BLOG

The first draft of the proposed National Standards and Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners was released December 15th, 1999. An intensive 10 week cross country consultation process has been scheduled for December 15, 1999 to February 29, 2000. This consultation process, as well as, a session on the Draft Standards at the NATCON Conference (Ottawa, Jan. 24-26,2000), are tools being used to facilitate comment from the over 40,000 or so practitioners working in the career development field in Canada.

Career Change: Everything You Need to Know to Meet New Challenges and Take Control of Your Career, 2nd Ed. by Dr. David P. Helfand, 1999, VGM Career Horizons
ISBN- 0-8442-4269-1

This book promotes itself as the one and only volume you need at your side to cope with the challenges of career change. After completing a “Work Values Satisfaction Assessment”, and assessing entrepreneurial characteristics, Helfand shows readers just how to go about getting a new career. He applies psychological principles from counselling, like cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) that readers can use to clear up some of their stumbling blocks: low self esteem, overcoming fears of failure and success, perfectionism and procrastination. There are good tips for increasing self-esteem and expanding one’s opportunities. An entire section is devoted to groups with particular needs: women, the disabled, minorities, dual career couples, single parents, and mid-level managers. An extensive reading list and dozens of excellent resources round out the book.

Careers for Non-Conformists: A Practical Guide to Finding and Developing a Career Outside the Mainstream , by Sandra Gurvis, 2000, Marlowe & Co. (NYC)
ISBN: 1-56924-684-X

Are you a nonconformist? What does the term really mean? So starts this book on “non-traditional” work for entrepreneurial types. The book is organized into chapters according to discipline, e.g., Animal Careers, the Law, Physical Fitness, etc., with several jobs listed in each category. Information for each job is grouped under the headings “What it Takes”, “What to Expect”, “What you’ll Need”, and “A Career Sampler”, providing the usual information on training, a typical day, expected earnings, where to get clients and more. A lot of this information is available in other books, but Gurvis writes well and is always on top of trends – the content of this book exemplifies just how much the world of work has changed and provides some interesting options for those ready to go out on their own.

Career Xroads 2000- 500 Best Jobs, Resumes and Career Management Sites on the Web, by Gerry Crispin & Mark Mehler, 1999, MMC Group
ISBN: 0-965223922

This resource is an international directory of the best websites for career-related purposes, including several Canadian sites (most are listed at Contact Point). The sites are listed alphabetically with contact information (snail mail addresses) and the sites are cross-referenced in lists at the back, according to purpose (job site, career information site, etc.), sector of employment, country and more. Also worth a look is the companion website, where you can register for free online updates! This one’s a gem for anyone working in career development.

Do you have a book review to share?
E-mail us at admin@contactpoint.ca

An Interview with Barbara Moses

It seems the computers were really Y2K ready after all. Now how about the rest of us? How has the work world changed with the century and how can we prepare ourselves for the future? Contact Point asked Canadian career guru Barbara Moses for her comments. Here’s the interview:

By The Counselling Foundation of Canada

In the early days of a new century and a new millennium, many of us are caught up in the reflective mood sweeping our nation and the nations of the world.

The Counselling Foundation of Canada believes a historical snapshot of the career counselling community in Canada would be an appropriate “celebration” of the many achievements and the multitude of contributions made by individuals, agencies, organizations and institutions who have, over the last century, created the professional community to which we belong.

By Elaine Clow-Martin

Way to Go! Project – Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board

The Way to Go! Project was conceived by The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, to assist all students in finding satisfying and rewarding career paths, in high demand career areas. The Board has had a historical vision of addressing the needs of industry for a skilled workforce, to enable future economic development in the school community, the Province, and country as a whole. This “thinking outside the box” towards meeting employer’s needs for a skilled workforce is much more proactive, relative to some other school districts’ more traditional approach to providing career advice.