Aligning career services with the needs of students with learning disabilities

July 13, 2021By

By Michael Ford

While studying at my mostly deserted university campus recently, another student asked if I was a professor, a question I get a lot as a mature student. The fact I am often older than my professors may have something to do with this, but that’s another story. After clarifying that I was a graduate student, he expressed how much trouble he was having since the pandemic forced classes online, in part because he was unable to connect in the same way with professors.

For many students, that wouldn’t be a problem. But for this earnest young gentleman, who was on the autism spectrum, it mattered greatly that he couldn’t be face-to-face with instructors and students and was no longer receiving the support and accommodations he had become accustomed to. In the process of researching and writing a paper on learning disabilities, I wondered what impact the pandemic might be having on his career development and students like him. Although he may feel alone, he actually has lots of company; among Canadian youth aged 15–24, learning disabilities are the second-most common type of disability, just slightly behind mental health-related disabilities (Statistics Canada, 2017).

A disproportionate impact

It’s no secret that COVID-19 forced all educational institutions to adjust both teaching practices and student services such as career education. A survey by the Student Experience in the Research University Consortium – an academic and policy research collaboration – revealed that the pandemic has affected the well-being of students with disabilities at a disproportionate rate in multiple ways (Soria et al., 2020). Specifically, they are less likely than students without disabilities to feel like they belong and that they have been supported by their institution, among other challenges and hardships.

Addressing this disparity and inequity requires a system-wide approach. Considering that a student’s well-being largely depends on future plans and their career path, career practitioners have a role to play in this response.

Helping all students recover

As for how the career profession can help disabled clients recover from the pandemic, a recent international survey of career practitioners and policy makers in 93 countries identified issues around inclusion, access to in-person and digital services and individualizing solutions (Cedefop et al, 2020). Even before the pandemic, however, individuals with learning disabilities suffered greater unemployment and underemployment and were disadvantaged in their career progression (Chen, 2021).

To respond to the needs of this population, researchers such as Charles Chen (University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) refer to the unique career development needs of learning-disabled students. For those working with these clients, inside or outside post-secondary institutions, it is now even more paramount that they adapt career exploration and decision-making practices and resources to diverse learners, reach out to a greater share of the learning-disabled population, better connect career planning to well-being, develop a relationship of trust so that more clients disclose their disabilities, promote a strength-focused rather than deficit-focused approach with clients, help clients develop self-efficacy beliefs and direct clients toward a greater awareness of their personal capacities.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the name or contact information of the student I met on campus, so I am unable to find out if things improved for him as he became more acclimated to the new ways of learning. I can only hope that those in career development serving him and his peers with learning disabilities continue to educate themselves about learning disabilities and become better at helping all students achieve their full potential. A good place to start for further information is the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada.

Michael Ford is an MA student in educational psychology at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and is also an instructor in SFU’s Career Development Practitioner program. Michael is particularly interested in the shifting dynamics and trends of the workplace and jobs, labour market information, work/life transition and the future of work in times of uncertainty and rapid technological change. This past January, he co-presented at CERIC’s Cannexus21 conference in a session titled “Hindsight is 2020: Youth Transition in Uncertain Times.” Prior to returning to school, Michael assembled a long and diverse career in communications, business and the arts.

References

Cedefop; European Commission; ETF; ICCDPP; ILO; OECD; UNESCO (2020). Career guidance policy and practice in the pandemic: results of a joint international survey – June to August 2020. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. http://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2801/318103

Chen, C. P. (2021). Career counselling university students with learning disabilities. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 49(1), 44–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2020.1811205

Soria, K. M., Horgos, B., Chirikov, I., & Jones-White, D. (2020). The experiences of undergraduate students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. SERU Consortium, University of California – Berkeley and University of Minnesota.17

Statistics Canada. (2017). Canadian Survey on Disability. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/181128/dq181128a-eng.htm

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Why we should worry about interview anxiety

July 13, 2021By

By Simonne Mastrella

Job interviews are often met with feelings of nervousness or apprehension (McCarthy & Goffin, 2004). Considering that interviews are high-stakes situations, this experience of interview anxiety is far from surprising. It is, however, problematic for candidates. In addition to being unpleasant, considerable research has found that self-reported interview anxiety is associated with lower interview scores from interviewers (Powell et al., 2018). This negative correlation is of a moderate size (𝜌 = −.19) but because there are often more candidates than available positions for a job, interview anxiety can meaningfully impact whether a candidate receives a job offer. The big question for organizations, candidates and career counsellors alike is: should it?

The relation between interview anxiety and job performance

It’s not an accident that employment interviews are one of the most frequently used methods to assess job applicants; they tend to be good predictors of future job performance (Macan, 2009; Cortina et al., 2000). A qualified job candidate could use their knowledge, skills and abilities to obtain a high interview score and consequently, the job. Once hired, those demonstrated qualifications would enable them to be a high-performing employee.

