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Part of Western Canada Career Development Conference 2025
May 15 to June 17, 2025 - VIA ZOOM
Introducing the Career Development Conference Webinar Collection 2025, part of the renowned Career Development Conference—Western Canada’s most prominent and well-established event of the year for career development professionals. Following the highly anticipated Career Development Symposium on May 9, 2025, this webinar series offers a flexible and diverse learning experience for those seeking inspiration and professional growth.
To accommodate both in-person networking enthusiasts and remote attendees, our conference is structured to suit everyone. The Career Development Symposium will take place on May 9, 2025, at SFU Harbour Centre, with the option to join virtually via live streaming.
After the symposium, the learning continues with the Career Development Webinar Collection, running every Tuesday and Thursday from May 15th until June 19th, at 11 am PT. This series gives you the freedom to build your participation experience around your schedule, budget, and areas of interest. Whether you are a career development professional or anyone looking for inspiration to advance your career and life, this collection provides practical insights and fresh strategies to empower your journey.
This page gives an overview of the collection of webinars we have carefully curated for this year’s lineup, offering diverse topics and fresh perspectives tailored to enhance your skills and knowledge.
Collection of Webinars Exploring Fresh Perspectives in Career Development
Thursday, May 15, 2025 11am PT
Living Wages and Career Development: Supporting Clients Amid BC’s Affordability Crisis
With the 2024 living wage in Metro Vancouver rising to $27.05 per hour, many workers are struggling to keep up with the soaring costs of housing, food, and other essentials. Compounding this challenge are the economic headwinds facing BC.
This webinar, led by economist Iglika Ivanova, will unpack the latest living wage data and labour market trends, and what they mean for career development practitioners. Learn how the rising cost of living, precarious employment, and broader economic shifts impact your clients’ career choices, financial stability, and overall well-being. Gain insights into the role of living wages in fostering sustainable career paths and explore strategies to support clients build more resilient careers in an uncertain economic landscape.
Presented by Iglika Ivanova
Iglika Ivanova is a Senior Economist and Public Interest Researcher at the BC Society for Policy Solutions. Her work focuses on employment and labour market trends, poverty, economic and social inequalities, and government finance. With over 15 years of experience in policy-relevant research, Iglika brings a nuanced understanding of the Canadian economy and the structural barriers facing marginalized populations in BC.
A sought-after media commentator and public speaker, Iglika regularly shares insights on social and economic policy issues. She has provided analysis and advice to provincial and federal policymakers through policy panels, public consultations, task forces, and expert roundtables.
An experienced communicator, Iglika is passionate about breaking down complex economic concepts to empower diverse audiences to advocate more effectively for systemic change.
Thursday, May 22, 2025 11am PT
Unleashing Potential: Breaking Free from Limiting Beliefs in Career Transitions
This session equips career development professionals with strategies to help clients overcome limiting beliefs during career transitions. Attendees will explore practical tools to address self-doubt, reframe negative thoughts, and build resilience, enabling clients to view job changes and workforce re-entry as opportunities for growth and success.
Career transitions often bring uncertainty, self-doubt, and fear of the unknown. This session offers career development professionals actionable insights to empower clients in overcoming limiting beliefs such as imposter syndrome, fear of failure, and doubts about skill relevance. By exploring cognitive-behavioral techniques and resilience-building strategies, participants will gain the tools to support clients in reframing negative thoughts and fostering a growth mindset.
The session will provide practical approaches, including cognitive restructuring, goal-setting frameworks, and visualization exercises, designed to help clients navigate job changes, industry shifts, or re-entry into the workforce. Participants will also learn to integrate these tools into coaching practices to build clients' confidence and equip them to take actionable steps toward their goals.
Presented by Dr. Stacy Heimburger
Dr. Stacy Heimburger is a board-certified physician specializing in internal medicine and lifestyle medicine, as well as a certified life coach and advanced weight loss coach. With over a decade of experience in healthcare and coaching, Dr. Heimburger is dedicated to empowering individuals to overcome limiting beliefs and achieve their full potential. She has a passion for integrating wellness, resilience, and mindset strategies into career development, helping professionals navigate transitions and thrive in their personal and professional lives.
