Travel and business restrictions related to the pandemic have hit some rural jobseekers and industries hard, but there is hope on the horizon
Lindsay Purchase
When Selkirk College Instructor Adela Tesarek Kincaid began working with BC communities to help them develop economic resilience plans last year, she had no way of knowing how urgently they would be needed some months later. Initially intended to help keep economies moving after natural disasters, the focus has now shifted to pandemic preparedness.
“I think we’ll be that much better prepared now and going into the future. So I think that’s definitely a strength and a good thing that came out of this,” says Tesarek Kincaid, who is also a Faculty Researcher at the College, located in the West Kootenay region of BC. Local communities drove the creation of the resilience plans with the support of staff and students from Selkirk and Simon Fraser University, alongside Community Futures Central Kootenay.
Unfortunately, there is no single blueprint for dealing with an unprecedented global pandemic, and Canada’s rural communities – each with their own strengths and challenges, unique demographic makeups and industries – will have to chart a path forward while the ground is still shifting beneath them. Here’s how rural areas and industries are being affected by COVID-19 across Canada, and what they believe will help them get through it.
Castlegar, BC. Some communities in the West Kootenay region have been working on resilience plans that have helped them navigate the pandemic’s challenges. (iStock)
At-risk industries
The lessons of previous economic recessions suggest that communities will experience the crisis differently, depending on how remote they are, their level of community capacity and their economic mix (Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, 2020). However, it is expected that certain industries will be hit harder.
Tourism is one such industry. In 2016, one in 10 Canadian workers was employed in tourism, with nearly 20% of the sector located in rural areas (Tourism HR Canada, n.d.).
Philip Mondor, President and CEO, Tourism HR Canada, says that rural areas relying heavily on tourism may face a longer recovery period. “These were some of the first areas to be shuttered and they’re going to be some of the last to open and there’s lots of very sensible reasons for that,” he says. Communities – especially those with large proportions of vulnerable populations – may not have the resources to deal with a sizeable outbreak. Even as physical distancing and travel restrictions are loosened, rural communities may continue to be more cautious.
This will also affect workers whose jobs are part of the broader tourism economy, Mondor says, such as a gas station attendant employed near a tourist hotspot. “People take for granted that some of the services they have are inherently there whether tourism is around or not. And indeed it’s not true.”
These challenges have started to bear out in the Yukon, which normally has a robust tourism sector but closed its borders to all non-essential travel in April.
“People in the service industry and the tourism industry are just being hit incredibly hard. I think that’s a really big challenge,” says Lana Selbee, Executive Director of Yukonstruct, a Whitehorse non-profit and hub that supports local makers and entrepreneurs.
The territory has plans to lift lift travel restrictions between Yukon and BC on July 1, but in the meantime, it’s looking to other solutions. Selbee says officials and the provincial tourism association are encouraging Yukoners to get out and explore – to be tourists in their own territory to support local businesses.
In New Brunswick, closed borders have led to labour shortages for the fisheries sector. (iStock)
Across the country in New Brunswick, when the high tourism season would normally be getting under way, closed borders are expected to hurt students and seasonal workers. However, the effects of the pandemic have been more immediate in other sectors, says Charles LeBlanc, Manager, South East Region, Working NB.
The agriculture and fisheries sectors are experiencing a shortage of at least 1,200 workers, positions that would normally be filled by temporary foreign workers, Le Blanc says. Employers have raised wages in a bid to attract more domestic workers, while Working NB has created a new virtual job-matching platform to help boost recruitment.
In a province where 40% of agricultural workers are migrants, Ontario’s farmers are in a similar position (Statistics Canada a, 2020).
“I’m really worried about the farmers, really, really worried about them,” says Madelaine Currelly, CEO of the Community Training and Development Centre, which has locations in Peterborough and Cobourg, ON. “Some of them have been able to bring in international labour, which is what a lot of them have to do in order to survive, but the numbers are just not there where they used to be.”
Currelly is also concerned about the restaurants and shops of Cobourg’s downtown strip. She has spoken to employers who have had to lay off staff, while others have applied for federal funding to help them stay afloat. “It’s really important that the downtown is alive and well and thriving in order for the inhabitants to even have a place to go,” she says.
