What if we’ve been measuring the wrong things?
In career education, there’s often a quiet scramble to define success. Is it employment rates? Can you even easily track that upon graduation well? Starting salaries? The number of résumés reviewed? Number of students coming through the door? These are easy to count, but do they really measure whether someone is thriving? Does it speak to the impact of the work that is being done?
I’ve been thinking about this while digging into the latest Gallup World Happiness Report. It ranks global happiness each year using a blend of life evaluation data, including income, social support, freedom, trust, and purpose. (Canada is number 18, and falling, just FYI—that’s a conversation for another day). It’s not just about how many people smile in a day. Happiness isn’t about a constant state of being joyful and not troubled. It’s about feeling ecstatic that our lives are going somewhere meaningful.
One line from the report really stuck with me: “The happiest people are not those who avoid struggle, but those who find purpose in it.”
That stopped me. Not just because it validates me choosing “Chief Purpose Officer” as my title for my companies, but because it speaks to how important it is to help people and organizations find and ignite their purpose.
In career and experiential education, and in life, many of us are guiding people through struggle: transitions, unknowns, misalignment, and reinvention. If we help them find meaning in the process, we may be doing more than just job prep. We might be laying the groundwork for long-term well-being—lifelong skills of finding purpose in the journey, the path, the ups and downs. We know that when people have a sense of purpose, they are more resilient and more likely to stay in their programs/jobs and perform better. Perhaps this is the key to fixing declining student and employee engagement?
But that takes a shift in mindset. And metrics.
I remember a moment years ago, when I was sitting around a table with the career centre directors from across Ontario. Our organizations asked us the question for government reporting: Who is responsible for student career outcomes? The banter in the room was interesting. The truth surfaced after deep conversations about the role of career education in a post-secondary environment; it’s not just the “career centre.” It never was. Career development is a collective effort.
Career and experiential education professionals are guides, connectors, and path lighters. But the whole institution plays a role. From faculty who embed career conversations in the classroom, advisors who understand a student’s program offerings, TAs who have mentorship roles, guest speakers in classrooms who open the eyes of the students to new possibilities, and co-op staff who match strengths, interests, and skills to opportunities. Every person, from the moment that the student accepts the offer of admission to the time they walk across the stage (and beyond), can impact that learner’s ability to thrive in their future.
Thriving, just like happiness, isn’t a one-department deliverable.
So, I have an idea! A Department of Happiness! (Actually, I kind of already have that at The Apiary — our social feeds give a little peek into our unofficial HQ of hope, connection, and possibility.)
But imagine this in a campus context. What if there was a “Department of Happiness”? A place where students could walk in and be asked all the questions:
What do you need?
Why are you studying this program?
How can we help?
Can we connect you to someone or something that helps you thrive?
And then, how do we track that? Who owns that outcome?
Because we track many things in higher education, but rarely joy, hope, or alignment.
Maybe it’s time.
As a strengths coach, I’ve seen what happens when people discover not just what they’re good at but what energizes them—the red threads, as Marcus Buckingham calls them. When they realize the best parts of their stories are ahead of them, careers shift. That’s when people light up.
Gallup’s research shows that teams that focus on strengths every day are 12.5% more productive and that people who use their strengths are six times more likely to be engaged at work. This isn’t fluff. It is the foundation of effective strategy.
So, what if we built career education systems not just to place people, but to nurture them?
What if thriving was the benchmark?
Because the world doesn’t need more perfectly optimized résumés—and frankly, AI and tech can do that.
It needs more people who are lit up from within. Who wants to test-pilot this? Give us a call, and we will figure out the strategy with you. We envision a future with Departments of Happiness across Canadian campuses 😊.
In the meantime, while you won’t find a Director, Department of Happiness below. You will find other roles that might be that next step for you or someone you know that will ignite your purpose and help you thrive.
🐝 NFLD
Employment Information Officer (Administrative Officer IA)
College of the North Atlantic
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 23, 2025
🐝 ONTARIO
Coordinator, Student Success and Transitions
University of Toronto – St. George
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 23, 2025
Program Coordinator, Student Leadership & Learning Engagement
University of Toronto – St. George
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 23, 2025
Internship Program Assistant
University of Toronto – Scarborough
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 21, 2025
Director, Career Centre
Redeemer University
🔗 Apply Here
Experiential Education Coordinator, Faculty of Social Sciences (Term)
Brock University
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 27, 2025
Experiential Learning Liaison
Loyalist College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 23, 2025
Facilitator, Community Integration through Cooperative Education (CICE) (Temp Part-Time)
Loyalist College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 23, 2025
Wraparound Supports Coordinator
Loyalist College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 20, 2025
Field Advisor & Placement Coordinator
Wilfrid Laurier University
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 18, 2025
Career and Student Success Advisor – SSE – TPT
Humber College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 25, 2025
Director, Student Life
Sheridan College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 25, 2025
Director, Student Advising & Learning Supports
Sheridan College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 25, 2025
Manager, Strategic Initiatives & Operations
Sheridan College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 25, 2025
Job Consultant/Job Developer – New Liskeard
Northern College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 20, 2025
Job Consultant/Job Developer – Timmins
Northern College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 20, 2025
🐝 MANITOBA
Co-op/IIP Business Development
University of Manitoba
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 24, 2025
🐝 SASKATCHEWAN
Experiential Learning Coordinator
University of Regina
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 21, 2025
🐝 ALBERTA
Learning and Development Consultant
University of Calgary – Haskayne School of Business
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 28, 2025
Employer Specialist (Full-Time Temporary Relief)
University of Calgary – Schulich School of Engineering
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 24, 2025
Community Engagement & Outreach Coordinator
University of Calgary – Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 27, 2025
Directors, Enterprise Partnerships
University of Alberta
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 22, 2025
Supervisor, Student Engagement
NAIT
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 22, 2025
🐝 BRITISH COLUMBIA
Associate Director, Graduate Business Programs
Simon Fraser University (SFU)
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 22, 2025
Co-op Education Coordinator
Simon Fraser University (SFU)
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 21, 2025
Placement Coordinator
Simon Fraser University (SFU)
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 29, 2025
Associate Vice-President, Student Success
Camosun College
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: June 3, 2025
Experiential Learning Advisor
University of Victoria
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: June 1, 2025
Co-op and Career Assistant
University of Victoria
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 20, 2025
Co-op Coordinator
University of Victoria
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 16, 2025
Co-op Coordinator
University of Victoria
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 22, 2025
Program and Internship Manager
UBC Okanagan
🔗 Apply Here
📅 Closes: May 30, 2025