decision.

My recent publication, Career Crafting the Decade After High School, describes the techniques and provides practical suggestions on how career professionals can operationalize and integrate these ideas into their current practice. Below is a sampling from the book on how to view conventional career development concepts through a new lens.

Develop a “shopping list.” The term “shopping list” is a shorthand way of describing the patterns and themes (interests, abilities, values, temperaments, environments, etc.) that develop over time and which reflect a young adult’s vocational identity.

By assembling, in one place, the key elements that the young person would like to have in their work life, they are more apt to be able to imagine and experiment with education and work options that might align with what they are seeking.

This shopping list takes the pressure off young people to make a hastily-conceived, ill-informed long-term career decision. Instead, it encourages them to have an ongoing dialogue about what they really want their life to be like, and gives them an evolving frame of reference for generating and evaluating options for fit.

Take another step. Given that most young adults’ career journeys are unknowable from the outset, it would seem wise for them to focus on incremental steps and decisions, rather than on long-term career planning.

As long as young people are dwelling on missteps from the past or obsessing about the future, they are distracted from focusing on the here and now. By concentrating on one step only – the immediate next step – young people are able to break decision-making into doable bite-size pieces, rather than becoming overwhelmed with making the right, best, or lasting Big Decision.

So, the key is to start doing. And keep doing. By taking the first step, young people start learning new things about themselves and the work that might be satisfying to them. If each new step incorporates the learning from the previous one, it is more likely that the steps will build upon each other, viable options will begin to emerge, and a valid “plan” will gradually take form.

Plan with a pencil. The fact that goals often change and plans never work as neatly as they appear on paper is no reason to abandon planning altogether. What’s important is that young people not become rigidly locked into one pre-determined goal, rejecting the possibility that new information or alternatives could come to light or factors outside their control could influence the outcome.

It was H.B. Gelatt who first asserted that career goals were best approached with “positive uncertainty.” By knowing what they want, but not being too sure, young people can treat their goals as hypotheses – educated guesses about what they’ll do and what will occur. This allows young people to be motivated, but not limited, by the goals they have set and the plans they have made. They may move forward, reassured that their pencil plans can be “erased” and re-written when new information surfaces or circumstances change.

Cathy Campbell, PhD, has over 20 years’ experience as a career counsellor, researcher, program developer and manager in school, community college, university and government settings. She has extensive experience at both a client and program level in helping young adults make effective transition into post-secondary education and into the workplace.

Career Crafting the Decade After High School: Professional’s Guide (2015) is available as a book, ebook or free pdf. It is published by the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC). Learn more or download a copy at ceric.ca/dahs.

CERIC’s Environics Survey finds differences in employer views by region, location and business size

By Mario R. Gravelle

The Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) is dedicated to exploring attitudes towards career development matters in Canada. CERIC commissioned Environics Research Group to survey Canadian business leaders about these issues. The 500 executives offered their opinions on approaches to recruiting, tactics which allow them to ensure their workforce has the right technical and soft skills to meet their needs, as well as the training and career management opportunities they provide. The findings below pertain specifically to the opinions surfaced around how businesses feel about promoting employee career development and the types of programs commonly available to staff. Here are some notable highlights:

Should employers provide career development programs?
This section of the survey began by asking respondents whether employers have a responsibility to provide career management programs to workers. While nearly three-quarters (71%) of business executives agree that doing so is part of their mandate, variations by region, location and business size show that some believe it more than others.

Figure 1. Would you say that you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree with the following statement? Employers have a responsibility to provide career management programs for their employees. Due to rounding some totals might not equal 100%.

As shown above, respondents from the Prairies (77%) and Ontario (76%) feel much more strongly that it is an employer’s duty to provide career management programs than those in Atlantic Canada (64%). A similar disparity exists between survey participants from Rural settings (63%) compared to those from Major Cities (79%). Respondents from the smallest and the largest firms had the widest range of opinion on the matter. While 60% of the former agree that employers are responsible to provide career management programs for staff, 86% of respondents from the latter share this opinion.