The predictive power of the interview is contingent on the idea that the factors that impact interview performance also impact job performance (Huffcutt, Van Iddekinge, & Roth, 2011). What does this mean for interview anxiety? If anxious interviewees would be poor on-the-job performers – perhaps because anxious interviewees tend to be unqualified – then interview anxiety is a relevant factor to consider when making employment decisions. It is also possible, however, that interview anxiety is unrelated to a candidate’s suitability for the job and therefore should not factor into employment decisions. Which is it?

What the research suggests

Ironically, it is difficult to assess how interview anxiety relates to job performance because anxious interviewees are often not hired, because of their poor interview performance. This said, a few studies were able to explore this relation by using interviews for residence dons and co-op positions at Southern Ontario universities – positions in which a large number of applicants are hired, including anxious interviewees with relatively low scores. The researchers correlated interview scores with supervisor-rated performance scores and found that interview anxiety appeared to be unrelated to job performance (Schneider et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2021). So, anxious interviewees are not necessarily worse performers than non-anxious interviewees. It is important to note that these studies were correlational, so it cannot be concluded that interview anxiety caused interviewees to perform poorly; it is also possible that interviewees who performed poorly reported feeling more anxious after the interview. However, the unrelatedness between interview and job performance suggests that anxiety may interfere with a qualified candidate’s ability to demonstrate their qualifications.

The potential impact of interview anxiety on interview performance

Although research has yet to fully explain the mechanisms behind the relation between interview anxiety and interview performance, there are some theories. Anxiety may:

  • Take up the cognitive resources needed to interpret the interview question and come up with a response (Eysenck et al., 2007)
  • Decrease the use of effective interview performance strategies, such as self-disclosure (Alden & Bieling, 1977)
  • Lead to incoherent delivery of responses, through stuttering, pausing and using filler words (e.g. um, ah, like) (Miller et al., 2018; Feiler & Powell, 2016); or
  • Contribute to awkward social behaviour (e.g. lack of eye contact) (DeGroot & Motowidlo, 1999).

The good news, however, is that social skills training that focuses on improving fluent responses and other skills such as composure and eye contact can help improve interview performance (Hollandsworth et al., 1978). In the meantime, hiring managers should exercise caution about factoring interview anxiety in the selection decision. Otherwise, qualified but anxious candidates may be passed over. And that is reason to worry.

References

Alden, L. E. & Bieling, P. (1997). Interpersonal consequences of the pursuit of safety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36(1), 53-64.

Cortina, J. M., Goldstein, N. B., Payne, S. C., Davison, H. K., & Gilliland, S. W. (2000). The incremental validity of interview scores over and above cognitive ability and conscientiousness. Personnel Psychology, 53(2), 325-351.

DeGroot, T. & Motowidlo, S. J. (1999). Why visual and vocal interview cues can affect interviewers’ judgments and predict job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(6), 986-993.

Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7(2), 336-353.

Hollandsworth Jr., J. G., Kazelskis, R., Stevens, J., & Dressel, M. E. (1978). Relative contributions of verbal, articulative, and nonverbal communication to employment decisions in the job interview setting. Personnel Psychology, 32(2), 359-367.

Feiler, A. R. & Powell, D. M. (2016). Behavioural expression of job interview anxiety. Journal of Business Psychology, 31(1), 155-171.

Huffcutt, A., Van Iddekinge, C., & Roth, P. (2011). Understanding applicant behaviour in employment interviews: A theoretical model of interviewee performance. Human Resource Management Review, 21(4), 353-367.

Macan. T. (2009). The employment interview: A review of current studies and directions for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 19(3), 203-218.

McCarthy, J. & Goffin, R. (2004). Measuring job interview anxiety: Beyond weak knees and sweaty palms. Personnel Psychology, 57(3), 607-637.

Miller, R. O., Gayfer, B. L., & Powell, D. M. (2018). Influence of vocal and verbal cues on ratings of interview anxiety and interview performance. Personnel Assessment and Decisions, 4(2), 26-41.

Powell, D. M., Stanley, D. J., & Brown, K. N. (2018). Meta-analysis of the relation between interview anxiety and interview performance. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 50(4), 195-207.

Schneider, L., Powell, D. M., & Bonaccio, S. (2019). Does interview anxiety predict job performance and does it influence the predictive validity of interviews? International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 27, 328-336.

Zhang, I. Y., Powell, D. M., & Bonaccio, S. (2021, April). The role of fear of negative evaluation in interview and workplace anxiety [Part of symposium]. Investigating Discriminatory Behaviors in Employment Interviews. Virtual.

Simonne Mastrella is a first-year master’s student in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at the University of Guelph and a Junior Consultant for Organization & Management Solutions. Her research interests include employment interviews, particularly how interview anxiety impacts interview performance.

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How working from home can offer more accessible careers for people with disabilities

July 13, 2021By

By Zhanna Lyubykh

Work has many benefits. It provides structure, serves as a source of meaning and offers opportunities for social inclusion. Yet some groups of people are disadvantaged when it comes to finding meaningful careers. Despite labour legislation ensuring equal rights for all groups, research demonstrates that people with disabilities are two times more likely to be unemployed (Fogg et al., 2010). This is a particular concern for Canada considering high prevalence rates of disability in the Canadian population. One factor that contributes to this dismal state of affairs is absent or poor job accommodations for persons with disabilities. However, the swift shift to telework caused by COVID-19 has highlighted the feasibility and benefits of working from home.

