A New Chapter: What 50 Years of Career and Workforce Development Have Taught Me

After more than five decades working at the intersection of education, work, and public policy, I’ve decided it’s time to write a book.

Not a memoir in the traditional sense—but a reflection on what I’ve learned from leading and contributing to national and international career and workforce development initiatives across Canada and beyond.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with governments, educators, employers, unions, community organizations, and global partners to design and scale initiatives aimed at helping people—especially young people—find work that aligns with their skills, aspirations, and values. Some of those initiatives succeeded beyond our expectations. Others taught me hard lessons about what doesn’t work, even when intentions are good.

This book is an attempt to capture those lessons while they’re still fresh—and to make them useful to others.

Why write this book now?

We are living through a profound moment of transition.

Economic disruption, technological change, demographic shifts, and geopolitical uncertainty are reshaping labour markets faster than most education and workforce systems can respond. At the same time, too many young people are being asked to make life-shaping decisions with too little information, too few real-world connections, and too much anxiety about getting it “wrong.”

I’ve seen this pattern before—just not at this scale.

What I’ve learned over 50 years is that career development is not a “nice to have” add-on to education or employment policy. It is foundational infrastructure. When done well, it enhances individual well-being, boosts productivity, fosters social cohesion, and yields measurable economic benefits for governments and employers alike.

When neglected, the costs show up everywhere: disengaged students, mismatched skills, unfilled jobs, frustrated employers, and citizens who feel left behind.

What the book will explore

The book will draw on real projects, real partnerships, and real outcomes—from early experiments to large-scale national and international initiatives. It will explore:

• Why early, equitable access to career conversations matters more than ever

• How experiential and dialogic approaches outperform information-only models

• What it takes to mobilize educators, employers, families, and communities at scale

• Why imagination, purpose, and identity are economic assets—not soft extras

• How small, well-designed interventions can produce outsized returns

• What governments consistently underestimate—and what they can do differently

Above all, the book will focus on how large-scale change actually happens: how trust is built, how partnerships endure, and how ideas move from pilots to policy.

Who this book is for

This book is for educators, policymakers, workforce leaders, employers, parents, and anyone who cares about how people find their place in a rapidly changing world of work.

It’s also for those who sense that we already know enough to do better—but struggle to turn knowledge into coordinated action.

An invitation

As I work on this manuscript, I’ll be sharing occasional reflections, excerpts, and ideas here on my website and through my other channels. I hope they spark conversation—and perhaps even disagreement. The best initiatives I’ve ever been part of were shaped through dialogue, not consensus.

If you’ve walked a similar path, partnered on these issues, or wrestled with the same questions in a different context, I’d love to hear from you.

After 50 years, one lesson stands out above all others:

When people are supported to discover who they are, what they’re good at, and how they can contribute—everyone benefits.

This book is my attempt to explain why that’s true, and how we can finally act on it.

Phil Jarvis