Where are career management programs available and what kinds are out there?
A couple of follow-up questions served to identify what proportion of employers have career management programs as well as what types of initiatives are offered. It is interesting to note that responses to the former closely mirror the opinions raised in the previous question above. Specifically, a markedly higher proportion of business executives from Ontario (43%) and the Prairies (33%) state that their firms provide career management programs than those from Quebec (26%), British Columbia (22%) and Atlantic Canada (20%). The size of the business is, as expected, closely linked to the availability of these programs. While only just over one in 10 (11%) of those from the smallest firms – fewer than 10 employees – assert that their organization has career management programs, the rate is 28% for firms with 10-49 staff, 41% for those with 50-99 employees, 53% at establishments with 100-499 workers, and almost two-thirds (63%) at the largest firms (over 500 staff). Those who reported their firms provide career management programs were asked to identify the types of offerings provided at their workplace. “Individually Tailored Training/Coaching” (29%) is the most popular on a national scale while “Leadership Programs” lag far behind (9%).

Figure 2. What types of career management do you offer? ”Other” not presented.

Although the ranking order is fairly consistent when comparing the data by region, location and business size, a few interesting differences exist. For instance, twice as many firms in Ontario offer “Career Planning/Training/Education” than Quebec (38% vs. 17%). Offering “Mentorship/Apprenticeship Programs” is much more popular in Atlantic Canada than in the Prairies. Of those surveyed from the former, 26% mention that their firm offers these types of programs compared to just 4% from the latter. These programs are also much more popular in Rural settings (28%) compared to Major Cities (16%) and Outside Major Cities (12%). Meanwhile, “Skill Development Programs” are just about three times more likely to be used at the smallest firms (31%) than the largest organizations (11%). Conversely, firms with more than 500 employees are much more likely than those with fewer than 10 staff to provide “Education Reimbursement or Training Encouragement” (16% compared to 4%).

Mario R. Gravelle is The Counselling Foundation of Canada’s Learning & Innovation Analyst. He is responsible for supporting the reception of funding requests as well as managing the Foundation’s grants. Gravelle likewise supports knowledge transfer activities to promote the work accomplished by the organization’s grant recipients. He is completing his doctoral dissertation in history at York University (BA from Concordia University and MA from the University of Ottawa). The Foundation proudly supports CERIC and its programs.

New accessible online career tool for help with program and career decisions

By Miguel Hahn

For students grappling with decisions about university programs and careers, the Queen’s University Major Maps can be a handy guide to help make the process a little less overwhelming. The maps support students before, during and after their degree. They can help prospective students choose a program of study, assist current students with identifying career options and potential learning opportunities during their degree(s), and guide graduating students as they think about ways the skills they developed at university can be transferred to the workplace.

The set of 44 visual maps for students provide integrated academic, co-curricular and career messaging specifically targeted for each undergraduate program area. Each major map lays out a four-year timeline, suggesting activities and strategies students can use each year to make the most of their student experience and prepare for careers after graduation. The maps can be seen online at careers.queensu.ca/majormaps. They are the first of their kind in Canada, building on the original Major Map concept from Georgia State University (cas.gsu.edu/major-maps) with innovations in content, design, accessibility and layout.

While the maps are full of suggestions about careers or activities, they are not meant to be prescriptive. Students are encouraged to find their own unique path through education and beyond, including creating their own maps with the My Major Map tool that provides a blank template for interested students.

The usefulness of the maps extends beyond students considering or studying at Queen’s University. “I really can’t say enough about the major maps. As soon as I saw them, I instantly started using them. Even though they are Queen’s specific, they are definitely broad enough to be applicable for other uses,” says Andrea Fougere-Chou, Enrolment Management Advisor at Yukon College. “For students who have been out of school for a long time, or have never really known anyone pursuing a degree, the major maps are really helpful in helping them understand what is actually required of them, both in terms of course load and program requirements.”

Encouraging early involvement in career exploration is an ongoing goal at many universities. In a recent study from the Education Advisory Board, approximately 25% of undergraduates regretted not taking more classes to prepare for careers, starting job search earlier, and getting more experience before they graduate. These maps engage students in thinking about how to use all four years of their degree (not just the final semester of their final year) to develop skills and experience towards future career options.

Launched in January 2015, use of the online versions of the maps has already far outpaced the initial expectations, reaching 5,000 hits in the first month alone. Student response has been enthusiastic, commenting that the maps reduce their feelings of being overwhelmed by providing a sense of what to expect and a “roadmap to a well-rounded education.” The most common comment from upper-year students: “I wish I had this when I was in first year!”