Whether the pandemic normalizes work from home, making it a new reality, or employees return to their offices represents a critical question for persons with disabilities (e.g. Ali et al., 2011). The ability to work from home not only represents a job accommodation in itself, but it also offers numerous career benefits for persons with disabilities. These benefits go beyond improved flexibility and reduced commute time. By working from home, persons with disabilities have an opportunity to take more frequent breaks, remain close to medical equipment and manage unpredictable flareups in their condition. Although some managers have concerns regarding employees’ productivity and reduced monitoring capabilities, research demonstrates that work from home does not have a negative effect on performance; in fact, such flexible arrangements can increase performance (e.g. Choudhury et al., 2021).

Notwithstanding these positives, work from home can have potential downsides for persons with disabilities. Fist, work from home can mean greater social isolation as employees have fewer opportunities for causal chats or impromptu coffee breaks. This social isolation can also be costly in terms of career outcomes. For example, employees with disabilities may have fewer opportunities to foster good-quality relationships with their supervisors, which is crucial for many work-related outcomes (e.g., Lyubykh et al., 2020). Further, employees may miss networking opportunities, or they may not have opportunities to demonstrate their social skills to others. In the long run, an accumulation of such missed opportunities may hinder career advancement of employees working from home.

One way to mitigate such negative consequences is by purposefully providing opportunities for social interactions. For example, managers can budget in “slack time” in work meetings for non-work-related discussions or organize social meetings with breakout rooms for employees.

Working from home can also create an “out of sight, out of mind” situation, resulting in missed opportunities for trainings or promotions, which can hinder career progression for employees with disabilities. This can be particularly problematic when a person with disability is the only one who is working from home. To ensure that managers do not inadvertently disadvantage careers of persons with disabilities who work from home, companies need to develop disability inclusive policies that explicitly include guidelines regarding training, promotion and career development.

Taken together, work from home can represent a path forward for removing employment barriers and ensuring better employment experiences for persons with disabilities. However, this path should be approached with caution. If not managed properly, some aspects of work from home can further disadvantage employees with disabilities.

Zhanna Lyubykh is a PhD student in Organizational Behavior at Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. Her research interests lie at the intersection of employee well-being, occupational health and leadership.

References

Ali, M., Schur, L., & Blanck, P. (2011). What types of jobs do people with disabilities want? Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 21(2), 199-210.

Choudhury, P., Foroughi, C., & Larson, B. (2021). Work‐from‐anywhere: The productivity effects of geographic flexibility. Strategic Management Journal, 42(4), 655-683.

Fogg, N. P., Harrington, P. E., & McMahon, B. T. (2010). The impact of the Great Recession upon the unemployment of Americans with disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 33(3), 193-202.

Lyubykh, Z., Ansari, M. A., Williams-Whitt, K., & Kristman, V. L. (2020). Disability severity, leader–member exchange, and attitudinal outcomes: considering the employee and supervisor perspectives. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 1-11.

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Spring-Summer issue of Careering dives into Career Pivots

June 23, 2021By

The digital-exclusive Spring-Summer 2021 issue of Careering, on the theme of “Career Pivots,” comes at a time when the workforce is navigating immense shifts. The disruptive impact of COVID-19 on work and education is evident across many of this issue’s articles, from a Grade 12 student’s reflection on her future plans, to interviews with small business owners suddenly thrust into job search.

The broader takeaway, however, is a reassuring one: with the support of career education and career professionals, Canadians can develop the skills to thrive amid change. Careering authors examine theories that support client engagement and the development of a change-ready mindset; they offer strategies for employee career conversations, dealing with employment gaps and supporting lifelong learning; they present effective K-12 career exploration approaches, and much more.

Articles in this issue:

Careering magazine is Canada’s Magazine for Career Development Professionals and is the official publication of CERIC. It is published three times a year and includes select content in French. Subscribe to receive your free copy. You can also access past issues for free online.

The Fall 2021 issue of Careering magazine will be on the theme of “Career Development Reimagined.” New contributors are welcome, and can submit in English, French or both languages. Please review our Submission Guidelines and send a 1-2 paragraph proposal outlining your topic idea to Editor Lindsay Purchase, lindsay@ceric.ca, no later than June 30.

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2021

CERIC releases 2020 Annual Report: A year like no other

June 22, 2021By

With a theme of “Stretch, Support, Strive,” the 2020 CERIC Annual Report reflects on a year like no other. It was a year that took us to new and uncharted places, both as an organization and as a sector. We started the year with banner attendance at Cannexus, Canada’s Career Development Conference, in Ottawa in January 2020. By mid-March, our staff were working from home and CERIC began to respond to the fast-changing needs of career development stakeholders in the face of the global public health crisis. 

