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Some employers are pivoting to different forms of recruitment to try to mitigate bias in the hiring process

Alesia Dane and Laura Fyfe

Students, new graduates and career development practitioners have spent the past two years navigating an evolving and increasingly virtual job search, recruitment and hiring processes. Many have noticed a trend becoming more prevalent in campus recruitment: employers are beginning to pivot from the traditional resume.

In its place, some are emphasizing the power of networking and the recruiter-candidate relationship, while others are moving toward online talent and skills-assessment tools to better and more equitably access, recruit and hire on-campus talent.

With this change in recruitment, career development professionals within post-secondary institutions and beyond need to shift how we support and prepare our students and new graduates. To do this, we need to understand why employers are making changes to their hiring process, what “resume-free recruitment” means for the job search process and what is filling the gap left by the traditional resume.

Why abandon the resume?

While motivation to drop the resume varies between organizations, certain outcomes are clear: removing the traditional resume in the campus recruitment process can mitigate the impact of unconscious (or implicit) bias in the recruitment process. This leads to increased diversity in hiring along with raising employee retention rates, both of which benefit a company’s financial performance, productivity, workplace culture and overall client/customer experience.

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Removing the traditional resume shifts focus from alma mater and previous employers (two potential sources of recruiter bias) to more dynamic ways of assessing a candidate’s potential for a role based on competencies: the combination of a candidate’s knowledge, skills, abilities and attributes. For employers who have made the move to abandon the resume, the business case is clear: greater diversity in hiring leads to better candidates, increased productivity, increased revenue and happier business clients.

Case study: on-campus recruitment with Scotiabank

Scotiabank is one employer making a shift to resume-free recruitment. The Canadian bank recently removed the emphasis on resumes from its on-campus recruitment process to widen its candidate pool and remove barriers to employment. The company’s new recruitment strategy focuses on skills, potential, and attracting and developing talent from a broader base.

Removing the resume has allowed Scotiabank to focus on candidate potential rather than previous experience. Scotiabank partnered with Plum, a Waterloo, ON-based talent assessment platform, to assess candidate skills and talents via a 25-minute discovery survey. The survey helps recruiters to “screen in” applicants to roles within the organization in which they will thrive, then map out a candidate’s potential future development. Skills-focused platforms like Plum prompt applicants to consider their potential for a role beyond the confines of a traditional resume, and to focus instead on other aspects of the recruitment process.

Removing the resume shifts the focus of recruitment for both recruiters and applicants to more active and dynamic participation in the recruitment process. The change in hiring encourages jobseekers to reflect on their suitability for a role through competency reflection, industry research and proactive networking.

This engagement, particularly in on-campus recruitment, gives both applicants and recruiters a better chance to “get to know” one another. Even with the shift online, recruiters have adapted their touchpoints with students to include more virtual platforms, removing barriers around travel and increasing student access to networking, events, job fairs and one-on-one meetings.

Removing the resume decreases emphasis on demographic information, education, work and volunteer experience, qualifications that often pose challenges for internationally trained professionals and students in equity-deserving groups.

What about the students?

What does a world without resumes look like for students? Resume-free recruitment prioritizes a student’s understanding of how their volunteer experience, work, education and life experience have nurtured and cultivated their career-ready competencies and skills.

Rather than relying upon a static document, students will need to understand and be comfortable articulating the value they offer to the organization through networking and engaging with organizations and recruiters. Shifting the focus from accomplishments and qualifications to relationship building and a more “whole human approach” to employability creates opportunities for candidates who may have been previously overlooked in traditional recruitment methods.

With shifts in recruitment must come shifts in how we support our students and recent graduates. We have included some practical tips and best practices for career development practitioners helping to prepare their students for resume-free recruitment.

