The CCCD working groups met as a collective January 28, 2015. During this meeting each of the working
groups reviewed their mandates and set priorities for the year ahead. Below is an update on their
progress in 2014 and their plans for 2015.
The National Career Development Challenge (NCDC)
Chair: Dave Redekopp, Life-Role Development Group
Mandate: The National Career Development Challenge (NCDC) is an on-line quiz with a primary goal of
raising national awareness of career development. A secondary aim is to educate those who complete
the challenge through interactive feedback to their answers. The quiz also evaluates each participant’s
competence (skill) and motivation (will) in the area of career development. The aggregate results can be
used to get media attention and focus future intervention efforts within the field.
Update: The NCDC quiz was launched in October 2014, just prior to Canada Career Development Week
(November 2014). This project could not have been possible without the contribution of in-kind hours
from the working group and donations from CCPA, CCCD, LRDG, CPC, CareerCycles, Career Cruising and
RQuODE. The quiz garnered media attention, including TV appearances and radio interviews, thanks to
the marketing and PR efforts of Impact Public Affairs and the CCCD network. Over 3600 individuals
completed the quiz. With a few adjustments, the NCDC would like to run the challenge again during
Canada Career Week 2015. The group is actively seeking funding sources to support revisions and
marketing and enhance their ability to analyze and report results.
Certification Working Group
Chair: Paula Wischoff Yerama, CDAA
Mandate: This group promotes collaboration and greater cohesion across provincial certification
initiatives. All provinces with existing or emerging career practitioner certification are active members.
The group has been instrumental in supporting the formation of new provincial professional associations
and certification. It is now grappling collectively with issues of reciprocity and national harmonization.
Update: In 2014, the Certification working group formally requested that “Career Development
Practitioner” be added to the NOC and initiated efforts to trademark CCDP nationally. The working
group developed and regularly updates “Certification at a Glance”, in which the provincial requirements
for certification are outlined and a list of pre-approved programs and training providers, reciprocity and
fees are included for each province. This document and the “Benefits of Certification” document (in
development) serve to highlight certification similarities and the value of certification. A “Discussion
Paper” was developed to consolidate issues and considerations related to reciprocity and
harmonization. The group is also working together to draft a reciprocity document, highlighting both
process elements that have worked/not worked and including a “template” of key elements for
inclusion in a reciprocity agreement.
The capacity of this group to share information and resources and provide mutual support has been
invaluable, particularly for provinces seeking to launch associations and/or certification. Currently, four
provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia) have certification in place and
Ontario is in the process of developing certification.
Primer Working Group
Chair: Lynne Bezanson, CCDF
Mandate: How many times have we heard that our language gets in our way! This small, but brave
group undertook the challenge and drafted a Primer on Career Development to contribute toward clear
terminology and common language for the field. The Primer is also geared to helping practitioners
differentiate and explain concepts they know instinctively but have not had clearly defined for practical
purposes, including communications with management, policy makers and the public.
Update: The Primer on Career Development was developed and sent to the CCCD membership for
review and feedback. You can access the draft Primer at XX. Please review it and send your comments
to Lynne at l.bezanson@ccdf.ca.
Workforce Strategy Working Group
Chair: Trudy Parsons, Millier Dickinson Blais
Mandate: While several Canadian provinces have workforce strategies (or elements thereof), there is no
national strategy that directs or guides priority sitting, policy or resource investment. This is done in a
disconnected manner. Despite this disconnect many individual groups or networks doing some great
work that, collectively, could be leveraged to achieve much greater impacts regionally, provincially and
nationally.
There is a general consensus across this group that while Canada would benefit from an overall national
strategy, achieving that is beyond the scope of this volunteer working group. With that in mind, the
focus has shifted to developing a strategic alignment between career development and workforce
development. As a starting point the group plans to examine existing disconnects between career
services and the broader workforce development context. This will include exploration of language
across the two areas and identifying points of intersection.
The Media Working Group
Chair: Deirdre Pickerell, Life Strategies Ltd.
Mandate: This group seeks to connect with all forms of media to “spread the word” regarding the
importance and value of career development/management. The group works to proactively link current
news items (e.g. skill shortages, youth unemployment and immigrant unemployment) more directly to
our field and to establish themselves as the “go to” source for the media on issues related to career
development.
Update: 2014 was a productive year for the Media working group. The group developed a working
document titled, Careers, Employment and Jobs: Hot Topics for Reporters which will continue to be
enhanced. It includes key topics/headlines and, for each, the “hooks” for media and related references.
Working Group members are tracking media exposure, both their own and other’s in our field. By doing
this, they are building a database of media stories focused on career development themes. The group
continues to update their event calendar, highlighting key career development events that could serve
as focal points for the media. Media can then be directed to these events and to the experts ready to
speak on a range of timely topics. A Tip Sheet was developed to support conference planners and
speakers to connect with local, provincial and national media to promote their conferences and profile
the field of career development.