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Advancing Career Services: Supporting Post-Secondary Career Professionals in a Changing Job Market

As labour markets continue to rapidly evolve, shaped by technological disruption, shifting employer expectations, and intensifying competition for meaningful employment, career development professionals (CDPs) are expected to provide more specialized, timely, and individualized guidance than ever before.

To understand how CDPs are navigating this evolving landscape, we conducted interviews with 40 practitioners working in colleges, universities, and polytechnics across Canada. The findings revealed consistent challenges: unclear or fragmented institutional structures; escalating student mental-health concerns impacting career decision-making; and a lack of shared standards and support for delivering inclusive, high-quality services. Based on these insights, we identify several key opportunities for post-secondary and career services leaders to address these challenges.

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Key insights

Many career development professionals (CDPs) are facing rising student anxiety and declining perceptions of graduates’ work readiness, often without adequate professional development. This can contribute to feelings of overwork and emotional burnout.

Despite this, post-secondary institutions do not always provide clarity on scope of practice for CDPs, particularly related to student wellbeing. This leads to role tension, hidden work, and misaligned workload models.

AI is transforming career pathways, but limited AI literacy, training, and institutional coordination leave students underprepared and CDPs stretched, reducing the scalability, confidence, and effectiveness of AI-informed career guidance.

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Have questions about our work? Do you need access to a report in English or French? Please contact communications@fsc-ccf.ca.