Career Development

Career development is at the core of everything we do. The Group is involved in almost every aspect of career development – training Career Development Practitioners, integrating career development into organizational systems, conducting research on career development practices, and more. Click below for more information:

• Career Development Sessions for Employees
• Career Development Practitioner Training
• Research in Career Development
• Consulting in Career Development
• Product Development

Video - First Day on the Job

Career Development Sessions for Employees

We offer a range of workshops for employees who wish to better manage their career paths or professional development. All workshops are tailored to meet the needs of the contracting organization and the employees themselves – we have no “canned” workshops. Sample topic areas include:

• Managing Up and Around (a one-day workshop on managing one’s work environment, manager and colleagues)
• Charting Your Course (a one-day or two-day workshop to orient employees to think strategically about their own career development)
• Proposal Writing (a half-day workshop on the effective development of proposals and/or business cases)
• Professional Development (a one-day workshop on managing one’s own learning)

Career Development Practitioner Training

The Group offers everything from a Career Development Competency Program to specialized in-service “face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid courses, workshops, and webinars for career development practitioners. All courses are aligned with Canada’s Pan-Canadian Competency Framework for Career Development Professionals.

All programs and courses are tailored to the needs of the contracting organization; no two programs are exactly alike. “Courses in the Career Development Competency Program include:

Career Development in Community Career Development & Employment Services Administration Theories of Career Development Ethics & Professionalism in Career Development Foundations of Helping &; Assessment Assessment & Action: Investing in Strength Work Search Strategies Labour Market Information 101 Using Tests and Tools Facilitating Individual &a Group Learning Work Maintenance: Providing Post-Employment Supports Making it Work: Putting Skills into Practice

The Group is delivering or has delivered career development practitioner programs and courses to:

• Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
• Alberta Education
• Alberta Human Services (formerly Alberta Employment & Immigration)
• Athabasca University
• Aurora College
• Department of National Defence (Canada)
• Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe)
• Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council
• Langley College
• Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council
• Neyaskweyahk Human Services
• Oteenow Employment & Training Society
• Public Service Commission of Canada
• Siksika Nation, Yellowhead Tribal Council

For a more detailed look at course offerings, click here.

Research Services

We are inherently curious about anything and everything to do with career development. We do primary, secondary and applied research in areas such as:

• career counselling practice
• labour market conditions
• career pathways
• organizational needs
• career education in public school systems

Our work ranges from literature reviews to full-blown pan-Canadian research studies often partnering with the Canadian Career Development Foundation.

Consulting in Career Development

Employees’ careers are developing whether or not their organizations are helping them. We are firm believers in infusing career development into workplaces rather than “bolting on” services as an organizational accessory. Work itself is a career development intervention when structured appropriately.

“Call or e-mail to learn more about our approach to integrating career development into organizational systems and processes.

Product and Program Development

We have developed a host of career development products over the years. See some examples below:

	CAREERinsite: The Government of Alberta commissioned the Group to create this interactive career development planning tool now used by hundreds of thousands of Albertans.
	The Group customized and refined its suicide prevention resource, the Community Helpers Program, for Alberta Health Services. The program involves over 2,000 youth each year in more than 80 communities in Alberta.
	The Group worked with the Career Development Professional Centre to develop “Career Development Practice: Building a New Era,” a foundational blended learning course for career development practitioners. The course has been delivered in every province and territory to hundreds of practitioners.”