The One About Careers

Well.

We've had quite a few conversations with quite a few people doing quite a few different things!

It's been a blast.

To round out our second season (!), we thought we'd do a bit of a summary of the key takeaways, or golden nuggets that came out of those conversations. Because despite all the differences, there were a lot of ideas and experiences that repeated over and over again.

What did we find the most telling? The number of times these things came up:

• The role networking played in so many careers
• The non-linear pathways
• Finding yourself doing something you hated in high school, and realizing it wasn't so bad
• The impacts of AI on the changing career landscape
• Being willing to change your mind and get off the train as soon as you know it's going the wrong direction
• Evolving as a human and how it changes your work and how you work

In this episode, Devon and Sarah-Jane chatted with Rachel Brethauer, Copywriter, Magical Unicorn and aspiring TV writer.

Besides giving us a peek behind the curtain of TV writing, Rachel also hit on some pretty important themes in our conversation with her. They included:

• The bonuses of partnerships and connections
• Seeing it as "making friends" and "finding your people" instead of "networking"
• How success doesn't look at all what you think it will
• Learning to accept what isn't in your control: often, the outcome of your work
• Chasing your dreams from a early age so you can learn, and readjust as you go

Resources

Copywriting and Advertising at Humber College

Radio and Television Arts (RTA) at Toronto Metropolitan University

Searle Creative Group

In this episode, Devon and Sarah-Jane chatted with Vicki Noels-Cornish, who is a fellow career pro. Vicki's pathway has been a little different than Devon and Sarah-Jane's, mainly because she defines herself as "neurospicy."

If you have ADHD, a learning disability or you feel like you fall into the category of neurodivergence, you definitely don't want to miss this episode!

A few of our big takeaways:

• What it means to be "neurospicy," and how that can impact your career and your work life
• The impact of getting fired
• Seeing your neurodivergence as a superpower
• The societal and very gendered assumptions about ADHD
• Ideas of the kinds of accommodations you could ask for in the workplace
• An introduction to the Kolbe Assessment
• Flipping the script to see the world as "innovation deficient" and figuring out how you can solve that

Resources:

The Company YOU - Vicki's business

The Kolbe Assessment

On this episode, we'll meet Melissa Macfarlane Heidmiller, a Brand Marketing Manager.

We thought she meant brand marketing as in, marketing shoes. She means brand marketing like marketing businesses. It's her job to make sure that organizations look attractive to potential employees.

The industry has only been around since the 80s, and it's been in Canada for maybe 10 years.

Here are a few things we chatted about:

• The miraculous thing that is visiting career counsellors after high school
• Building a career that is a combination of working for others and working for yourself
• The ups and downs of working in a new-to-Canada industry
• How there isn't one thing only that you can do in your career
• Following a common thread in your career; in Melissa's case, her job combines communications, marketing, HR and career counselling to help her support talent management and skill development
• How plenty of employers still don't understand the benefit of being intentional about attracting the right people to their roles and organizations

Did you ever have a time when you were working in fraud investigation, and then your family history, your creativity and your joy all converged in one place, and you quit your job and opened a restaurant?

Yeah, we didn't either. But this episode's guest did! Meet Honey Abada, the current owner of La Isla Manila in Barrie, Ontario.

Honey dropped some terrific insights on her own career journey, including:

• Leading with curiosity
• Getting out of your own head, and really hearing how others see your skills
• Being open when opportunity arises
• The ups and downs of entrepreneurship
• Using your skills and talents to serve

In this episode, Devon and Sarah-Jane jump into the world of environmental careers, with Leslie Greener, Business Centre Pratice Lead, Environmental Service at Stantec Consulting Ltd.

(We didn't know what that meant either, so don't worry, we asked!)

Leslie's work in the environmental field has spanned the private sector, the public sector and consulting work and she's currently on her second tenure at Stantec.

Some of the wisdom Leslie shared in the episode:

• Looking at other options after her undergrad, rather than jumping right into a Master's degree
• The fun and the challenge of keeping up with changing trends, laws and technology
• Using a wide range of employability skills such as problem solving, critical thinking and continual learning
• The importance of understanding all aspects of what your team does - getting your boots on the ground - especially if you are in a decision-making role
• Being confident enough to ask questions and try things that are unfamiliar

Resources:

Environmental Management and Assessment at Niagara College

Stantec Environmental Services

In this episode, Devon and Sarah-Jane chatted with Courtney Brooks, Case Manager, Employment and Social Services for the Municipality of Chatham-Kent.

As usual, talking about someone's career journey led to some great nuggets of information.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Using transfer credits to choose a university program so that it takes less time and costs less
• Finding the balance of competency at work and being challenged enough to land in the sweet spot of job satisfaction
• Using skills in ways you didn't expect - like using teaching, coaching and mentoring skills in a case management capacity, perhaps
• The struggles parents have to understand their kids' education options when the options are so different and more varied than they used to be
• Understanding that evolving as a person might make you better equipped to take on your dream role later in life, rather than landing in it as quickly as possible.
• The disconnect between high school courses and real work

Enjoy!

In this week's episode, Devon and Sarah-Jane sit down and talk to Aaron Schoenmaker, and hoooo boy, does he have a story!

Today, Aaron is the Manager of National Student Recruitment at Centennial College.

Follow along as we unwind Aaron's twisty tale from high-school dropout and petty criminal to factory worker, skilled tradesperson, marketer and college recruiter.

Here are a few highlights we discovered:

• Networking and building relationships are your best friend when it comes to career movement
• Continuing to upgrade and pursue more education and leveraging transfer credits each time
• Using work-integrated learning opportunities through school to explore options and build experience
• Taking advantage of contract roles to learn, build your network and develop skills in different areas
• The impact of working with real grown-ups at a young age to get a sense of how work fits into your life

In this week's episode, Devon and Sarah-Jane sit down with Jenn Powell, a self-described "Jenn of all trades."

Currently, Jenn coordinates events and training for clients across the postsecondary education industry in Canada. But how did she get there?

In this chat, we hit on some great nuggets of info:

• Surviving never working in the thing you studied for
• Taking education on a continuing basis while working
• Understanding how postsecondary education works by working in postsecondary education
• The benefits of regular networking, plus having the guts to reach out to a potential employer when they post on LinkedIn about an employee leaving
• Leaning into curiosity and asking questions to find out how many different versions there might be of a career you want to pursue
• Doing something for fun, even if it didn't work out to be your career

Resources:

Brainstorm Strategy Group

Join Devon and Sarah-Jane for a chat with Amanda Donovan, who is the Activities Coordinator for St. Paul's Anglican Church in Charlottetown, PEI. (A job she would never have expected to be doing!)

While much of her job is about event management, and she gets to lean into her love of events and building connections, we got pretty philosophical about life and careers at the end!

Along the way, some other great tidbits about careers came out:

• Recognizing the common thread about you that shows up in different areas of work, volunteering and life
• Being able to identify skills that you have that are actually unique and marketable
• Finding a welcoming and accepting workplace
• Following your dream without it having to be your job
• The ongoing battle we all have to find your voice and have the courage to use it
• How your life view at a young age can shape your career decisions, even long after you've grown up.

A few links for ya:

Drawstring Productions on Facebook (Amanda's theatre company)

Holland College, PEI's community college

St. Paul's Anglican Church, Charlottetown, PEI