The vitality of downtown Cobourg, ON, is essential to the town’s residents. (iStock)
Students and jobseekers
Despite labour shortages in some areas, Canada’s unemployment rate hit 13.7% in May (Statistics Canada b, 2020). This has presented a major challenge for post-secondary students relying on summer employment to pay tuition and meet program requirements. Over one-third of students have reported having a work placement cancelled or delayed, while 48% of students say they lost a job or were temporarily laid off. (Learn more about the impact of the pandemic on students in this issue’s infographic, “COVID-19 and Canada’s post-secondary students“)
While Tesarek Kincaid has continued to employ research assistants, other students have faced cancelled placements or been unable to find work. “What students have shared with me is that they’re having a hard time amidst all the uncertainty knowing where they’re going to be able to have or gain [work] opportunities,” she says. Some students – not so keen on online learning – aren’t sure whether they’ll register for the next term.
Working NB has been hearing from many students who are concerned that their inability to find work will disqualify them from financial supports for the upcoming year. LeBlanc says WorkingNB’s employment counsellors are being “bombarded” by questions that they don’t have the answers to yet; the federal government will have to provide guidance around the number of insurable hours required to qualify for different programs. “When you’re looking at the recovery of the pandemic, short-term if they have no jobs, well, long-term it means they’re not pursuing education or training, because they don’t have the money to pay for those programs,” he says.
While funding opportunities have emerged for students in response to the pandemic – most notably, the federal Canada Emergency Student Benefit – it’s not yet clear how many students are falling through the cracks.
The long road ahead
The big question facing rural Canada right now is, what does recovery look like? In a recent report, the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (2020) emphasized the importance of “adopting place-based approaches” to support recovery and resilience. In other words, what is needed to move forward could look different for every community.
Mondor, of Tourism HR Canada, agrees that a community lens will inform next steps. “The strategy to recover employment is not going to be sectoral, per se, it’s going to be more practically, in a very organic way, a community-led concern,” he says.
Skills and infrastructure development, including improved broadband access in rural areas, also have a role to play. Leblanc says equipping people with digital skills has become a critical need. “The unusual and unprecedented nature of the crisis means that it is not only the more educated but also the ones who are in jobs and occupations more amenable to remote work who fare better,” he says. LeBlanc would like to see the government offer digital skills training courses as well as subsidize internet access and computer costs for those who cannot afford the technology.
Yukoners are being encouraged to be tourists in their own territory and support local businesses in cities such as Whitehorse. (iStock)
While the pandemic has undoubtedly brought many challenges to the forefront, opportunities have arisen as well. In the Yukon, with supply chains disrupted and industries hit hard, the focus has shifted to how to better support local businesses and entrepreneurs. “I think for us, it’s really just asking ourselves the question of how do we show up in a different way for our members and the broader community?” Selbee says.
This kind of reflection is emblematic of the local entrepreneurial spirit that gives Selbee hope for recovery. “Crisis often creates a lot more innovation,” she adds.
The road to recovery will be long and hard, with some communities facing more obstacles than others. However, it also evident that across rural Canada, determination and creativity are alive and well. These resources will help communities rebuild – and be prepared to withstand whatever disruptors the future will hold.
Lindsay Purchase is CERIC’s Lead, Content, Learning & Development. She is the Editor of CERIC’s tri-annual magazine, Careering, and the CareerWise website, along with the CareerWise Weekly newsletter. She is always happy to chat about article ideas: lindsay@ceric.ca.
References
Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (2020). Supporting rural economic recovery & resilience after COVID-19. Retrieved from http://crrf.ca/covid19/
CERIC to publish French edition of Career Theories and Models at Work
An international team of professors and doctoral students have been working on a project to translate the popular Career Theories publication into a French edition, which will be titled Théories et modèles orientés sur la carrière : des idées pour la pratique. All 43 chapters of the original book will be translated with the addition of a preface reflecting the conceptual and regulatory distinctions in career counselling practices among the Francophonie in Canada and around the world. Louis Cournoyer (University of Quebec at Montreal) is co-ordinating the French-language translation of the book, with the collaboration of Patricia Dionne (University of Sherbrooke) and Simon Viviers (Laval University). It is expected to be available for January 2021.