• Networking: Recruitment is relationship-based, so encourage students to attend events on and off campus. Touchpoints with the campus recruitment team are important for students to learn more about an organization. Also encourage students to regularly update their LinkedIn profiles and to use the platform for networking.
• Research: Help students understand an organization before applying. Encourage company, industry and labour market research, and proactively connecting with recruiters for more information.
• Reflection: Work with students on application documents and interview preparation. Encourage students to reflect upon skills developed through experience to help make connections to their potential within an organization. Encourage students to become familiar and comfortable with online assessments such as Career Cruising, TypeFocus, Color Code and Talent Today.
• Assessment: If an assessment is part of the recruitment process, encourage students to:
  • Set aside dedicated time to take the assessment
  • Find a space free of distractions
  • Answer assessment questions honestly; don’t try to guess or anticipate what the algorithm is looking for

While resume-free recruitment creates a more dynamic, equitable recruitment process for both jobseekers and employers, it is worth noting that the shift is occurring mostly among larger employers and is focused primarily on campus recruitment. As businesses adapt their hiring practices, it is essential for students and career development professionals to continue to be flexible to industry change. While some are abandoning the resume altogether, the majority of small-to-medium-sized businesses still rely heavily on the document and its fundamental place in career conversations is secure, for now. Creating a resume-style document remains an excellent place for students to practice skills translation and articulation and to reflect on the experiences that form their career journey.

As Manager, Talent Partnerships & Relations, Co-op, Career & Experiential Education at Brock University, Alesia Dane leads a highly skilled team to develop and grow relationships with employers. Dane’s passion includes connecting organizations to campus talent in innovative and meaningful ways.

Laura Fyfe is a career professional with a background in labour market research. As Skills Translation Co-ordinator in the department of Co-op, Career & Experiential Education at Brock University, Fyfe facilitates meaningful connections between skills, education, and the ever-evolving labour market. Fyfe has been at the forefront of developing and integrating Brock’s campus-wide career competencies framework.

How we can inject career development into schools now

Adriano Magnifico

Veronica is a Grade 11 student in the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg. Intelligent, friendly, engaged. She has a supportive family and group of friends.

In every aspect of her life, she is happy and well-adjusted – except one. She confesses that thinking about the ‘C-word’ – career – makes her feel lost.

“I personally had no idea what I wanted to do after high school and the thought of trying to figure it out scared me.”

Veronica is not alone in her angst. Research indicates that as career indecision increases, students experience higher levels of anxiety.

She faces the quintessential problem for high school students: what to do after high school.

Considering its ubiquitous and highly relevant nature to every student in every K-12 school system, career development surely gets serious attention in schools, right?

Not really.

Students are often left on their own. Schools prioritize completing those 30 credits, not figuring out what students can do with them. And that’s a problem.

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3 key challenges that keep career development as a ‘nice-to-have’

The problem is that when schools assume career development (CD) naturally happens without substantive help from the education system, they ignore a serious disconnect with students like Veronica who lack the skills, knowledge, and confidence to make informed and purposeful decisions about their futures.

The prevailing nature of school organization and mindset poses challenges for offering systemic career development for all K-12 students.

1. Divisional/district leadership

Leadership is the key component. A recent article (Purchase, 2022) expounds on the important impact principals may have in delivering career development programming in schools. They shape the vision of their schools and decide who will lead career development initiatives and facilitate courses. If a physical education teacher is teaching a CD course, that’s the principal’s call.

Leadership, however, has to extend even higher up the food chain. When Britain published the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance and made career development activities mandatory in the school system in 2018, it became the law to do CD in schools. That’s commitment.

2. Compartmentalization

School subjects and life in most schools are organized in compartmentalized silos. The high school experience, for the most part, fits into course timetables with tight timeframes, each course laden with specialized content that rarely deviates outside its boundary. In Manitoba, even our Life Works/Career Development 9-12 electives inadvertently nurture the impression that CD begins and ends when the assignments are completed.

3. Space for reflection

Students need time to reflect on why and how courses may connect to their lives in the present and to assess how the skills and knowledge within those courses may contribute to their futures. School schedules are so packed with courses and homework, students rarely have time to do more than complete the assignments. The system simply does not allow students to take time for necessary reflection about the impact of the courses on their lives.

