Employers and Career Educators, I ask you, what does being on a meaningful career journey look like to you?  

From my perspective, you are on a meaningful career journey if you approach your work with enthusiasm, are able to use your strengths to make a positive impact, and are financially independent.  

This is something many of us wish for. In fact, a recent worldwide study conducted by Ipsos found that out of almost 20,000 adults surveyed, 48% indicated that one of the greatest sources of their happiness was “feeling that my life has meaning”. 

Research conducted by the Brainstorm Strategy Group with 16,000 post-secondary students indicated that after “balancing work-life with personal life” students stated that their most important career goal is to “feel that I am serving a cause or greater good”.

In my recently published book, “Backpack to Briefcase, A Student’s Guide to a Meaningful Career Journey”, I provide readers with the steps and activities to guide them to launch their meaningful career. The book is divided into three phases, Discover, Build and Launch.

The ikigai

I begin by introducing readers to the ikigai framework. Ikigai is a Japanese word that roughly means “your reason for being”. You can identify your ikigai by discovering the answers to 4 questions posed in the circles in the diagram shown here. Your ikigai is found where the four circles intersect. 

The ikigai circles capture: 

1. Circle 1: What You Love
2. Circle 2: What You Are Good At
3. Circle 3: What the World Needs
4. Circle 4: What You Can be Paid For

Is there a role for Employers and Career Educators to guide students to discover their ikigai? 

I believe so. 

Here are some suggestions for guiding students to discover their ikigai. And I am sure you will recognize that you are already doing so!

What Can Employers Do?

1. Circle 1: What You Love: When meeting students, employers can ask students to identify their passions, interests and hobbies, either in casual conversation or to break the ice.
2. Circle 2: What You Are Good At: In interviews, to help students recognize their strengths or what they are good at, employers may ask students to share a task that they completed that they were proud of. Following up with a question to ask them to reflect on which of their strengths they used to accomplish this task, will tease out their natural talents.
3. Circle 3: What the World Needs: When you are attending Career Fairs or networking events, share with candidates your company’s goals, values, and mission. This allows students to evaluate how their values align with your organization’s. 
4. Circle 4: What You Can be Paid For: As industry experts, share your knowledge about the state of your industry, the salary ranges, and the skills that are required for future roles. This provides young people with a sense of “where the puck is going” so they can acquire the skills employers are seeking.

What Can Career Educators Do?

1. Circle 1: What You Love: Educators can continue to encourage students to step out of their comfort zone by joining clubs, taking different courses, or developing new passions.
2. Circle 2: What You Are Good At: Instructors can promote completing the Gallup CliftonStrengths® or the Myers-Briggs® assessment, offered through the Career Center. This will provide students a way to identify and articulate their strengths and unique traits. 
3. Circle 3: What the World Needs: Have conversations with students about world issues. This will help students to consider which challenges or issues they are passionate about solving. In addition, showing student the ways to identify organizations that are already working on these challenges allows them to see that they can align their energies with others. 
4. Circle 4: What You Can be Paid For: Offer workshops or webinars outlining how to tap into Labour Market Information such as industry forecasts, salary ranges, attrition rates and the skills that are forecasted to be in demand. This information helps students narrow down their options.  

In summary, these and many other ways allow you to prompt, guide and assist students as they discover their own sense of what is meaningful to them. This can lead them to a life with purpose, where they know that they are making a positive impact on the world, and feel energized on their journey as they pivot from role to role in response to growing and learning about themselves.  

A life well-lived is more than fleeting moments of happiness; it also has meaning and purpose.  

Biography: Stephanie Koonar is a marketing professional, academic, career coach, and workshop facilitator. A community connector, she is an award-winning college instructor who has taught over 4,000 students. Member of CACEE and member of the ACE-WIL BC research committee. A Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and Co-Founder of PeerSpectives Consulting, she enjoys coaching purpose-driven individuals and organizations to be their best.

Stephanie and her PeerSpectives Consulting Co-Founder, Louann McCurdy are available to partner with Employers and Educators to collaborate on program development, guest speak, and facilitate workshops. Contact Stephanie at SK.Peerspectives@gmail.com

Interested in getting your own copy of the Backpack to Briefcase book?   

You can purchase it here

As we complete the first leg of the 2022 Winter – Spring campus recruitment season, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as Director of Operations at TalentEgg.  My insights into career education and campus recruitment will be a regular feature here in TalentEgg Trends and I look forward to encapsulating all that we have been hearing, noticing, and observing in our space to share with you as a part of this community.  

Prior to joining the team this past September, I was a 11+ year client of TalentEgg and led a national career education initiative on behalf of the Insurance Institute of Canada.  I am egg-cited to leverage my background in career development, campus recruitment, and adult education in this new capacity!

To say that the campus and early talent recruitment landscape has been ‘dynamic’ in the age of COVID is an understatement.  Omicron has added an additional layer of complexity. And, it certainly looks like virtual recruitment and remote work, at least in a hybrid form, are here to stay. 

While there can be a lot of uncertainty for students, new grads, and early career professionals (heck, for all of us) right now, one certainty that has reemerged in recent months is that employers need talent!

Now, perhaps more than ever before, it is pivotal that, as an employer, you are weaving a compelling career narrative, employer brand, and value proposition alongside more traditional promotion of your opportunities.  It can be extremely difficult to capture early career seekers’ attention and attract top talent, especially virtually, without these important elements.

In our work at TalentEgg, we see that these six approaches are consistently hitting the mark in attracting (and, retaining) students, new grads, and early career talent:

• Give candidates a real look at “what’s behind the curtain” in your industry and organization
• Commit to Investing in skill building, early career development, and well-being of your workforce
• Help candidates to standout and demonstrate their skills
• Target and show up often in the digital sphere of Gen Z talent
• Share compelling stories that candidates can see themselves reflected in
• Take a multi-faceted and high touch approach during peak recruitment periods

This six-part series will dig a little deeper into each approach and provide actionable ways to incorporate them into your employer branding and talent acquisition strategy. 

Let’s get crackin’ with #1. 

It is important to think beyond what is readily available on your website or may be shared in an info session over Zoom.  Rather, focus on what it looks and feels like to be a part of your organization. Real, authentic, diverse, and easily replicable (as in not just for a privileged few) experiences are key ingredients to doing this well!

Consider, who are your best story tellers?   Then, select a vehicle to spotlight the kinds of problems candidates will solve, who they will work with, what your (virtual) workplace culture is like, and the kinds of meaningful projects they will undertake.

For example, our friends at EDC had fantastic engagement in their recent takeover of our Instagram for a day. They offered an inside look at how EDC sets employees up for success remotely, ways their Growing Professionals Committee keeps new talent connected via virtual events and regular touch points, and why their employees love working at EDC.  

Another tact is to profile your industry.  Our colleagues at Career Connections have taken to our Instagram multiple times over the course of the pandemic to:

Illustrate how the insurance industry has given back in times of uncertainty

Finally, don’t feel limited to just one platform.  A multi-channel approach can be even more effective! 

We recently introduced the opportunity for clients to takeover both TalentEgg’s Instagram Stories and LinkedIn Feed simultaneously.  Vale, our partner in piloting this service, used a wide array of creative content showcasing mining careers, their employee value proposition, and exclusive insights into their robust student and new grad programs to tens of thousands of TalentEgg’s followers at the peak of the Fall campus recruitment season.  

Until next time…