The scene in the city of Toronto’s downtown core this afternoon is like something from apocalyptic fiction. Three meter high fencing encloses the G20 zone of the city-turned-fortress where many Career Edge Organization employers and inters currently work.

Within the fenced area, police on foot, bicycles and even horses have taken up post at almost every street corner, providing a mixed sense of both security and heightened awareness of the potential chaos looming ahead as the world’s most powerful leaders come together.

It is a significant departure from the typical scene on a beautiful Thursday afternoon when the streets would normally be pulsating with activity. Instead the streets are eerily quiet and deserted, leaving one to ask – where is everybody?

And most importantly, who is doing the work?

Read More

By Guest Contributor, Marcia Dunbar, Client Relations Manager, Career Edge Organization

As in previous years, Career Edge Organization was invitied by the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers (CACEE) to deliver a presentation at their annual national conference. Last week I had the pleasure of representing Career Edge in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and took the opportunity to share some of the insights derived from our recent National Gen Y study which we conducted in partnership with Angus Reid Strategies.

The workshop built upon the information we delivered at CACEE’s regional conference this past December – you might recall our blog post, “What motivates the next generation of leaders.” To the surprise of many, our findings debunked many of the (often negative) myths and stereotypes about today’s youth in the workplace.

Many of the seminars at last week’s CACEE conference provided some of the same old fodder that feeds pre-existing notions of what this newest entrant to our post-secondary institutions and workplaces, the Gen Y’er, is all about. But there were some discussions that challenged the attendees to think differently.

Let’s face it, every generation has brought their dreams and aspirations for themselves and this world to bear on the society they live in; inevitably creating some dissonance everywhere – including the workplace.

There is general acceptance that this generation is the best-equipped group of new grads ever to come out of our colleges and universities. The deliverable, from an academic perspective, is high quality. Where most gen X’ers and Boomers sought self-actualization through their work, the Gen Y cohort is bringing a heightened awareness of themselves and their place in the broader world to the workplace.

This generation is born into a world where all their needs have been met. After all, they aren’t struggling to feed themselves like the Greatest Generation or challenged to bring order, love and safety into a chaotic world like the Boomers and unlike Gen X before them, Millennials know they are valued and why.

How then will Gen Y respond to the call to action heard by every new grad since the beginning of time – In what way will they change the world? This certainly poses some interesting recruitment and retention challenges for today’s employers, but with the challenges also come new possibilities and most importantly, opportunities.