Learn more about the English edition of Career Theories and Models at Work at ceric.ca/theories
CCDF report highlights career development perspectives on COVID-19
In this analysis from the Canadian Career Development Foundation (CCDF), career professionals weigh in on how the pandemic has affected the field and offer recommendations to ensure the career development ecosystem is ready to respond to the significant demand that is anticipated during and post-pandemic. The report assesses the anticipated impact on:
CERIC issues Request for Proposals on value of career development within experiential learning
CERIC is seeking proposals from interested resource developers to gain a better understanding of the intersections between career development and experiential learning and determine how and where gaps can best be filled. In particular, CERIC’s interest in this project is to develop an easily accessible resource that supports building reflective practice for career development into an experiential learning program for anyone currently delivering or considering delivering such a program.
A report prepared by the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) as part of a CERIC-supported research project aims to clarify when, where and how youth initiate and craft their career aspirations. SRDC has examined the existing literature to consider (a) the stages of youth decision-making and the key influences at each stage, (b) the role of career education in supporting post-secondary decisions, and (c) the kinds of career education resources available, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of these sources. The research project is an empirical exploration of the long-term effects of career education interventions involving 7,000 Canadian youth in three provinces.
Research examines parents’ role in career guidance
The Warwick Institute for Employment Research has released an international evidence report and a practice report titled The role of parents and carers in providing careers guidance and how they can be better supported. The research seeks to understand how parents and carers can be better supported by schools and colleges to feel more informed and confident with the career advice they give to their children. It includes a review of international evidence, practices and interventions, as well as interviews with practitioners and stakeholders to find out what is going on in practice. The overall aim is to identify interventions and activities that could be developed and piloted within schools and colleges.
This is how authors in this issue of Careering describe rural communities in Canada and the United States. While these attributes have always served rural areas well, they are especially valuable as we navigate the effects of COVID-19 on the economy and the workforce.
At CERIC, we have also had to be flexible, bringing our Spring-Summer magazine to you exclusively online – a temporary change in response to the circumstances. Planning for our Rural Workforce Development issue – a collaboration with the US-based National Career Development Association (NCDA)’s Career Developments magazine – was well under way by the time the coronavirus pandemic struck North America. However, the themes, successes and struggles our authors highlight from both sides of the border continue to resonate.
You will find case studies exploring how rural communities have employed creative solutions to address chronic labour shortages. Authors propose changes that are needed to ensure industries such as agriculture continue to be viable. They examine the challenges unequal broadband access poses to rural vitality as well as how to leverage online workshops to deliver career services to remote communities. This issue also looks to the future, examining trends in rural workforce development.
Right now, we need community more than ever. After reading this issue, I would encourage you to reach out to CERIC and your peers on social media. What articles did you enjoy? What did you disagree with? What do you think is the way forward for workforce development where you live? Tag us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
David L. Blustein is a Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College. Blustein is the author of The Psychology of Working: A New Perspective for Career Development, Counseling, and Public Policy and a new book titled The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty: The Eroding Experience of Work in America. He also has contributed numerous articles and book chapters – including a chapter in CERIC’s Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice – on psychology of working theory, unemployment, career counselling, career development education, decent work, relationships and work, and other aspects of the role of work in people’s lives.
This article was also published in the Summer 2020 issue of the National Career Development Association’s Career Developments magazine.
In a sentence or two, describe why career development matters.
Career development matters because work is a vehicle to fulfill many of our dreams while also optimally meeting our needs for survival, power, relatedness, social contribution and self-determination.
Which book are you reading right now and why did you choose it?
I am reading Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor by Steven Greenhouse, which can inform my efforts to advocate for effective workers’ organizations.
What was your first-ever job and what did you learn from it?
When I was 16, I worked selling and stocking shoes at a department store in Queens. My mother also worked in this store, and had to stand on her feet for many hours a day even into her late 50s. I deepened my compassion for the struggles of work during this job, which has been a lifelong lesson.
What do you do to relax and how does it help you?
I relax by walking, exercising, spending time with my family, reading and listening to music.
What do you think will be the biggest lasting change of the pandemic on work?
I think that this crisis has brought the fault lines in our work lives into a vivid sense of clarity. As described in my recent book The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty, the essence of work has changed, creating a sense of erosion in the workforce and within our inner lives. I hope that the biggest change is that our workers and public leaders will now insist on decent and dignified work for all.
What’s something you want to do in the next year that you’ve never done before?
I would like to develop an integrative intervention for unemployed adults. I am hoping to develop a workshop curriculum that can be readily used by career counsellors, vocational psychologists and employment specialists.
If you had one piece of advice for jobseekers navigating COVID-19, what would it be?