Practical ways to build systemic CD

Students’ readiness to engage in career development varies with age and maturation, so any programming must be robust enough to connect with students when they feel ready. Below are some ideas to inject career development into traditional school systems without radical alterations:

1. Use the CMEC Benchmarks. Education ministers across Canada have done the heavy lifting. They’ve agreed to 11 CD benchmarks in a Reference Framework document, along with a Student Transition Benchmark Self-Assessment Tool and a Student Transition Action Plan. You can’t start planning for systemic career development without figuring out where you’re at with CD first.
2. Include CD in the school plan. Schools write and implement school plans every year where they determine priorities, themes, initiatives, opportunities and exploratory ideas. Career development can be prioritized by including it in the yearly plan.
3. Put a career coach in every school. Gone are the days of single-discipline departments heads (English, science, physical education, etc.). As new leadership roles in schools emerge – humanities, IT, integrated learning – the time is right to create career leaders in every high school who are trained and certified in the art of CD. Elementary and junior high feeder schools can benefit from the Career Leader in the high school, who can share expertise on developing an unobtrusive career lens on classroom learning.
4. Inject CD into every academic course. Career development can be brought into every class to help students see the relevance of what they’re learning. Every course has the potential to ignite a CD discussion to apply content and knowledge to future aspirations and bring incredible relevance to students’ lives. Trained career coaches can work with subject teachers to reveal the best ways to connect subject matter with career content (such as LMI) and share ways to mentor students through a reflective CD process. Better yet, why not train teachers in the art of CD applications for students?
5. Connect JEDI to career development. JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, inclusion) principles offer a powerful conduit that seamlessly flows toward CD processes for students. Career development honours the lives, choices, backgrounds and mindsets of every individual and is integral to helping students move forward and make life choices with confidence. Effective CD builds on every person’s diverse and unique qualities as strengths on their powerful journey toward self-actualization.

Tackling fears head-on

Veronica participated in a series of CD workshops with me.

She used the LEAN Career Design Canvas to help her reflect about who she is, which skills she has and which skills she wants to acquire.

She learned about her “career cluster” and examined data about jobs, trends, salaries, education and skills.

Perhaps most importantly, she appreciated the chance to express her authentic feelings about life after high school.

She said, “I was in panic mode, but these workshops helped me become my own guidance counsellor.” She felt a weight being lifted from her as she gathered knowledge and insights about future possibilities.

Veronica’s worry about the next steps after high school will not disappear entirely. Thinking about the unknown has this inherent effect. But now, her uncertainty will be tempered by knowledge, reflection and a growing sense of confidence moving forward as she continues her drive to find her best self.

She discovered that the C word doesn’t have to be scary.

Adriano Magnifico is the Career and Entrepreneurship Consultant at the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg and a member of CERIC’s Advocacy & Community Engagement Committee.

These steps can equip clients with the language, knowledge and insights to align their career path with what matters to them

Helena Prins

At a recent team retreat, our HR Manager guided us through a values reminder exercise. We were given a few resources prior to the event to help identify five to eight of our core values. We were then given the opportunity to discuss an artifact representing our values with our peers.

While my artifact (shown right) in response to the activity was very simple, this hands-on, creative exercise was a powerful personal experience, as well as an excellent team-building activity. Finding similarities between myself and my co-workers felt affirming, while differences made for curious conversations.

And the certified career strategist inside of me was doing a happy dance! I firmly believe that those who have a positive alignment between their values and their job have a higher level of job satisfaction and success. The opposite is also true: if there is a misalignment between your values and chosen career path, it will lead to a disconnect. The “Great Careers Disconnect” could manifest itself as apathy, resentment, burnout or poor performance. Knowing and understanding your own values, or supporting your client in knowing theirs, is one way to strengthen career connectedness.

What are values

There are a few different ways to think about values.

Simon Sinek’s take on values resonates deeply with me – he states that values have to be verbs. Sinek proposes that “values are the things you do, the things you live by … and you can’t do nouns.”

“If there is a misalignment between your values and chosen career path, it will lead to a disconnect.”

Another of my favourite definitions of values comes from Brené Brown’s book Dare to Lead: “A value is a way of being or believing that we hold most important. Living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them.”

For the purposes of this article, I define values as the principles we choose to live by.