As Board Chair André Raymond and Executive Director Riz Ibrahim outline in their Leadership Message, CERIC sought to better understand how these needs were unfolding and what gaps were emerging. We did this through a series of periodic Pulse Surveys that took a recovery-oriented lens and showed remarkable resilience and innovation across career services in Canada. Our response included offering free webinars on timely topics like taking career and employment services online and managing mental and emotional well-being for both clients and career professionals. The pandemic also meant that we had to reimagine Cannexus in 2021 as a virtual offering. Being mindful of the economic uncertainties, we offered compelling rates and were also able to bring in new international partners with the pivot to virtual – all with a view to reimagining career development in this new reality where we found ourselves. 

Internally, CERIC took time in 2020 to fine-tune our new Strategic Plan. Early in the year, we revised our Vision (People in Canada have the capacity to use their skills and talents towards a more fulfilling future for all) and Mission (Advancing career development in Canada) and confirmed two mandates that would drive our work for the next few years. These are: “Promoting career development as a priority for the public good,” working with stakeholders across the career development ecosystem to advance efforts that show the social and economic value, and public benefit of career development; and, “Building career development knowledge, mindsets and competencies,” growing expertise and skills among career practitioners and educators through research, learning and acting as a hub for community.  

Highlights for CERIC that promote career development for public good: 

Key achievements for CERIC that build career development knowledge: 

  • Initiated a project to translate the popular book Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice into French, with Japanese, Latvian and Estonian translations also in progress, extending its international reach 
  • In partnership with Memorial University, continued to expand knowledge by publishing two issues of the Canadian Journal of Career Development, Canada’s only peer-reviewed academic journal in the field 
  • Presented free webinars that addressed pandemic challenges and also offered paid series with partner associations in the field on highly relevant topics such as supporting positive outcomes for Black students, with a total of 19,887 webinar registrations 
  • Hosted Cannexus, Jan. 27-29, 2020 in Ottawa, bringing together a record number of 1,258 delegates to learn about and discuss the issues shaping work and well-being in Canada, including workforce development, youth employment and reconciliation 
  • Produced timely resources through CERIC’s popular bilingual content communities, CareerWise and OrientAction (in partnership with Quebec-based GRICS), to help Canada’s career development professionals navigate a rapidly changing reality  
  • Conducted a series of CERIC Recovery Pulse Surveys with 1,146 career and employment professionals to track the effects of COVID-19 on career services across the country, with data showing resilience and innovation  
  • Engaged the next generation of career development researchers through our Graduate Student Engagement Program (GSEP), adding 39 students currently enrolled in full-time master’s and PhD programs  
  • Issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on the linkages between experiential learning and career development to effectively bridge the gap between the classroom and the world of work  
  • Announced the award of the Career Development in Children: Identifying Critical Success Conditions and Strategies project, which will examine how foundational skills introduced by classroom teachers connect to career-related learning in grades 4-6 

In addition to these highlights, as well as inclusion of financial statements, the CERIC 2020 Annual Report also includes an acknowledgement of CERIC staff this past year as well as a special thank you to the CERIC Board and Advisory Committee volunteers who helped us navigate through these uncharted waters and to our funder, The Counselling Foundation of Canada, for its unwavering support. 

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Optimizing engagement to pivot effectively

June 22, 2021By
Model offers framework to spot warning signs of disengagement and get back on track

Roberta Borgen (Neault) and Deirdre Pickerell

author headshotsPivoting – changing direction by turning in place – takes balance and resilience. Not all career transitions require pivots; sometimes career trajectories continue in the same direction after major or minor disruptions. Pivots are different. Even a tiny shift in direction can result in enormous changes over time. Career development professionals can play key roles in helping individuals contemplate pivots, prepare for them and navigate the resulting changes that often ripple far beyond work to encompass other significant life roles.

The Career Engagement model offers a theoretical framework and practical points of entry for supporting individuals as they contemplate pivoting, make small or large shifts, and regain their equilibrium as they establish a new trajectory (Pickerell & Neault, 2016).

Career Engagement model

Within the Career Engagement model, optimal engagement is achieved through the dynamic interaction of challenge and capacity. The interplay between these two components is important – as one shifts, so too must the other. When the demands of work and life stretch beyond individual and/or contextual capacity, individuals move out of the zone of engagement, feeling overwhelmed; without correction, burnout and disengagement result. Similarly, when challenge is reduced and individuals have excess capacity, they feel underutilized; unaddressed, boredom and disengagement result. In either scenario, disengagement looks the same and is an unpleasant state. Knowing the route to disengagement, whether through feeling overwhelmed or underutilized, is vital when charting a path back to engagement. It can be difficult to re-engage once disengagement has set in. Attending to the early warning signs and making continuous course corrections will help individuals sustain engagement across all life roles.

“Knowing the route to disengagement, whether through feeling overwhelmed or underutilized, is vital when charting a path back to engagement.”

Foundations for pivoting

Optimal engagement, shifting to overwhelmed. Candice was fully engaged in her career – and all her other life roles were functioning smoothly – when her youngest child was diagnosed with cancer. The family still relied on her income, but aspects of her job were incompatible with medical appointments and the uncertainty ahead in terms of surgery timelines, subsequent treatments and home-schooling responsibilities during her child’s illness. She began to feel overwhelmed – worried about her child’s health, of course, but also about money, her job and other responsibilities that now seemed too much to handle.