I would suggest that jobseekers develop support groups of others who can provide active assistance in the hard process of looking for work and critically needed social support.
Which talent or superpower would you like to have and how would you use it?
I wish that I could use mediation skills more easily, both in my personal life and in day-to-day interactions.
What do you consider your greatest achievement and why?
For me, developing the psychology of working framework and theory is my greatest professional accomplishment. This initiative was a dream of mine back in the 1990s – to develop a perspective that would be inclusive, integrative and transformative. With the help of amazing colleagues, we have created a movement that is integral to our field and that is particularly needed during this crisis. Even more importantly, I feel that having a wonderful family of adult daughters and a caring and loving wife is the most precious achievement of my life.
What is one way we can leverage the power of career development right now?
I think that career development needs to embrace a transformative agenda that will be inclusive of all who work and who are aspiring for a decent job that provides sustainability in a humane and safe environment.
In this recurring Careering feature, career professionals share their real-life solutions to common problems in the field
John Thompson
Distance is a well-known source of friction in the economic transactions between rural and urban areas, and the extent of this distance goes some way to defining what we mean by rural (Reimer & Bollman, 2010). This obviously applies to transactions involving the transport of goods but can also apply to employment transactions. When people live far from their jobs, they have to deal with the friction of commuting every day. But distance is not the only challenge when it comes to employment, especially in a small town. The issue of fit can also be a source of friction.
Consider the case of Allan Avis Architects. Located in Goderich, ON (pop. 7,000), the firm has been in business since 1993. Four years ago, Allan Avis and his partner, Jason Morgan, decided that the firm needed to hire another licensed architect. In a more urban context, this could have been a fairly easy transaction to complete. The practice was thriving, had a great reputation and had done some very innovative design work. However, achieving their goal has taken them all of those four years. The explanation lies in the challenges of both fit and friction.
‘Fit’ is about more than the workplace
“Fit” is a metaphor with a long history in career development (Inkson, Dries, & Arnold, 2015). This metaphor describes the aim of matching characteristics of the person with corresponding characteristics of the working environment. This definition works well for our purposes here, as long as we are prepared to define the “working environment” more broadly that just the workplace. For Allan Avis Architects, a candidate needed to be able to make a smooth entry into both the workplace environment and the social environment of a small town. In their experience, it is the second of these requirements that was the greatest source of friction.
Living in a small town like Goderich can be difficult for people who are accustomed to the social anonymity of larger cities. Within weeks of arriving, a newcomer will find that people know who they are. They will also be confronted by the need to keep in mind the overlapping circles of social connection. Any person they meet in any context may be socially, commercially or familially related to any other person they meet. This creates a requirement to take no one for granted and to always be conscious of making a good impression.
This sort of social pressure is not for everyone, particularly newcomers who are accustomed to more distance and anonymity in their dealings with others. If they don’t like this experience, they will find it hard to fit in with the culture of the town and their workplace.
People who grow up in small towns are more accustomed to operating in this social environment. Not everyone likes it though, and many move away. However, there are people who grow up in small towns, leave for education and training, and then find themselves wanting to return to small-town life to establish their careers. These folks have been called returners (Carr & Kefalas, 2009).
This sort of social pressure is not for everyone, particularly newcomers who are accustomed to more distance and anonymity in their dealings with others. If they don’t like this experience, they will find it hard to fit in with the culture of the town and their workplace.
Job posting with a twist
All these factors created a significant hiring challenge for Avis and Morgan. First, they needed to find a trained architect with good design skills and a creative, self-motivated approach to problem-solving. Second, they needed that person to be comfortable with the social norms of a small town and thus able to integrate with minimal discomfort (or social friction). The person they hoped to hire, Avis said, was someone “at peace with themselves,” who was ready to settle into the practice of architecture in this small-town environment. What they didn’t want was someone who saw their career as an effort to get across a “never-ending series of goal lines.”
The method Avis and Morgan settled on to find such a person was to advertise the position and invite applications – but with a twist. Rather than invite qualified applicants to submit evidence of architectural competence such as a portfolio of work, they first asked them to write a letter stating why they were attracted to living in a small town. This was an interesting approach. By directing their appeal to returners, they limited their pool of potential applicants. This limitation certainly made things more challenging for them. After hiring one person who left after six months because they were not able to obtain their professional qualifications, Avis and Morgan paused their search. But after a year, their need for talent started pressing again, and they began a new search using the same approach. It took some time, but once again they were able to attract and hire a fully certified architect for the firm who has fit in very well with their environment.