Tuesday, May 27, 2025 11am PT
The Power of Metaphor in Navigating Career Transitions
Metaphors are memorable. Stories stick with us. They bring clarity as we navigate career and life transitions. In today's world of sensory and information overload, simple, clear, relatable metaphors are helping people to make sense of complexity, make decisions that fit their needs, and paddle forward with energy and engagement.
In this customized engagement designed for BCCDA, Cristine Saxon, internationally celebrated executive leadership coach and author of Paddle Your Own Boat, will share three original metaphors she designed and integrates into her coaching practice with CEOs, leaders, students, job seekers, entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to thrive.
How can you skillfully incorporate simple, relatable stories and metaphors into your practice, adapt them to people's diverse needs and, in doing so, enhance their well-being, resilience and results? Let's find out together.
Presented by Cristine Saxon
Cristine Saxon is an author, speaker and trusted coach and consultant. She has over 25 years of experience as a career advisor and employment counselor, people and change leader, HR and knowledge strategist, instructor, coach and leadership consultant for multiple industries. Today, she provides executive leadership coaching and leadership consulting through Cristine Saxon Coaching and Consulting.
An Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), she provides executive leadership coaching and leadership development workshops to corporate and private clients in Canada and internationally. She is an instructor for the University of Regina's Continuing Education professional, advanced and customized leadership programs. She delivers an annual intensive, customized leadership program, empowHer, for female faculty and senior administrative leaders at the University of Osnabrück.
Cristine is known for designing customized solutions and inspires people to ‘paddle your own boat’ through sharing tips, tools and stories in her Paddle Your Own Boat short videos on her YouTube channel. She published her first book, Paddle Your Own Boat, in December 2023.
Thursday, May 29, 2025 11am PT
Increasing client's career resilience through logotherapy and meaning-based coaching
Researchers have established a close relationship between the ability to recover, adapt, and transform in the face of job loss and long-term career success.
Today’s labour market's fast-changing, increasingly uncertain, and complex characteristics often make job seekers feel like prisoners in a senseless, hostile world, with no control over their lives. This session will introduce Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, a therapy that asserts that people can accept suffering as part of life and, instead of losing hope, they can turn it into accomplishments.
Participants will learn how to apply logotherapeutic principles when coaching clients to overcome their career challenges. They will walk away with tools to increase their clients’ resilience, thereby increasing their success outcomes in the long term.
Presented by Michaela Fengstad
Michaela is the founder of Career Charge, an outplacement and career coaching organization serving local and international job seekers. Her practice is rooted in Viktor Frankl's work in logotherapy, guiding clients in finding ways to bring personal meaning to their everyday life and work.
As a board-approved Diplomat in Logotherapy, Michaela is an active member of Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy. With a master's degree in adult education and career counseling, a diverse set of certifications, and over 25 years of experience in career counseling, adult and youth education, and radio broadcasting, Michaela's expertise is unmatched.
Through Career Charge, Michaela offers comprehensive career transition services, specialized training in Logotherapy and Introduction to Counselling for career practitioners, and life coaching.
Tuesday, June 3, 2025 11am PT
Behind the Scenes of Job Search Process and Career Development
Job search and career development are not one-time events but ongoing processes that evolve throughout your professional life. In this session, we’ll take a "behind the scenes" (BTS) approach to job searching, showing participants how to stay prepared, strategic, and proactive throughout their careers.
We’ll cover personal branding, networking, journaling for career reflection, and why job searching should be treated as career "insurance." The session will also provide strategies to handle difficult periods, including economic downturns or long-term unemployment, to ensure resilience and long-term success.
Presented by Sue Switzers
Sue brings over a decade of successful experience in post secondary career education. She holds Master's Arts in Higher Education Administration and Leadership in addition to an accreditation in career development practice, human resources management and essential skills practitioner.