Applying the Career Engagement model, Candice described herself as “fully engaged” prior to the diagnosis. This positions her well for pivoting from a position of strength and moving forward even when times are tough. Unpacking the key components of engagement, challenge and capacity, Candice may want to look at pivoting to a less challenging position (within her organization, in another one or perhaps as a “gig” worker to gain more flexibility over her schedule).

Read more from the Career Pivots issue of Careering:

‘Hard to stay motivated’: Strategies to boost client momentum in job search

Developing a change-ready mindset during the pandemic and beyond

7 steps to help clients futureproof their careers

To bolster capacity, Candice may benefit from looking not only at work but her other life roles. For example, a conversation with her supervisor may surface a remote work option or project deadline extensions. Candice may also want to request help from family and friends with meals, carpooling, play dates for the other children and even sharing a nanny. If Candice is in a relationship, the couple may consider what responsibilities could be shared, shifted, delegated to someone or set aside. Once Candice recognizes possibilities for reducing challenge and building individual and external capacity, she can be more strategic about how small or large her pivoting needs to be.

Underutilized. Rahul was feeling disrespected at work and believed that the strengths he could offer to his employer were being ignored. In the Career Engagement model, he identified himself as very underutilized, close to becoming fully disengaged. In conversation with a career coach, he recognized that he had exhausted all reasonable possibilities of getting his career back on track with his current employer. He decided to pivot out of the organization, looking for an opportunity that would value what he could offer and allow him to fully contribute his expertise.

man and woman sitting and talking
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A significant challenge that Rahul recognized, though, is that he wasn’t pivoting from a position of strength. With his career coach, he developed a plan to volunteer for a community organization to gain a strong work sample for his career portfolio and a supportive professional reference. This strategy served multiple purposes: From a career engagement perspective, the new challenge revitalized his energy, moved him closer to optimal engagement and strengthened his capacity by giving him tangible evidence of what he could offer his next employer.

Dual states. Johannes has struggled with mental illness for many years. Diagnosed with major depressive disorder and social anxiety disorder, there were times he could barely get out of bed, let alone leave the house for work or school. Johannes often feels incredibly overwhelmed and on the verge of giving up. Yet, at the same time, he is bright, articulate and personable and knows he is capable of so much more. Within the Career Engagement model, Johannes is simultaneously overwhelmed and underutilized; a pivot in any direction may set him up for success or result in further setbacks. To help maximize his opportunity to get engaged, several micro-pivots may be the best strategy.

Working with his psychologist, Johannes began by noting everything that seemed overwhelming in as much detail as possible. From here, patterns started to emerge. Similarly, he began to look for opportunities to build capacity in small, incremental ways and paid attention to how each action resulted in a slight shift. Over time, although Johannes wasn’t hugely successful in reducing challenge, he was able to build capacity through regular counselling, mindfulness and meditation, and small amounts of exercise. Now, feeling less overwhelmed, he is contemplating a return to school, understanding that he’ll need to continue to build capacity to take on new challenges.

Optimizing career engagement through pivots

The vignettes shared are but three examples of how individuals can use the Career Engagement model to help them optimize engagement when life requires a pivot. As capacity ebbs and flows, challenge must be similarly adjusted, allowing individuals to achieve and sustain optimal engagement. How difficult, exciting or stimulating something is (i.e. challenge) is a very personal experience; so, too, are individuals and their unique contexts (i.e. capacity). Optimizing engagement is an ongoing process, integrating personal reflection with a pragmatic understanding of ever-changing contexts.

Dr. Roberta Borgen (Neault), CCC, CCDP, GCDFi, is President of Life Strategies Ltd., Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia and Project Director with the Canadian Career Development Foundation.

Dr. Deirdre Pickerell, CPHR, GCDFi, is Dean of Student Success at Yorkville University/Toronto Film School and Vice-President at Life Strategies.

Drs. Borgen and Pickerell co-developed the Career Engagement model, are writing a book to be published by Cognella this year and speak internationally on optimizing career engagement across work and life.

References

Pickerell, D. A., & Neault, R. A. (2016). Examining the career engagement of Canadian career development practitioners. Canadian Journal of Career Development, 15(1), 4-14. cjcd-rcdc.ceric.ca/index.php/cjcd/article/view/157

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closed due to coronavirus sign on business doorCareering

‘Hard to stay motivated’: Strategies to boost client momentum in job search

June 22, 2021By
Entrepreneurs entering the traditional workforce may not know where to start

Michelle Schafer

author headshotWhen Stephanie Hault sold her Ottawa-based clothing stores during the pandemic and began looking for secure, stable work after 15 years as an entrepreneur, she thought she knew what the experience would be like. “I anticipated my search would mainly be focused online – reviewing job postings and preparing resumes and cover letters.”