Conclusions
Much has been written over the past 40 years about the importance of culture in building successful enterprises. Peters & Waterman (1982) and Collins & Porras (1994) both stressed the importance of culture in the successful companies they studied. A strong culture has the effect of limiting one’s options. This sounds like the wrong path to success, but experience suggests otherwise. Something similar may be at work in the case of Allan Avis Architects. By choosing to base their practice in Goderich, with its distance from “city markets” (Jacobs, 1961) and its small-town social environment, they limited their options when it came to attracting and hiring creative talent. But another word for limiting one’s options is focus, and one thing we are learning these days is that ability to focus on one’s work and eliminate distractions (Newport, 2016) is a key determinant of success in any creative enterprise.
John Thompson is a career counsellor living in Goderich, ON. He holds a PhD in Human Development and Applied Psychology. Immediately prior to starting his encore career in career development, he was a freelance rural economic development researcher. He can be reached at Lifespan Employment Coaching and Counselling (lifespan-employment.ca).
References
Carr, P. and Kefalas, M. (2009). Hollowing out the middle: The rural brain drain and what it means for America. New York: Beacon Press.
Collins, J. & Porras, J. (1994). Built to last: Successful habits of visionary companies. New York, NY: HarperBusiness.
Inkson, K, Dries, N., and Arnold, J. (2015). Understanding careers. Second Edition. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Jacobs, J. (1985). Cities and the wealth of nations: Principles of economic life. New York, NY: Vintage.
Newport, C. (2016). Deep work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
Peters, T. & Waterman, R. (1982). In search of excellence: Lessons from America’s best run companies. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Reimer, B. and Bollman, R.D. (2010). Understanding rural Canada: Implications for rural development policy and rural planning policy. In D. Douglas (Ed.) Rural planning and development in Canada, Toronto, ON: Nelson Education Ltd., pp. 10-52.
How a school counsellor in a small Texas town employs creativity, flexibility and intentionality to promote career readiness
Lori Olive
This article was also published in the Summer 2020 issue of the National Career Development Association’s Career Developments magazine.
Oakwood, Texas, has a population of 510 residents. In this small, rural town, the Oakwood Independent School District (OISD) is the hub of the community. Student enrolment is typically anywhere between 175-200 PK-12 students at any given time. As the entirety of the school counselling department, my counsellor-to-student ratio falls well within the recommended American School Counselor Association (ASCA) ratio of 250-to-1 (ASCA, 2019). The challenge is not in the number but in the varying grade and maturity levels of the students I work with every day.
With the ultimate goal being “to give all students adequate opportunities to be successful academically, socially, personally, and in their chosen careers and to help students to become productive members of society,” as the OISD School Counseling Mission Statement says, this is no small feat for one school counsellor. Add to this a dynamic lack of resources and limited funding and the task of getting graduating students ready for college, the workforce and the world, and the workload could appear to be a bit daunting. If I am being honest, getting pulled in so many different directions is sometimes overwhelming.
So, what does student academic, social/emotional, and college and career development look like at OISD? Truthfully, it looks different every day. Flexibility is a critical aspect of being the only counsellor in the district. Students are always my first priority. It may seem like that should go without saying but in a rural school district, counsellors have a number of duties, many of which do not fall under our job description. Therefore, advocating for my role as a school counsellor has been critical to making sure my students’ needs are met.
“to give all students adequate opportunities to be successful academically, socially, personally, and in their chosen careers and to help students to become productive members of society”
Supporting students at every level
A key factor in preparing students is to start early at the elementary level. It is here that foundation, trust and rapport is built. At this level, the primary focus is on social and emotional skills. However, this is also where discussions begin about goal setting, interests and career exploration. I either create my own lessons or purchase lessons from resources such as Teachers Pay Teachers. I especially like to use the website Counselor Keri’s career lessons as they are tailored to particular grades and introduce students to various career clusters based on their everyday skills and interests.
Once students reach middle school, the focus becomes more in-depth career exploration and preparation for high school. All middle-school students are required to complete a career exploration course. This course is taught by a certified Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher. We currently use the ICEV Career Exploration online course for the curriculum. In addition, students are able to start earning high school credits in middle school. This opens the door for more opportunities in high school.