Why is knowing values important in career development?

Values build resilience

Research has shown that connecting to personal values can help people be more resilient in the face of stress. According to Patterson and Kelleher (Resilient School Leaders. 2005, p. 51), the process of “privately clarifying, publicly articulating, and consciously acting on” core values is a great source of strength in helping people face adversity and emerge stronger than before.

Values have motivating powers

Sinek wrote a bestseller just over a decade ago that underlines the motivational power of knowing your “why.” According to his framework, your “why” makes clear your purpose – why we do what we do. Guiding your client to the answer of why they do what they do will not only help them to truly differentiate their value proposition, but it will also provide a reason to keep going, especially when life events make it hard or impossible to live in line with personal values.

Values give clues about an employer or potential employer

Could there be some tension between what your client values and what their company values? Or is there alignment? When your client is searching for companies to work for, ask them to look at what the companies list on their website as important values.

For example, if your client is considering a career in the banking industry, comparing the websites of the different financial institutions makes it evident which banks truly value diversity and which don’t. Their values are represented in the programs and projects they support. If your client is feeling resentful about their current employer, it could be helpful to explore a misalignment in values.

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Values come up during interviews

It is not uncommon for an employer to ask a question about an applicant’s values. In some cases, the question can be as direct as, “What are your top three values and how do they show up at work?” or “How do your core values align with that of our company?” It could also be examined more indirectly through behavioural or situational questions.

As career practitioners, we may have to help our clients understand that knowing their values will have a positive impact on their career development. Their behaviours reflect their values and how they choose to live each day. It is also important for your client to recognize that they can’t live values that they can’t name.

Here are several steps to equip clients with the language, knowledge and insights to align their career path in a direction that will allow them to fully live their values and to avoid a disconnect with their career development:

Step 1: Explore resources

• There are many free online self-assessments, like the Barret Value Centre’s “Personal Values Assessment,” that only take a few minutes and will provide your client with a report that could be used for a follow-up conversation.
• Nishnaabeg author Leanne Simpson articulates seven values in her 2011 book, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence and a New Emergence (pp. 124–127). Kokum Dibaajimowinan, the grandmothers’ teachings around courage, truth, respect, love, honesty, wisdom and humility, are common values typically reflected in Indigenous teachings.
• Provide your client with the list of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as a framework to help them expand their current career aspirations. Candy Ho suggests questions such as, “Which of the SDGs do you think you can contribute to as you work in your chosen field, and how so?” This can help your client better connect their work aspiration to a bigger purpose.

Step 2: Encourage reflection

Ask your client to consider their top 3 values and discuss:

• How has this value guided your career decision making?
• How does this value align with the values of your current workplace or role?
• If there is tension between your values and those of your workplace, what could you do next?

Step 3: Get practical

Once your client is more familiar with their values, you can support them to take practical steps to incorporate them into their career documents and planning. Consider:

• How do your client’s values show up in their resume, cover letter or online profile? Provide support to your client to tweak and update their professional application package.
• Who are the people in their network who embody these values? Encourage mentorship.

Ultimately, your clients will be happier when their value system aligns with their job (Forbes, 2020). It is also worth highlighting values might change over a lifetime. A young graduate might prioritize a job that will pay off student loans, while autonomy and creativity might be more important to someone in a later stage of their career. Ideally though, your client knows their values, because there is no stronger antidote to the “Great Careers Disconnect” than living our values.

Helena Prins (she/her) is a Certified Career Strategist with Career Professionals of Canada and is currently an advisor in Learning and Teaching with BCcampus.

Victoria Grant, O.C., Maang Indoden, (Loon Clan), Teme-Augama Anishnabai Qway (Woman of the Deep-Water People), is a member of the Temagami First Nation.  

Currently, Grant is committed to the work and development of the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund, a new national fund that began as a response to COVID-19 in March 2020. The fund is led by Indigenous peoples to support Indigenous organizations and communities. 