Hault realizes now the reality is quite different. She was shocked to discover the growing role networking plays in tapping into positions of interest; I advise clients that relationship-building activities should comprise upwards of 80% of their time spent looking for work. And she is part of a growing number of people who are seeking employment during the pandemic with no prior experience looking for work, including small-business owners selling their retail stores and restaurants as a result of COVID-19. For some, they may be transitioning out of the unpredictable world of small-business ownership for a role with stability and security. Others, like Hault, are looking for a lifestyle change with more balance. Even though she was very familiar with taking risks as an entrepreneur, embarking on a job search after spending an entire career as a business owner is daunting.

Noah Firestone, former owner of popular Ottawa restaurant Luxe, agrees. Once COVID-19 made it clear that it would take a lot of time and energy to restore his restaurant’s revenue to pre-pandemic levels, Firestone decided to sell the restaurant to seek a position that would offer him more balance – including time on weekends to spend with his family. “I loved what I did. I loved going in to work every day, but I had to make decisions and changes now that would be much more difficult to make as the years pass.”

“Even though she was very familiar with taking risks as an entrepreneur, embarking on a job search after spending an entire career as a business owner is daunting.”

I worked with Firestone and Hault, and both credit engaging with a career coach as the motivation they needed to keep their job search moving forward. Working with clients in these cases involves a reset of expectations. When Hault first started her job search, she expected it would move quickly. She assumed she would use a chronological resume, attend networking events and distribute a lot of resumes. Hault now sees the benefit of using a skills resume to promote her transferrable skills. She also engaged in 1:1 virtual networking and has customized resumes only for those positions where she can do work that energizes her and for companies that share her values. And she’s come to accept that patience – a lot of it – is needed to keep moving forward.

Read more

Book review: Don’t Stay in Your Lane an essential read for career counsellors

Career development helps people and organizations thrive

7 steps to help clients futureproof their careers

“As a business owner, I was used to operating at a fast pace and making decisions quickly, so I was frustrated with the slower pace of my job search,” says Hault. “It was hard to stay motivated when progress in my search was slower than I hoped – like when I felt I made a good connection with someone and then I never heard back, or received no response when I reached out to arrange a networking chat.”

So, how can you work with clients in a similar situation and keep them engaged in their job search while helping them find the best fit for their next great job? Hault says she benefitted from the following coaching strategies to keep her focused and moving forward:

  • Encourage clients to adopt a learning mindset: Hault realized she had a lot to learn, such as how to write a resume, create an impactful LinkedIn profile and generate job leads. Coaching helped her focus on the basics, such as how to write an email requesting a networking conversation.
  • Pinpoint the transferrable skills and transform the resume: Both Hault and Firestone changed their chronological resumes to a skills format in order to market their transferrable skills (such as client service, partnership development, project leadership and budgeting) to new industries. Firestone learned that a resume “is not necessarily just a list of what you have done, but a list of what you are capable of doing, and how it may relate to things you have done in the past.” Although he had been working in hospitality and food services since he was a teenager, Firestone began to see how his skills were portable – and needed – in other industries.
  • Help them ask for help: Clients who have never had to look for work may be resistant to this idea. Hault admits she does not like asking for help, as her entrepreneurial approach allowed her to do things independently. Yet asking for help – getting a connection to a company of interest, asking someone to get her resume into the right hands of decision makers – has propelled her job search forward. As coaches, we can help our clients see how networking is research through conversation. We can work with them to adopt an approach for these conversations that is authentic to them while keeping the leads funnel full. When Firestone started reaching out to his contacts to explore possibilities, his view of potential roles expanded and he started telling himself, “I could actually do that, and I just might be good at it.”
  • Appreciate the baby steps: Every new connection gave Hault hope and revitalized her search. Encourage clients to see every step as progress – they are moving in the right direction.
  • Develop a job search routine. Hault and Firestone carved out time each day for their job search and also time to do things for themselves; they needed time to decompress after leaving the hectic schedule of small-business ownership. Hault intentionally ensured her job search did not become a full-time job.

Firestone successfully transitioned to the construction industry, accepting a business development role that was a good match for his transferrable skills. Hault applied her new insights to her search on a daily basis, and recently joined the Shopify team – her dream job with her dream company. She had this guidance to offer career professionals who are working with clients who are new to the job search experience: “Encourage clients to pause – and step back to determine what their skills are and where they can apply them. Help clients transform their resume, and develop networking approaches so they can engage with their network to explore possibilities and generate leads. It’s important for clients to be curious and never say no to an opportunity for a conversation. You never know where that connection will lead.”

Michelle Schafer is an ICF-certified coach and facilitator, specializing in career transition and leadership. She is the owner of Michelle Schafer Coaching, empowering people to achieve career fulfillment, and was recognized as one of Ottawa’s Top 20 career coaches in 2020. Schafer works with clients at all levels within government, tech, not-for-profit, health care and financial services and offers coaching 1:1, in groups and with teams.