In Texas, all high school students graduate under the Foundation High School Program. It requires each student to earn a minimum of 22 credits in general education and then allows them to add additional credits to earn one or more “Endorsements” across five different content areas (STEM, Business & Industry, Public Services, Arts & Humanities and Multidisciplinary Studies). Students are tasked to select their Endorsement area(s) at the end of eighth grade using Personal Graduation Plans (PGPs). In order to accomplish this goal, I meet with each student to help them figure out what endorsement area(s) captures their interests, knowing that that might change over time.
These requirements were designed to give students more flexibility in choosing their high school courses to help them either to follow a traditional path to college or to move directly into the workforce. Essentially, this was a move to put more career and technical education (CTE) programs into our curriculums and to move away from the one-size-fits-all pathway to graduation. While I agree with the goal of this new graduation program, putting it into place in a rural district has not been without difficulty. Still, we have found ways to meet these challenges and address student needs. It is important to note that OISD has a high population of economically disadvantaged students and we never want cost to be a barrier, so most components of our programs are offered free of charge.
Building pathways
The first thing we do as a leadership team is to be creative and intentional in building our master schedule each year. This involves reviewing the certifications and qualifications of our faculty and adding in elective courses of interests to students. As a Texas “District of Innovation” we are given some latitude with faculty and course offerings. As a result, we are poised to offer four of the five different endorsement areas for Texas students. In addition, since we have an eight-period school day and students can earn high school credits in middle school, they are typically able to graduate with more than one endorsement and quite a well-rounded transcript.
A key component to preparing our students is through our dual-credit program. We do not have enough faculty to offer AP (Advanced Placement) courses like many other schools, so we put a great deal of emphasis on our dual-credit partnership with the local community college. Students who qualify can take both academic and CTE coursework, depending on their individual career interests. Several of our students have graduated with 24-30 college credit hours and are well on their way to earning an associate’s and/or bachelor’s degree. Studies have shown that taking these courses in high school increases the likelihood that students will continue their education after graduation.
Recently, the district has also started to offer our students the opportunity to earn industry certifications. In Texas, this involves completing coursework and then sitting for a certification exam that students can later use for job or college applications. These are typically administered through our CTE programs and we currently offer certifications in small-engine repair and vet science, just to name a couple.
An important piece in providing effective college and career development is using valid assessments. At OISD, we administer the entire College Board suite of assessments (PSAT 8/9, 10, PSAT NMSQT and SAT School Day). In addition, we offer ACT District testing, ASVAB and the TSIA (Texas Success Initiative Assessment). Since OISD picks up any costs for these assessments, we make most of these tests mandatory. This gives us a wealth of data for each student as we plan each year. We then use the results of these assessments to guide instructional offerings and counselling services.
The culmination of all of the above components and programs is college and career counselling. Small numbers afford me the luxury of working with students on an individual basis to help them plan for their futures. I work closely with students on college applications, financial aid and scholarships, as well as helping them decide on a career path. I am a big proponent of the ASVAB Career Exploration Program, College Board Big Future website and the website Texas OnCourse. These are free, valuable resources for counsellors, parents and students to work together in college and career planning. We look at all options and help guide students in their next steps after graduation. Along with working individually with students, I host freshmen orientation, senior college night, and financial aid and scholarship workshops. I also take students on campus tours throughout the school year, visiting community colleges, universities and trade schools.
These are just some of the things we do at OISD to promote college and career readiness for our students. Our graduation rate each year is almost 100%, with about 80-90% attending college or trade school and the remaining 10-20% joining the military or the workforce. It’s not a perfect system by any means, but it works for us and for our students and we will continue to improve our programs every year.
Lori Olive received her Bachelor’s in Business-Journalism from Baylor University and her Master’s in School Counseling from the University of Texas at Tyler. She has served as an educator and school counsellor for the past 21 years at Oakwood Independent School District in Oakwood, TX and currently serves as the district’s PK-12 school counsellor.
It is undeniable that the COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented health and economic impacts. Simultaneously, the world is facing new realities in the labour market. CERIC’s latest literature search, Career Development During COVID-19 and Beyond, explores challenges that career professionals and their clients face and how to cope with uncertainty during these difficult times.