Grant has always been a passionate advocate for a more robust Indigenous voice within the philanthropic world. She is especially proud of the Temagami Community Foundation, where she was co-founder and inaugural Chair, and her work with Community Foundations of Canada. Currently, she serves as a director on the board of The Counselling Foundation of Canada and is Chair of the Board for The Canadian Canoe Museum. 

In a sentence or two, describe why career development matters. 

The process of self-knowledge and exploration will help shape your career. Career development helps one identify their strengths and abilities, and to improve in those areas where one may need some support. Career development will help lead you to work that is fulfilling, while providing a lifeline.  

Which book are you reading right now and why did you choose it? 

I am reading Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. I chose it because I read Amor’s novel A Gentleman in Moscow, which was a very good read.  

What was your first-ever job and what did you learn from it?  

My first-ever job was for a couple who owned a resort on Lake Temagami. I waited tables, cleaned cabins and helped in the kitchen. I certainly learned how to cook, but I think most importantly, I learned how to relate to people and engage in conversation.  

What do you do to relax and how does it help you? 

Being a spectator and having the opportunity to be present in my grandchildren’s activities makes whatever else I am doing workwise worthwhile. 

What is the one thing you wouldn’t be able to work without?  

In this time especially, access to the internet.  

What’s something you want to do in the next year that you’ve never done before? 

I think it would be fair to say that I am open to new adventures. I believe that events or opportunities will always come your way. It is a matter of being ready and seeing them when they are there in front of you.  

Who would you like to work with most and why? 

I am working with the people I would most like to work with right now. I could not have imagined that in this time and space, that I would be doing what I am doing with the people who are responsible for the creation of the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund.  

What is one piece of advice you have for people as we navigate these challenging times?   

Look after yourself, understand what you need and take the time to do it.  

Which talent or superpower would you like to have and how would you use it? 

I would like to have the superpower of creating time. I like to do so many different things, and I always run out of time. But I would want to get enjoyment, so not rushed.  

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

My family. My husband, my three boys and their spouses, and my grandchildren. Nothing better! 

Labour unions can be a powerful force for creating systemic change

Trevor Lehmann

“The idea of the union – that people who do the work should have a voice in how the work is to be done and what they are to be paid for that work – is an intrinsically democratic idea.” – Ross et al., 2015

Years ago, a counsellor who worked extensively with marginalized and racialized populations lamented to me that interview preparation was simply an exercise in teaching his clients to “act white.” It served as a moment of consciousness-raising that has stuck with me. I began to wonder if my interview and resume support helps some in a crowded theatre stand up, and in doing so, blocks others and perpetuates inequality.

COVID has highlighted many inequalities of society as well as the need to go beyond voluntary employer policies to address them. The Brookings Institute reports that despite large stock price increases in 2020 and their frontline workers being heralded as “heroes,” retailers Walmart and Amazon could have paid their workers four times as much and still made a profit; consider what quadrupling or even doubling the salaries of front-line workers could have done to reduce poverty and improve life trajectories. In Canada, some business lobbyists argued that COVID income supports disincentivized work – commentary that distracts from the real problem of “precarious, low-wage, and risky working conditions,” say Canadian labour scholars Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage (2021, p. 19).

The question remains: Beyond advocating for voluntary employer policies, what roles can career development professionals play in changing the system?

Organized labour: A forgotten tool for creating systemic change

In a recent peer group I attended, the topic of ensuring quality work for Canadians resurrected my concerns of perpetuating inequality. The ensuing discussion explored the necessity of ensuring that all jobs provide sufficient compensation and safety, and grant workers greater control over their place of employment. Labour unions were brought up as a rarely discussed but highly relevant way to create this systemic change.

Consider the fact that the Canadian Labour Congress and Ross et al. (2015) highlight the influential role of Canadian organized labour in the creation of:

• Maternity and parental benefits
• Employment Insurance
• Safety standards in the workplace
• Worker’s compensation
• Decreasing the gender wage gap
• Ending child labour
• 40-hour work weeks

Many of the benefits we take for granted were created directly or indirectly through organized labour, yet we have forgotten how much we owe to it as a concrete tool for improving the conditions of workers. Unions remain a silent topic in the field of career development, despite rising Canadian unionization rates since the start of the pandemic and unionized jobs being three times that of the United States.