Sue is a dedicated educator, focusing on learner-centered approaches. Her extensive training includes Experiential Learning, Universal Design for Learning, and Human Centric Design, all aimed at enhancing the quality of student learning and their overall experience.
Her educational philosophy is that learning should be enjoyable, akin to playing in a playground. She sees education as a process of discovery, where educators create safe environments for students to explore and grow independently. Currently serving as Vice President at the UN Association - Vancouver Branch (3 consecutive years), Sue is deeply committed to advancing the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals within her community as an educational leader.
Thursday, June 5, 2025 11am PT
Strategic Job Search: Customizing Resumes
This session is designed to equip career development practitioners with advanced strategies for helping clients create highly customized resumes that stand out in today’s competitive job market. Attendees will explore the importance of tailoring resumes for specific roles by aligning skills, experiences, and keywords with job descriptions.
The session will also cover best practices for optimizing resumes for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to ensure they are both personalized and technology-friendly. Interactive discussions and practical demonstrations will provide actionable insights that practitioners can immediately apply when working with job seekers.
Learning objectives include how to customize resumes to match specific job descriptions, optimize resumes for ATS, and align skills and experience with job requirements. The primary audience includes career development practitioners, job developers, job seekers, career coaches, and HR professionals, while the secondary audience includes case managers and vocational rehabilitation specialists.
Presented by Anoop Atluri
Anoop Atluri is a Senior Technical Recruiter at TopRecruitment Canada. Prior to transitioning into recruitment, Anoop spent over a decade working in the tech industry as a Product Manager. His extensive experience in the tech field provides him with a deep understanding of the technical roles he now recruits for, enabling him to effectively connect top talent with the right opportunities. Anoop is passionate about helping candidates and organizations succeed by finding the best fit for both.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 11am PT
Three critical mistakes that keep applicants from getting the job they love
In 2025, the largest generation globally is between 13 and 28 years of age, better known as Gen Z. Without a doubt, Gen Z is shaking up the workplace. In fact, ResumeBuilder.com surveyed 1,344 managers and business leaders and found that 74% believe Gen Z is more difficult to work with than other generations (2023).
In this seminar, we will unveil some of Gen Z's challenges and how they affect the workplace. We will also discuss how to fix these "problems" to help this generation adjust to the workplace with reassurance, confidence, and less stress. We aim to help everybody "win."
Presented by JoAnne Marlow
JoAnne Marlow is a best-selling author, professional speaker, and certified career coach. For several decades, she has offered her expertise in business communications, career planning, and helping others (16 – 80 years) determine and secure their ideal jobs.
Her success as a coach and educator is evident in the thousands of students and clients (ages 16 and up) she has helped match their innate strengths and skills with the ideal career and position. Her latest best-selling book, a guide for international newcomers to find their ideal job in a new country, is a testament to her expertise and dedication.
She is passionate about lifelong learning and holds a BA in Education (Economics and Commerce) from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC, and an MA in Leadership and Training from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC, Canada.
Thursday, June 12, 2025 11am PT
Building Career Practitioner Capacity through Collaboration and ‘Train the Trainer’ Approach: A Case Study
As career practitioners, we must seize all opportunities for professional development whether they are available on-the-job, through formal channels and/or by learning from our colleagues in the field.
This presentation shares a story of Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) and Vancouver Community College (VCC) working together on the ESDC funded Intercultural Skills for Success project to leverage each other’s strengths and to build practitioners capacity using Train the Trainer approach embedded in the experiential learning pedagogy.
The audience will gain insight into challenges and best practices of “Train the Trainer” model and how the model enables a sustainable transfer of knowledge and skills from trainers working in an academic setting to practitioners in a community services environment.
Train the Trainer model’s impact is multifold on the clients, facilitators, case managers, employment coaches, and the learning culture of the community organizations as it enhances the depth of the training and creates more motivated, confident and skilled employees of the community organizations.
Presented by Pam Khinda, M.Ed. CCDP + Sugandh Saurabh
Pam Khinda, M.Ed. CCDP is a manager and instructor with 20+ years of combined experience in project management, teaching, coordination, and career development. At VCC, she develops, implements, manages and coordinates innovative and accessible partnership-based workforce development solutions that prepare underserved and marginalized community members for sustainable employment/career opportunities.