Impact of COVID-19 on career development
Employee engagement during the pandemic
Remote career counselling and virtual resources
Job search and career planning for recent graduate students
Post-pandemic world of work
This new literature search marks CERIC’s 60th, with others focused on Career Counselling Competencies, Ethical Issues in Career Development, Future of Work, Job Satisfaction and Career Development, Economic Benefits of Career Guidance, Generational Conflict in the Workplace, Mental Health Issues in the Workplace, and more.
Featuring comprehensive listings of key research and articles in career development, literature searches highlight critical points of current knowledge. As a student, academic or practitioner in the field, literature searches are helpful if you are researching the latest thinking or proven best practices. They are also valuable if you are considering a submission to CERIC for project partnership funding in order to gain an overview of major work already done in your area of interest.
CERIC is seeking input on the actual and anticipated impact of COVID-19 on career services across Canada as we move into a recovery period. Professionals in the field are asked to take a moment to complete this 4-minute CERIC Career and Employment Services Recovery Pulse Survey by Friday, June 12, 2020.
The last few months have brought unprecedented change to every aspect of our economy and society – and career services is no exception. We want to know the implications of this new reality for career service professionals.
This survey is intended to gather vital intelligence around shifting conditions and provide a snapshot of the emergent state of the career development field in Canada and, importantly, how career services are being re-imagined.
Results will be shared with the broad career development community and other stakeholders. Survey participants will be helping to tell the story of the public good that career and employment professionals offer in this period of massive workforce upheaval.
Recognizing that the ground continues to shift, we plan to repeat this pulse survey again at the end of the summer and during the fall to track changes over time.
Responding to a strong demand for computing graduates in Canada and a changing technology landscape, Randy Connolly, Janet Miller and Faith-Michael Uzoka of Mount Royal University, have released the second edition of the CERIC guide Computing Careers & Disciplines: A Quick Guide for Prospective Students and Career Advisors. This 2nd edition is developed to meet an evolving need among career advisors who support students interested in technology at both the secondary and post-secondary levels. It aims to address the questions of why student should consider computing when choosing a career, and what kind of education and career pathways they can expect when they do.
Prof Randy Connolly has been teaching at Mount Royal University since 1997 and holds the rank of Full Professor (Computing). He is the author of three textbooks, the most recent of which is used by thousands of students at over 100 universities worldwide. Dr Janet Miller is a counselling psychologist with expertise in mental health, leadership, and post-secondary student success. Dr Faith-Michael Uzoka has taught Computer Science and Information Systems at various universities since 1992. He is a Full Professor (Computing) and Research Development Officer at Mount Royal University.
Building on recent data and insights on the impact of the pandemic on the labour market, and adopting a newcomer inclusion lens, this free webinar will address how career development professionals can provide evidence-based guidance and tips to newcomers on effectively searching for jobs and pursuing career development and advancement opportunities. These insights and practical strategies will help career professionals to support newcomers in their career journeys during a time of economic uncertainty.
Dr Yilmaz E. Dinc is the Research and Evaluation Manager at TRIEC. He specializes in research and cross-country project management with a focus on immigration and international development, including workforce participation of underrepresented groups and immigrant inclusion.
When Selkirk College Instructor Adela Tesarek Kincaid began working with BC communities to help them develop economic resilience plans last year, she had no way of knowing how urgently they would be needed some months later. Initially intended to help keep economies moving after natural disasters, the focus has now shifted to pandemic preparedness.
David L. Blustein is a Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College. Blustein is the author of The Psychology of Working: A New Perspective for Career Development, Counseling, and Public Policy and a new book titled The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty: The Eroding Experience of Work in America. He also has contributed numerous articles and book chapters – including a chapter in CERIC’s 
Distance is a well-known source of friction in the economic transactions between rural and urban areas, and the extent of this distance goes some way to defining what we mean by rural (Reimer & Bollman, 2010). This obviously applies to transactions involving the transport of goods but can also apply to employment transactions. When people live far from their jobs, they have to deal with the friction of commuting every day. But distance is not the only challenge when it comes to employment, especially in a small town. The issue of fit can also be a source of friction.
Oakwood, Texas, has a population of 510 residents. In this small, rural town, the Oakwood Independent School District (OISD) is the hub of the community. Student enrolment is typically anywhere between 175-200 PK-12 students at any given time. As the entirety of the school counselling department, my counsellor-to-student ratio falls well within the recommended American School Counselor Association (ASCA) ratio of 250-to-1 (ASCA, 2019). The challenge is not in the number but in the varying grade and maturity levels of the students I work with every day.