“Many of the benefits we take for granted were created directly or indirectly through organized labour, yet we have forgotten how much we owe to it as a concrete tool for improving the conditions of workers.”

COVID serves as an effective reminder of both the effectiveness and need for unions. Reports and articles by economist Jim Stanford highlight how unionized positions saw reduced layoffs during the initial shutdowns of 2020. While our present labour shortage may result in employer policies that are more amenable to workers, if we want them to stick, we need pressure from community groups and organized labour to formalize policies in collective agreements and legislation.

Criticisms and changes in organized labour

Labour unions are not without their criticisms and many have a history of perpetuating systemic inequalities and discrimination against marginalized populations. The result has not been that racialized minorities have avoided forming unions, however, but created alternative unions such as the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. The existence of such groups highlights a shared desire for meaningful participation and supportive spaces within the labour movements and workplaces.

In recent years, organized labour has acknowledged its shortcomings, with the Toronto and York Labour Council publishing a report as part of three-phase project to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within unions. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has organized within Inuit communities using consensus decision-making to determine if workers want representation, incorporated the participation of Elders into union activities and translated materials into Indigenous languages. PSAC and UNIFOR have also developed Indigenous leadership programs (Ross & Savage, 2021).

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Greater inclusion is also promoted in Community unionism – exemplified in the Worker’s Action Centre and Immigrants Workers Centre – which aligns unions with unemployed and precariously employed groups.

Despite the need for greater prioritization of DEI within organized labour, unions continue to provide benefits to both workers and Canadian society more broadly. A report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives argues that unions serve to democratize the workplace by putting limits on employers’ power over the workplace. Workers who participate in democratic processes at work also had a greater tendency to vote in political elections and be more informed about issues affecting society at large. High union density also coincided with other democratizing influences including progressive taxation and better income-security programs such as unemployment insurance.

Fostering agency and awareness in clients

It seems odd that despite ongoing conversations in the career development field around diversity, workplace safety, job loss, precarious gig work, and awareness of the racial and gender aspects of poverty, we do not discuss the tools that have traditionally improved workers’ quality of life. Our individual work with clients provides an opportunity to break this silence by including unions as part of broader discussions around the societal barriers that affect the lives of our clients.

The Advocating Workers-within-Environment (AWE) theory provides a framework for encouraging clients to recognize how their experience in the workforce is interconnected with their relationships and community, and the society and sociopolitical structures they live within (Hutchison, 2015). Interventions encourage the client to critically analyze their environment on a “marginalized to privileged continuum” and develop self-insight that leads to self-advocacy strategies to meet personal goals. This analysis includes many life factors, and participation in a unionized workplace can be a consideration for many clients in the process of fostering a greater sense of personal agency and consciousness of the system they inhabit.

Creating systemic change

Consider the resources at the end of this article as a gateway to having conversations about organized labour and learning about its role in Canadian society. If you belong to a union, remain active and consider advocating for greater DEI initiatives and policies within your union’s membership, collective agreements and advocacy work. If outside of a union, consider ways that they can be connected to union-adjacent organizations related to career and community development. While organized labour is not the only solution to addressing the inequalities present in Canadian society, it is a tool that we cannot afford to remain silent about.

Articles and online resources:

• Websites to help you – and your clients – know your labour rights (CareerWise)
• Shiftwork Newsletter (PressProgress)
• Crash course: Starting a union in your workplace (Rank and File)
• Labour Matters (Centre for Policy Alternatives)
• PowerShare – Centre for Future Work
• Hutchison, Brian. (2015), Advocating Workers-Within-Environment: A Critical Perspective for Addressing Career Concerns. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, 54: 236-246.