Miguel Hahn works as a Career Counsellor at Queen’s University Career Services and is concurrently completing his Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University. Before moving to Kingston, he worked for seven years at the University of Toronto Career Centre in a variety of roles. The major maps project was led by Hahn and involved collaboration amongst Student Affairs & Career Services, Academic Departments & Advisors and students.

Pictures courtesy of Queen’s University Communications.

By Lauren K. McCoy

Limited exploration has been directed towards the psychological, social and physical adjustments encountered by elite athletes upon career transition, despite a significant body of research suggesting that athletes that lack transitional coping skills may be at greater risk of adverse outcomes (Smith & McManus, 2008). While recent literature has begun to investigate these issues in other competitive sports, Canadian major junior hockey (CHL) continues to operate as a closed community that commonly restricts access to the institution and its players (Allain, 2013; Robinson, 1998). In an effort to protect their personal hockey careers, active players often perpetuate the insulation of the league through carefully crafted accounts that guard the best interests of the institution (Allain, 2013).

This project aimed to capture the experiences of CHL players before and after athletic retirement and examined factors that were reported to facilitate or hinder this transition. Retirement experiences of former major junior hockey athletes were collected through a case study along with the analysis of several online media articles. Themes identified in both data sources were compared and contrasted to give voice to players’ athletic experiences. Among the themes that were found to render a portrayal of CHL athletes’ hockey experiences and subsequent retirement are an overestimation of their chances of making it to the NHL; personal sacrifices made for their hockey career, including the impact on their health and education; a social network often limited to the hockey community; and a one-dimensional self-identity centered on hockey.

The findings of this project are relevant to researchers studying athletic career transitions but resulting trends also have the potential to inform personal and career counselling interventions at the practitioner level (Park et al., 2013; Robinson et al., 2007). Transitional support programs should take into account factors such as gender, age and sport structure. Such interventions should be made a continuing facet of each elite athletes’ sporting career to address ongoing issues such as one-dimensional self-identity and mental health stigma.

Results of this project will serve as a foundation for future research and contribute to a base of knowledge upon which transitional programs specifically for CHL players could be developed. These results also have the potential to apprise athletes, parents, coaches and sport administrators about how to better foster healthy athletic development among young athletes.

Lauren K. McCoy is a University of Calgary graduate student in Counselling Psychology. As a professional figure skating coach, she is passionate about giving voice to the experiences of elite athletes and improving athletic career transitions.

By Candy Ho

Typically, when one thinks of co-operative education (co-op) programs in post-secondary institutions, processes such as placing students in temporary roles and liaising with employers come to mind. Yet, there is more than meets the eye, as the educational components of teaching and learning in co-op programs is rarely mentioned, arguably because there seems to be a disconnect between career development and the academic curriculum. To this end, how might co-op programs integrate theory and practice and as a result establish their legitimacy as an important part of the university experience? My poster, which I’ll be showing at the Cannexus15 conference, explores the connection of a co-op foundational course with Fink’s (2003) taxonomy of significant learning.

COOP 1101 is a one-credit foundational course all students must take prior to entering the co-op program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), a former university college that has recently attained university status in 2008. Striving to achieve its strategic vision by 2018, KPU is focusing on three pillars of providing quality education, building reputation, and maintaining relevance within its communities.

With co-op programs often showcased as a strong feature of the institution, COOP 1101 shares similar goals as it aims to engage students with high quality experiential learning, continue its reputation as a valuable course, and ensure course content is relevant to the contemporary world of work. The last point forms my poster’s main question: In an ever-changing world evolving exponentially, how can COOP 1101 remain relevant and useful to students from the first day of class to beyond their graduation? Preliminary insights and recommendations for future course planning were realized through analyzing the six major categories of Fink’s (2003) taxonomy, which are foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning to learn.

The poster will be of interest to practitioners intrigued about teaching and learning in career education, as they may generate insights to incorporating theories into their existing programs and workshops. Also, practitioners working in post-secondary institutions may want to learn about this for-credit co-op course (since co-op programs are typically considered co-curricular rather than part of the academic curriculum) and how it can apply in their schools.

