Prior to COVID-19, a broad host of social, technological, economic, environmental, political and values-based changes were disrupting Canada’s labour market, changing the nature of work. COVID-19 accelerated many of these changes, while introducing new disruptions, further complicating the landscape for career development. With this in mind, CERIC engaged Creative Futures to conduct a year-long research project exploring the following questions using strategic foresight:

1. What are the macro factors redefining the changing workplace and career paths?

2. What is the future role and identity of career developers?

3. What career-oriented services and supports will people need in the future, and how will current services need to adapt to meet these needs?

Our Approach:

• Landscape scan: To understand the current state of career development, Creative Futures researched the history of career development in Canada, current and evolving career development service models and methods, and an inventory of career developer skills.

• Horizon scanning: Creative Futures (with the support of collaborators) reviewed 600+ secondary research sources, including traditional (academic journals, government and non-government reports, mainstream media) and non-traditional (patents, artworks, social media, and fringe sources) publications to understand broad changes with the potential to impact the futures of work and career development

• Career developer interviews: To understand the lived experience of career developers, Creative Futures conducted virtual interviews with 15 career development professionals from across Canada. 

• User interviews: To gather insights from the user side of career development, Creative Futures conducted virtual interviews with 9 individuals who have used career development services in the past, or may in the future. These interviews incorporated a mix of perspectives, ranging from “traditional” users who represent the current user base, to users currently accessing career support from non-traditional channels.   

• Public-facing trends report: Using the information collected through the horizon scan and interviews, Creative Futures developed a public-facing trends report identifying 10 major social, technological, environmental, economic, political and values-based changes that will impact the future of work and careers. 

• Scenario development: Following the identification of trends impacting the future of career development, Creative Futures developed three possible future scenarios that explore different versions of work in 2040. The purpose of these scenarios was to frame a participatory workshop with career developers to explore how their profession might evolve by 2040, and evaluate how current services and supports must change to support their clients’ future needs. 

• Participatory scenario exploration workshop: Using the scenarios, Creative Futures facilitated a bi-lingual workshop with 20 career developers from across Canada. Using the three scenarios, participants explored: 1) a day in the life of a career developer in each version of 2040, discussing how their identity might evolve, 2) the career-oriented service and support needs of people in each scenario, and 3) how current services will need to adapt based on this discussion.  

• Recommendation co-design session with CERIC: To translate the workshop findings into near-term actions, Creative Futures hosted a co-design session with the CERIC team and key stakeholders to co-design key recommendations based on insights gathered at the scenario workshop.

• Final public-facing report: Creative Futures synthesized research findings into an accessible public-facing report, while creating two tailored summary reports for key audiences including policymakers and career development professionals. To ensure these reports were high-impact and useful, they were tested with select target audiences in advance of publication.  

• Webinars & Presentations: To support the release of these products, Creative Futures has presented research findings at a variety of conferences including Cannexus24 and Amplify24, while also hosting a free webinar in collaboration with CERIC. 

Results:

From the first launch of this project, it was met with extreme interest, enthusiasm, and support from the career development community. As of February 2024, the trends report has been downloaded over 29,000 times, while the final report reached 15,600 downloads less than four months after release. Presentations of the material when done in person reached room capacity, while over 1,000 people registered for the webinar, and more than 450 people attended live. Given the interest in this research, Creative Futures and CERIC continue to explore ways to translate findings into useful tools and resources for career development professionals.