At SFU’s Continuing Studies, she has been teaching as a term-instructor in the Career Development Practitioner Certificate program since 2010. She has an MEd in Curriculum and Instruction: Post-Secondary from SFU, Provincial Instructor’s Diploma (PID), and Certificate in Online/eLearning Instruction from VCC. Additionally, she is a BCCDA-certified Career Development Practitioner (CCDP). Pam enjoys biking, hiking, reading investigative thrillers and gardening.
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Sugandh Saurabh is an engineer turned community worker, who chose to follow her passion for helping others and contributing to building an equal and inclusive society. She brings 7+ years of social impact experience, having worked with both corporates and non-profits.
Sugandh is deeply committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion and the use of technology for good. She is skilled at managing community projects and enjoys setting up efficient systems and processes for operations and program evaluation.
Currently, Sugandh is working with the PICS Society as a Facilitator/Industry Liaison. She loves to problem-solve, work with people, collaborate with others, and get excited with new challenges and ideas at work. She is a lifelong learner who also loves hiking, walking on trails in her free time, and trying out new food.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025 11am PT
The Rise of Portfolio Careers: Revolutionizing Career Development Practices for Today's Workforce
The workforce is changing, and so too must the ways that we prepare for it. Many people entering the labour market today will either be required to (or will strive for!) a portfolio career, which demands a dynamic approach to one’s working life.
Instead of holding a single, full-time position, portfolio careerists will juggle part-time work, freelance projects, or entrepreneurial pursuits. While many embrace this style of work willingly, drawn to the greater flexibility, variety, and autonomy it can afford, it’s not without drawbacks. Uncertainty about one’s career progression is common for those in more highly unpredictable portfolio careers, making long-term career planning more challenging.
This is especially true because much of how we continue to think about career development remains rooted in traditional career paths and planning. While suitable for many, this approach fails to adequately prepare people for the realities of today’s rapidly growing gig economy (characterized by short-term, contracted, flexible roles), where most portfolio careerists find themselves.
This workshop will dive into the unique realities of portfolio careers within the gig economy, exploring strategies for how to prepare for as well as navigate this evolving world of work with confidence and clarity.
Presented by Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett, Ph.D., R.Psych + April Dyrda, M.Sc., R.Psych
Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett is an Organizational Psychologist, Keynote Speaker, Business Leader, Author, and Podcast Host. She is a sought-after thought leader on workplace psychology and career development internationally, with nearly 25 years of experience. Dr. Laura is an entrepreneur who understands the intersection of business and people.
Dr. Laura’s areas of expertise include leadership, team, and culture development in organizations, remote/hybrid workplace success, and mental health/developing resiliency through turbulent times. She has facilitated, assessed, and coached 100s of leaders and teams across industries. She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Calgary, where she is currently an Adjunct Professor.
As a passionate entrepreneur, Dr. Laura has founded several psychology practices in Canada since 2009, including Canada Career Counselling, Work EvOHlution, The Leadership Success Group and Synthesis Psychology. She runs the widely followed podcast Where Work Meets LifeTM, where she interviews global experts on a variety of topics around wellness, career, and organizational culture.
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April Dyrda is a Registered Psychologist, Workplace Psychology Consultant, and Career Counsellor/Coach who has devoted over a decade of her career to better understanding and supporting career success for today’s workforce.
An expert in the future of work, her professional interests have centered around ways to support individuals and organizations with navigating workplace transitions to maximize success as well as resilience. Often working at the crux of career change, she is skilled at supporting people through transitions towards greater career alignment and fulfillment.
As a sought-after speaker and facilitator, April has presented on these topics to audiences and organizations across Canada. She has trained hundreds of leaders and worked with organizations of all sizes across government, education, healthcare, energy and other sectors to support individual and organizational growth.
April is an active member of the Psychologists’ Association of Alberta and holds both a Master of Science degree in Counselling Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Calgary.
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