Candy Ho (@CanceHo) is a graduate student pursuing doctoral studies in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. She currently holds teaching and research positions in both Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Simon Fraser University.

Reference:

Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

By Barb Gustafson

As a part of doctoral-level research at the University of Saskatchewan, I surveyed trades instructors at three Western Canadian post-secondary institutions about their career transition from trades practice to teaching. The survey was followed up with focus groups for a qualitative-dominant mixed methods study that was completed in November 2014.

While questions of motivation and vocational identity were only part of the overall study, there were results emerging that relate to these aspects of work life and career counselling. I found that tradespeople are motivated primarily by intrinsic rewards such as a sense of continuity – wanting to carry on their trade – both through helping new practitioners learn as students, and through practicing their trade in a new way as teachers. They bring a strong sense of having already been a teacher, as a journeyperson who mentored apprentices while in trades practice, to this new role. With this motivation set and prior identification with the role of teacher, they reported viewing this career change as more of a second phase of a continuing career than as a second career. Moving into this new role of being a full-time teacher, they are frustrated when their previous skills and knowledge, and identification with teaching practice, are not considered relevant in the credential-conscious college setting.

Based on the results of this study, career counsellors may want to consider the influence of previous work and pre-existing vocational identity in advising clients as they look for new types of work. Human resource practitioners in colleges, in particular, may want to consider these factors in their recruitment efforts, as well as in the training provided to new teachers, so as to build on strengths. Acknowledging prior learning, as well as considering the embedded identity of teacher within trades, could help retain instructors in this high-demand field.

Barb Gustafson is a PhD candidate in Educational Administration at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK. She is also a faculty member at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, the province’s primary vocational and technical training provider.

By Annelise Welde

Career education and student engagement have been linked in existing research (i.e., Orthner, Jones-Sanpei, & Akos, 2013; Sutherland, Levine, & Barth, 2005). Student engagement can be conceptualized as the interaction between the resources that are invested by students and institutions to enhance students’ experiences, learning outcomes and development (Trowler, 2010). Kuh (2009) writes that increased levels of student engagement are linked to more opportunities for students of all educational and social backgrounds to:

• Reach their educational and personal goals;
• Gain the skills and competencies demanded by the challenges of modern society; and
• Experience intellectual and monetary advantages to attaining an education.

Career education, which seeks to inform students about potential career opportunities and provides students with skills to shape their lifelong career development (Super, 1975), offers a unique opportunity to capitalize on students’ levels of engagement and encourage them to think about their futures. Based on definitions of engagement (i.e., Alberta Learning, n.d.; Trowler, 2010), career education may foster student engagement if students are encouraged to:

• Critically reflect on their experiences, abilities and personal attributes;
• Conduct research to explore potential career options;
• Make meaningful connections between academic pursuits and the world of work;
• Interact with their peers and genuinely participate in career-related activities; and
• Participate in activities that are purposefully designed to foster self- and career exploration.

If teachers and career practitioners expose students to career education using strategies such as those described above, students may experience enhanced engagement with school and thereby recognize and achieve more meaningful career and life outcomes.

Annelise Welde is currently completing a Master’s in Education with a specialization in Counselling Psychology at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, AB. Welde recently defended a thesis on the topic of integrated career education, and aspires to become a Registered Psychologist in Alberta.

References

Alberta Education. (n.d.). Student engagement. Retrieved from http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/aisi/themes/student-engagement.aspx

Kuh, G.D. (2009). What student affairs professionals need to know about student engagement. Journal of College Student Development, 50, 683-706. doi:10.1353/csd.0.0099

Orthner, D.K., Jones-Sanpei, H., Akos, P., & Rose, R.A. (2013). Improving middle school student engagement through career-relevant instruction in the core curriculum. The Journal of Educational Research, 106, 27-38. doi: 10.1080/00220671.2012.658454

Super, D.E. (1975). Career education and career guidance for the life span and for life roles. Journal of Career education, 2, 27-42.

Sutherland, D., Levine, K., & Barth, B. (2005). Investigating the impact of a career education program on school engagement. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 14, 131-157.

Trowler, V. (2010). Student engagement literature review. Heslington, York: The Higher Education Academy.