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Book review: Don’t Stay in Your Lane an essential read for career counsellors

June 22, 2021By
Cynthia Pong’s guide articulates impact of systemic racism on women at work, helps jobseekers reconnect to their strengths

Kimberley John-Morgan

author headshotAs the effects of COVID-19 and a new awareness of systemic racism continue to affect women in the workforce, career development practitioners need new tools and resources to support displaced clients. And while there are dozens of books written about job search and career changes, there are very few guides that address the specific needs of Black, Indigenous and women of colour (BIWOC). It is for this reason that Don’t Stay in Your Lane: The Career Change Guide for Women of Color by Cynthia Pong is an essential addition to every career counsellor’s library. This thorough, 200+ page resource provides practical career change strategies and presents the author’s own career pivot experience. Written in an approachable, conversational style, Don’t Stay in Your Lane offers three key strengths.

Acknowledgement of how systemic racism affects the career paths of women of colour

Through her words and colourful images, Pong articulates the effect that intersecting identities have on one’s career prospects – specifically, how the glass ceiling imposed on women is exacerbated by sexual orientation, disability and racialization. The author’s validation of this systemic reality is refreshing and missing from mainstream career change material. For women of colour, changing careers because of workplace discrimination is a traumatizing experience. As such, career development practitioners who are committed to equity and inclusion need to create space for clients to articulate these impactful emotions as part of the career change process.

Pong’s validation of systemic exclusion points to the need for more books in this genre and demonstrates that the narrative of inequity need not be centred on trauma and oppression. Instead, Pong skillfully provides affirming messages and comprehensive tools, like temperature checks, skills summaries and thought challenges that allow BIWOC readers to proactively realign with their strengths, retain their agency and step boldly into the next chapter of their career.

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Analysis of the career change pathway

In Pong’s version of the career change cycle, which she calls the “career change meta pathway,” she provides four steps (plan, act, reflect and iterate). Readers are encouraged to autonomously engage in this cycle to explore their interests, reconnect to joy and proactively move forward. This easily applicable cycle grants readers permission to explore skills that have fallen dormant and seek new opportunities to engage in meaningful work.

Through sharing the evolution of her pivot from public defence lawyer to entrepreneur, Pong walks through the lifestyle changes required to forge a new career path. In doing so, she honestly shares the setbacks of self-doubt and how she worked past the mistakes she made along the way, such as accepting advice that should have been rejected and pushing to do work that did not align with her values. In sharing the highs and lows of her experience, Pong humanizes the career change process, making it relatable to readers.

The career change meta pathway is a powerful tool that will gently move clients from a place of feeling stuck to a state of active progress. Completing the four-step cycle will provide clients with tangible insight into why a new career option is (or is not) an appropriate next step. More importantly, this approach to the career exploration process will help heal readers’ career confidence and reignite their enthusiasm.

book interior
Courtesy of Cynthia Pong
Holistic worksheets and hypothetical vignettes

Throughout Don’t Stay in Your Lane, the author provides dozens of templates and exercises that enable the reader to track their feelings, family responsibilities and finances. These resources are generously complemented with personal and professional life hacks provided in the appendices. Upon walking through the activities outlined, readers will be able to assess their available resources and identify additional avenues for personal development, such as therapy and volunteering.

To prompt self-reflection, Pong strategically uses vignettes that represent women of colour of diverse occupational backgrounds who are at a crossroads in their careers. These thoughtfully written sketches require readers to offer themselves compassionate advice as though they were speaking to a cherished friend. In effect, such reflection enables readers to objectively connect with their own lives and strategize entry into a new field of work or the world of entrepreneurship.

Part career development guide, part memoir and part self-help book, the sections of Don’t Stay in Your Lane can be read independently or in sequence, cover to cover. Either approach will provide racialized readers, and the career counsellors who support this demographic, with the tools to effectively embark on career pivots brought about by independent choice or systemically imposed circumstance. Independently published in 2020, Don’t Stay in Your Lane will be a relevant resource until such time that all forms of discrimination are eradicated and equity is sustainably achieved.

Kimberley John-Morgan is a DEI ghostwriter who works collaboratively with diverse workers and their allies to call out workplace discrimination. As a graduate of the Career and Work Counsellor program at George Brown College, John-Morgan has 20 years of experience as a career strategist and she currently supports clients through her private practice, Junxure Consulting (junxureconsulting.com).

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Community connections foster K–12 career exploration

June 22, 2021By
Edmonton Public Schools’ Community Marketplace weaves career development into the curriculum

Heather McIntyre and Sean Jones

author headshotsFrom learning about marine life to the many ways to work with aquatic creatures, Grade 2 students in Tomi Brooks’ class at Svend Hansen School dove into life under the sea through their computer screens thanks to the Community Marketplace.

Much more than a typical guest speaker, career fair or career day, the Community Marketplace is a collaboration between teachers and community organizations to provide authentic and meaningful career exploration for Edmonton Public Schools students. To avoid “stand-and-deliver” presentations, organization representatives address challenges they face in their work and engage students in a dialogue about potential solutions. These opportunities address curricular areas and competencies while helping students investigate the world and how they fit into it.

