Career Professionals of Canada News Feed
One of the definitions of empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. In career services, empathy might be defined as putting yourself in your clients’ shoes. It is the first step to forming a productive, trust-based relationship with them and helping them achieve their goals. In an industry that is not strictly regulated by outside bodies, we rely on each other’s professionalism, ethics, and integrity to maintain our clients’ trust in our services and support. While independent career practitioners run their own business models, an empathetic…
Victoria Day weekend is here! The holiday began as a celebration to honour Queen Victoria’s birthday of May 24th. It is also considered by many to be the unofficial start to summer. Reflecting on Victoria Day and Queen Victoria’s long and victorious reign reminded me that we all have the opportunity to become more victorious in the work we do with our clients. We have the skills and knowledge to help them achieve their cherished career goals. To that end, I’d like to share my top ten tips for a…
In my career practice, I have learned the importance of clearly establishing my mandate with each of my clients before we launch into the résumé writing process. My goal is to be a catalyst for their professional aspirations. It’s vital to the success of our relationship that my clients understand I cannot guarantee they’ll land the job they desire. I take the time, up front, to make it clear what a professional résumé writer can do for them. My Approach to the Résumé Writing Process Strategic résumé writing has allowed…
As a business owner, I had periods of time where I experienced “impostor syndrome.” That is when you feel like you have no clue what you’re doing and you worry someone will figure it out! And apparently, it’s more common amongst women. It really epitomizes, for me, what lack of self-confidence feels like. Over the years, I came to internalize the belief that confidence is what every career professional needs to succeed. If you genuinely don’t know what you’re doing, obviously training is the answer, but if you actually do know…
The following post published on March 11th, 2020, on the website of The Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) and is being republished here with permission from ONN. It provides many excellent tips and resources for nonprofits operating during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resources provided may be highly useful for those working in other settings, as well. Nonprofits are on the front lines of our communities — in good times, challenging times, and times of community crisis. Dealing with a fast-moving virus-like COVID-19 is not and will not be an isolated incident. It…
It’s been over 10 years since I became a mom and a business owner, back-to-back. I tried my best to prepare, but each role involved a lot of “learn as you go.” One of my biggest personal challenges was finding a way to simultaneously meet the needs of both of these high-demand roles. When things got tough — and trust me, they often did — I told myself I needed to find a better way to achieve balance. I wanted to be a loving, caring mother while also performing as…