When we come together to champion and advocate for our profession, we raise the profile of career development professionals while simultaneously increasing the perceived value of the work we do to support Canadians.
Canada Career Month (CCM) takes place every November. What used to be a week has expanded to the entire month. Why is CCM such a big deal for our profession? CCM “advances the agenda of improving access to career services and career education.” It’s an opportunity to come together to build community within our profession and expand our outreach, networks and services across the country.
As part of the volunteer outreach and advocacy group of the Canadian Council for Career Development (3CD), I count myself fortunate to work behind the scenes with dedicated volunteers committed to engaging you, promoting you and celebrating you: the Canadian career professional. I wanted to know what Canada Career Month means to others working in the field, so I reached out to career development professionals across the country to find out.
5 ways to get involved with Canada Career Month where you live
- Host a human library.*
- Help someone host a human library.*
- Ask your library to set up a book display of Canadian-written career books.
- Promote Canada Career Month and your profession all month long using the hashtags #explorethepossibilities | #careermonth | #careerpro | #cdp | #CCM | #pdc | #moiscarrière | #explorerlespossibilités
- Find new ways to support your profession. Share your ideas in the comments
“For me, it’s about giving back to my professional community,” says Ali Breen, Millennials Career Coach and a member of the CCM volunteer working group. Ali believes advocating for our profession promotes us all.
As career development professionals, we care deeply about the work we do and the impact it can have on the lives of Canadians. Still, many people are unaware of the service(s) and the value offered by our profession. That’s why it’s important to come together and celebrate the work we do.
Riz Ibrahim, Executive Director of CERIC agrees. “[CCM] provides a rallying point for the field to champion its role helping Canadians lead rewarding and satisfying lives.”
For Paula Wischoff Yerama, Executive Director of the Career Development Association of Alberta, it’s about “bringing awareness to the value of career development professionals and services in supporting people to connect with learning, work, and leisure activities.”
The more Canadians know about our profession, the more they understand the work we do and the better prepared they are to work with us. Rather than spend countless hours educating individuals one by one about what we do, wouldn’t our time be best spent actually doing the work of helping Canadians connect with meaningful work?
Career professionals partner with Canadians to help navigate the future of work
We work in private practices, employment centres, academic institutions, government-funded agencies and non-profits across the nation, each of us serving and supporting Canadians in finding meaningful employment.
As a profession, we don’t often ‘toot our own horns’; we save that for our clients. So, you can imagine how delightful an exercise it was for me to reach out to our colleagues to get their take on Canada Career Month.
Sharon Graham, Executive Director of Career Professionals of Canada (CPC) says CCM, “is an opportunity to give back to our career community.” Giving back is something we do so naturally as a profession. It makes perfect sense we’d take time out to celebrate our work with the same enthusiasm we might show a client.
What do you do to celebrate Canada Career Month?
I reached out to two CPC colleagues and asked what Canada Career Month meant to them. Gail Kastning, Owner of Purposeful Careers and Karine Touloumjian of Distinct Resume both took an introspective approach, noting that CCM is a time to assess professional development goals and realign with their purpose. This was a wonderful (and much-needed) reminder to step back from our day-to-day and reassess where we’ve been in our own careers and whether our goals remain aligned with our vision of the future.
As we know, the field of career development is full of caring, helpful and supportive professionals sharing best practices to support and serve Canadians. Brad Whitehorn, Sales & Marketing Coordinator with Career Lifeskills Resources Inc. (CLSR) believes, “[We] have a unique set of skills that help people at all ages and all stages of their working lives. We thrive on the successes of others and are passionate about what we do.”
Every day, Canadians are served by career professionals
From exploring career possibilities to building confidence and resiliency, career professionals offer customized support to clients and students.
“Canadians are ready to take a more purposeful approach to our working lives,” says JP Michel, founder of SparkPath. CCM brings curiosity and awareness to the question: ‘What if there was a better way to prepare people for their careers?’
As for me, Canada Career Month is about coming together as a profession, advocating for and promoting the value we offer Canadians in finding meaningful employment.
Together, we support Canadians and our Canadian economy.
We would love to hear from you. In the comments below, share what Canada Career Month means to you.
Join us as we celebrate Canada Career Month this November. Get involved. You can host a human library, celebrate with an event, create a podcast, share a social media post, tell a friend, write an article. Do whatever feels right for you.
In the words of Paul D. Smith of Loyalist college “Canada Career month helps to build our community.” Let’s make this the best Canada Career Month yet.
Connect with Canada Career Month on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Vimeo.
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