Books:

• Ross, S., Savage, L. (2021). Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada. (2nd Edition). Fernwood Publishing.
• Ross, S., Savage, L., Black, E., & Silver, J. (2015). Building a better world: An introduction to the labour movement in Canada. (3^rd ed) Fernwood Publishing.
• McAlevey, J. (2016). No shortcuts: Organizing for power in the new gilded age. Oxford University Press.
• Introduction chapter (available online)

Trevor Lehmann (MEd, CCC) is a Career Consultant with the University of Manitoba. He also explores ideas and best practices around career development as it relates to climate change, inequality, life transitions and hope. You can follow his writings, resources and enrol in group workshops at: www.trevorlehmann.ca

Practitioners can help students leverage their resilience and cultural capital in career planning

Candace Stewart-Smith, Jessie Eulenberg and Kathleen Clarke

The limited Canadian literature on international students and career development tends to focus on deficit factors. These deficit factors might include cultural barriers (e.g. language barriers), lack of relational networks and perceived employer biases that affect their transition into the workforce.

Viewing these factors with deficit-based thinking is limiting. Instead, international students and career practitioners need to be reminded of students’ strengths that are also present when they transition to a new country, culture and language. Students can build on this resilience to support their career planning and goal setting.

Using frameworks and theories that are strengths-based can capture students’ assets, which can be used to navigate their career challenges. Constructivist theories and social justice frameworks can provide career practitioners with helpful tools to empower international students to position their journey and harness the knowledge they already possess to ease them into the workforce. Examples of such theories that you may wish to review are:

• The Systems Theory Framework, which encourages practitioners to ask curious questions and use storytelling as a tool in eliciting information.
• Yosso’s Model of Community Cultural Wealth, based on critical race theory, considers the positive aspects of cultural capital possessed by marginalized groups.
• Culture-Infused Career Counselling, which inspires us to take a social justice approach to improve how we work with others whose cultures are different from ours.

With aspects of these frameworks in mind, we propose four strategies that career practitioners can use to encourage a strengths-based career development approach with international students. With each of these recommendations, we provide examples of open-ended questions that could spark conversation with international students.

1. Help students by eliciting their unique stories and abilities

In meetings with international students, they often share that they lack the experience, language or confidence needed to compete in the Canadian job market. International students’ lived experiences often include many assets – a global worldview, family capital, cultural knowledge, intercultural skills and additional languages. By bringing an intentional focus to Yosso’s identified areas of cultural capital (e.g. aspirational, social and resistant capitals), career practitioners can empower and motivate students.

Students should be encouraged to build an inventory of stories that confidently express their specific abilities and capacity. Encouraging the telling of stories is grounded in Systems Theory Framework and is useful to frame students’ career goals and action steps.

By guiding students toward seeing the unique value in their lived experiences, career practitioners can help international students with the development of self-efficacy. Career practitioners can enhance students’ awareness of the strengths they possess and their ability to set goals by asking curious questions to elicit their stories. Examples of questions that can be used to elicit these stories are:

• Can you tell me about your decision and process for coming to Canada?
• Can you tell me about a time when you overcame a challenge while travelling or as an international student?
• Can you tell me how your international experience has changed you?

2. Use commonalities to develop supports for students with similar goals

At a fundamental level, one major distinction in international students’ intentions after graduation is whether to work in Canada or return to their country of origin. Some students may pursue a third option such as further international study or travel. We recommend asking students to identify their goals and intentions, so that this information can be used to inform career advice and the goal-setting process. With this information, career practitioners can offer programming to meet the distinct needs of different international students.

For group programming, effective planning at a cohort level should address the common needs of the group. For example, how to gain relevant experience or how to acquire post-graduation work permits and permanent residency options. In individual meetings, effective counselling includes listening to the student’s goals and knowledge of their home country to determine an action plan.

Career practitioners can understand students’ needs by asking curious questions in individual and group sessions such as:

• What are your intentions after graduation?
• What should I know about your future plans?

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Canada’s essential yet overqualified immigrant workforce

3. Be prepared to be a cultural coach

International students arriving in Canada are experts in their country of origin but may be new to Canadian cultural norms. Students need to understand the expectations of their host culture, and one of these norms is that in Canada, experience matters. Many domestic students are required to complete volunteer hours to graduate high school and may also elect to work part-time. International students may not have the experience of working or volunteering during high school if it is not customary in their home country.

