Standing Tall Through Change

October 1, 2026, would have marked my grandmother’s 102nd birthday.

My grandmother was a remarkable woman: strong, fierce, and determined. But more than that, she was smart beyond her years. No matter what life threw at her, she always found a way to stand tall in her own truth.

She experienced enormous change throughout her lifetime. Adapting because she had to, as so many people of her generation did, she never lost sight of who she was. She taught me that resilience isn’t about pretending things are easy. It is about facing what is in front of you, trusting what you know to be true about yourself, and finding a way forward.

As I sit here reminiscing about her today, I find myself thinking about our profession and the uncertainty Career Development Professionals are facing right now.

Our Profession Is Hurting, but It Is Not Failing

We have come so far, and so fast, with advances in technology.

The uncertainty in our field seemed to begin slowly during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, many of us believed we were experiencing a temporary and natural slowdown brought on by an unprecedented global crisis. We held our heads high and pushed forward, trusting that better days were somewhere on the horizon.

Then, before many of us had fully recovered, generative AI seemed to arrive overnight.

Of course, it did not really happen overnight. Artificial intelligence was already all around us. It simply was not as obvious, accessible, or concerning to many people until ChatGPT surfaced in 2022 and quickly became one of the most widely recognized AI tools available.

Suddenly, the impacts of AI could be felt across our businesses, workplaces, and profession. Some of us dug in our heels and avoided it. Some feared it; some embraced it and learned to use it thoughtfully. And yes, some misused it. Through it all, we kept our feet firmly on the ground and kept helping people.

Now, I often hear private practitioners say they are thinking about leaving their businesses and finding work elsewhere. We are also seeing layoffs and funding challenges throughout education, non-profit, and for-profit organizations.

This is all true, and it is all valid.

Our profession is hurting right now, but it is not failing.

Finding Space to Breathe

We are being fed a constant loop of information.

Our social media feeds, news reports, webinars, professional development sessions, and email inboxes are full of the latest ideas about AI and what Career Development Professionals must do to remain relevant.

There is barely room to sit back and breathe.

It is information overload, and it is exhausting. I am also not convinced it is helping us find the clarity we need.

Sure, we need ideas. We need to stay informed, talk openly about what is happening, and stand together as a profession. We cannot ignore the changes happening around us, but we also cannot let the noise convince us that everything we have built is suddenly obsolete.

Four years after the release of ChatGPT, we continue to remind one another that human connection matters and that AI cannot replace it. When that message does not seem strong enough, we warn that people may lose their ability to think critically. Now, we are hearing predictions that AI could surpass human intelligence within just a few years.

That certainly gives us pause, but somewhere within all these predictions, warnings, and calls to reinvent ourselves, I think we may be overlooking something important.

We already know how to help people navigate change.

In fact, it is one of our greatest strengths.

We Have Always Been Career Strategists

As Career Development Professionals, we help people move through some of the most uncertain moments of their lives.

We support them after job loss. We help them make sense of career transitions, identify transferable skills, rebuild confidence, and find direction when the path ahead is anything but clear.

That is our superpower.

Now, we are being called to use that same strength on ourselves and our profession.

Our work will change. Do not get me wrong. I do not have all the answers, and I cannot predict exactly what our field will look like in five or ten years. Perhaps résumé writing will no longer exist in its traditional form. Interview preparation may look very different. The tools we use, the services we provide, and even the titles we carry may keep evolving.

But our work has never been only about writing résumés or rehearsing answers to interview questions. We help people see their value.

We help them understand how their experiences connect, recognize possibilities they may not see on their own, and make thoughtful decisions about what comes next. As career pros, we listen for what is not being said. We ask questions that do not always have easy answers. Sometimes, we gently challenge people when the path they are considering doesn’t seem to align with who they are or what they truly want.

We have always been more than the individual services we provide. We have always been Career Strategists.

Perhaps the changes happening around us will finally make that broader value more visible.

Where the Human Professional Still Matters

AI tools can generate career ideas, suggest transferable skills, help draft documents, and offer encouragement. Used appropriately, they can be valuable tools.

However, they also have limitations.

AI can be remarkably agreeable. I know that when I push back against a response, I am often immediately met with, “You’re right, Skye,” or “Yes, after further reflection, I think I was wrong.”

Sometimes I appreciate the validation. Who doesn’t?

But when someone is overwhelmed, discouraged, or uncertain about their future, the most reassuring answer isn’t always the most helpful.

A person could receive confident guidance toward a career that looks appropriate on paper but does not fit their life, values, abilities, circumstances, or goals. An AI tool can work with the information it is given, but it cannot fully know the human being behind the keyboard.

AI cannot notice hesitation in someone’s voice. It also cannot recognize when confidence masks fear or when a person pursues a particular career because someone else told them to. Finally, AI cannot always understand the complicated realities that shape a person’s choices.

Career Development Professionals can make space for those realities. Encouragement can be offered without providing empty reassurance. Through purposeful kindness, we can still ask thoughtful and sometimes difficult questions. We can help people slow down, look beyond the easiest answer, and make choices grounded in who they truly are.

My gut tells me this is where our profession will be needed most. Not because technology will inevitably fail, but because even highly capable technology cannot always provide the judgment, context, compassion, and human discernment that meaningful career decisions require.

It Is Our Turn to Navigate Change

If I am being candid, I do not think this is the time to jump ship simply because our familiar ways of working are changing.

I think this is the time to huddle together and remind ourselves why people have trusted us to help them navigate their career uncertainty in the first place.

We are a remarkable profession filled with strong, fierce, and determined Career Strategists. We know how to evaluate change, recognize strengths, explore possibilities, build strategies, and help people take purposeful next steps.

Now, our own profession needs those skills. We do not need to have every answer today, react to every prediction, or reinvent ourselves each time a new tool appears. We can pause, look carefully at what is changing, and decide together what deserves our attention.

The road ahead may not be easy. Moments of meaningful change rarely are. But change does not have to be all-consuming, and our conversations about the future do not have to be rooted entirely in fear.

My grandmother lived through more change than I can begin to imagine. Through it all, she adapted without losing sight of who she was.

Perhaps that is what our profession is being asked to do now. We can evolve without abandoning what makes our work meaningful. We can embrace useful tools without forgetting the people behind them, and we can reconsider our services and titles without losing the heart of who we have always been.

Above all, we can stand tall in our own truth.

We are Career Strategists. We help people navigate change.

This time, our own profession is calling on us to lead the way.

Skye Berry
Executive Director
Career Professionals of Canada

This article was edited with the support of ChatGPT (developed by OpenAI). The ideas and insights shared are entirely the author’s own. 

Image was enhanced with ChatGPT.