For Brooks, who taught online in 2020-21 due to COVID-19, the Community Marketplace was a way for her students to not only learn about ocean life, but also understand some of the different careers and industries related to it. Her students spent 25 minutes in a Google Meet with a representative from a local custom aquarium company. They saw how different marine creatures interact with one another, asked questions about aquatic life in aquariums and inspected a starfish up close.

“They were highly motivated to ask thoughtful and purposeful questions that, in turn, led them to collaborate with their classmates and dive deeper into our inquiry project with even more questions,” says Brooks. “This was such a powerful learning experience for my students.”

What is the Community Marketplace?

An initiative of Edmonton Public Schools, the Community Marketplace is a menu of interactions that helps students make connections between what they are learning in school and the broader world. For the 2020-21 school year, that menu of interactions was made up of more than 30 organizations offering nearly 40 virtual opportunities. The free sessions are made possible through relationships with community organizations, who volunteer to share their passions and expertise.

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The Community Marketplace is an initiative supported by the Career Pathways team, which facilitates resources and innovative, experiential learning opportunities that encourage students from kindergarten to Grade 12 to think about, explore and plan what life might look like beyond school. The team also engages the community, and builds relationships with businesses, not-for-profits, trade unions and post-secondary institutions to enhance student learning.

The 2020-21 school year marked the fifth year of the Community Marketplace in Edmonton Public Schools, and the interest from both teachers and community organizations continues to increase.

Girl stroking a calf on a dairy farm
A classroom presentation from a dairy farmer might spark students’ interest in the connections between agriculture and technology. (iStock)

For Lindsay Adrian, Supervisor of the Career Pathways team, the growth is not surprising: “In any conversation I have with community members or teachers, the reaction is always the same: ‘I wish this existed when I was in school. It would have helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I’d love to participate.’”

At the halfway mark of the 2020-21 school year, nearly 120 Community Marketplace sessions had been scheduled at more than 70 schools across the Division; during the entire previous school year, a total of 118 sessions took place. Of course, in a school year unlike any other, these in-person interactions turned into virtual sessions, but students have continued to enjoy hands-on exploration of specific career pathways that link to the curriculum.

Virtual opportunities have allowed some organizations to get involved when they didn’t have the time or staff to do so before, including some from outside of the Edmonton area. For example, students can learn about the relationship between agriculture and technology through the eyes of dairy farmers, simulate aviation scenarios alongside pilots and air traffic controllers, and discover what entomologists do by studying small crawling and flying animals. Students can also delve into various research methods alongside an expert in a particular field, turn a love of basketball into a curiosity about sports entertainment professions or even gain insights into a career in social media.

Regardless of the presentation topic, organization representatives involve students in a hands-on activity that is based on a part of their normal work week, but has been tailored to the grade level of the students.

“In any conversation I have with community members or teachers, the reaction is always the same: ‘I wish this existed when I was in school.'” – Lindsay Adrian, Supervisor of the Career Pathways team

There are many different ways for an organization to become involved with the Community Marketplace. The Career Pathways team directly recruits organizations to participate, and staff at Edmonton Public Schools may recommend an organization be included or an organization may reach out to learn more about how to become involved. The Career Pathways team works with the organization to develop an engaging session for students and identifies relevant curricular links so teachers can see a natural connection to what they are teaching.

“It creates a unique opportunity for businesses to leverage the creativity of youth, using their insights to help create innovative solutions to problems they are looking to solve,” says Adrian.

Teachers are invited to browse the available opportunities each fall, and then request the sessions that suit students’ needs, taking into consideration grade level, student interest and the Alberta Education curriculum.

Benefits beyond the school years

The success of the Community Marketplace is evident, especially with feedback from teachers about how much they appreciate new tools and experiences to draw from to address the curriculum, how engaged their students are in the subject matter, and how their students’ understanding of various careers and career pathways expands. Community organizations also benefit by building social capital through connection with community, educators and students.

While the essence of the Community Marketplace takes place inside the classroom during the school year, the impact of what is often a 60-minute interaction can be measured in the following days and weeks, as well as in the years to come. A student may apply a skill learned during another class, register for a high school course due to an interest sparked or enter a post-secondary program in a career they would have otherwise never considered.

The focus is the future

The Community Marketplace initiative fosters growth and success for students in Edmonton Public Schools by supporting their journey from early learning through high school completion and beyond.

“Through collaboration, we can provide opportunities for students by drawing on the expertise within our communities,” says Adrian. “Together we can offer authentic and meaningful learning opportunities that can change a student’s world.”

Heather McIntyre (Bachelor of Communication, Mount Royal University) has been a Communications Consultant at Edmonton Public Schools since 2019, focusing on internal projects and content management. She previously handled media and public relations for the Edmonton Public Library after starting her career in journalism.

Sean Jones (HBA, MACT) has been a Consultant with Career Pathways at Edmonton Public Schools since 2015, and shares with the team 20 years of experience as a generalist in the fields of technology, arts, conference management and social sciences.  

Edmonton Public Schools’ Career Pathways team helps students discover the world around them, and grow skills and competencies through rigorous and relevant projects, activities and experiences all connected to curricular outcomes. Learn more at epsb.ca.

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