A key cultural message to relay to international students intending to work in Canada after graduation is to get experience while they are still a student. As career practitioners, we can guide students through the Canadian job search process to explain the demand for skills and experience as well as help them strategize how to gain valuable, progressive experience.

In guiding international students to navigate experience requirements, here are some curious questions to ask:

• How was volunteer and work experience valued during your high school education?
• What work and volunteer experiences would you enjoy? How can I help you find these experiences?
• Do you feel prepared to succeed in the Canadian work environment? If not, in what ways do you feel unprepared?

4. Be prepared to reflect, learn and advocate 

Career practitioners are continuous learners. The model of Culture-Infused Career Counselling affirms that in addition to learning about students’ cultures and strengths, it is important for practitioners to reflect on culture and upbringing.

“In moving to Canada, international students demonstrate a strong set of personal strengths and potential to succeed in their goals.”

Begin with reflecting on personal worldviews, as well as ideas about careers and values. Consider power and privilege relationships with students using an activity such as the power flower [download].

To enhance personal intercultural competencies further, research opportunities that are offered by local institutions or community organizations. The Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) and Canadian Association of College & University Student Services (CACUSS) are rich sources of professional development in these competencies.

For our final set of curious questions, we encourage you to turn inward and ask yourself:

• What biases do I have?
• What is my social location (factors including gender, social class, race, education, ability, age, sexual orientation, religion, culture and geographic location) and privilege as a career practitioner and how does that influence my work with international students?
• What injustice do I see within employment practices? What can I do about these observations?

In moving to Canada, international students demonstrate a strong set of personal strengths and potential to succeed in their goals. The strengths emerging from their stories can be useful in various stages of their career development and goal setting. For example, they could be molded into behavioural-based interview examples that confidently answer: “Tell me about a time you overcame a challenge.”

Answering these curious questions will allow international students to recognize their strengths, build their resilience and move toward their transition to the workplace with a hopeful mindset.

Candace Stewart-Smith, MSc, is an International Student Academic Transition Advisor and MEd student at Wilfrid Laurier University. As a former international student, she is passionate about seeing international students thrive in the Canadian workforce. 

Jessie Eulenberg, MSW, is a career consultant at Wilfrid Laurier University who enjoys connecting students with career development resources and opportunities. She collaborates with Laurier International to develop innovative programming for the growing international student population.

Kathleen Clarke, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University. The focus of her research is understanding the challenges that specific populations of post-secondary students experience and how they can be further supported. 

Lindsay Purchase

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m tired of reading the words “The Great Resignation.”

Like the “future of work” and other overused, often misunderstood terms before it, the “Great [fill-in-the-blank]” has become a stand-in for any and all mainstream discussion connected to career development.

So, why use this construct and release a Careering issue on “The Great Careers Disconnect”? Because within this conversational anchor about labour market shifts, there is so much that’s going unsaid. And career professionals are ready to say the quiet part loudly.

Given that 45% of employers say they are not aware of career development professionals, according to a recent survey by CERIC and Environics, and LMIC research shows that only one in five adults have accessed career services, it is not surprising that public conversations around careers are narrowly focused. But it is a problem.

For this issue of Careering magazine, we asked people working in all areas of career development to reflect on the question: What gaps are you seeing in career services, career education, the labour market and the workplace – and what are your ideas to address them?

Those working with youth spotted disconnects between employer hiring practices and student needs, as well as in the piece-meal approach to K-12 career development across the country. One author questioned why career professionals don’t talk more about unions, while another explored the issue of values disconnects at work.

While articles raise key challenges in the “Great Careers Disconnect,” this issue is also about highlighting creative solutions and building bridges.

Several articles reflected a desire to improve equity, diversity and inclusion within career development systems, including building a sustainable future of work for the Black community and supporting jobseekers with disabilities to identify their strengths. Others identified key improvements that can be made to support newcomer professionals and international students.

Of course, we can’t cover it all. If this issue sparks ideas for you about disconnects in work and education, talk about it! Start a conversation with colleagues. Advocate for change. Write about your curious questions and thoughtful solutions (shameless plug: Maybe for CERIC’s CareerWise website? All are welcome.).

For now, happy reading!