We are stronger together There was a time when Canada and the United States did more than compare their career development systems. We actively shared ideas, adapted one another’s best work, and jointly created resources to help young people move from school to work, and adults move successfully from one kind of work to another. I was privileged to be part of that remarkable period of collaboration. The story began in June 1975, when Stuart Conger, Director of the Occupational and Career Analysis and Development Branch at Employment and Immigration Canada, asked me, then a young project officer, to investigate the feasibility of creating a computer-based career information system. After reviewing the leading Canadian and American systems, I concluded that none met all the criteria we had established. By 1976, we had developed specifications for an entirely new Canadian system: CHOICES. CHOICES was piloted in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick in 1977 and 1978. Remarkably, however, its first large-scale adoptions occurred in the United States—in Florida in 1978, North Carolina in 1979, and Kansas in 1980. American enthusiasm helped demonstrate the system’s potential and encouraged wider adoption in Canada. A Canadian innovation had travelled south. Soon, important American innovations would travel north. From individual projects to a continental partnership As we worked with American states on CHOICES, Canadian career development leaders became increasingly impressed by, even envious of the United States’ National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee and its network of State Occupational Information Coordinating Committees—the NOICC/SOICC Network. The network linked federal and state leadership, occupational and labour-market information, career information systems, professional development, and career development guidelines. It offered something Canada still needed: an enduring structure through which governments, educators, career professionals and other partners could work toward common goals. A pivotal moment occurred at Canada’s National Consultation on Career Development—NATCON—in 1988. Juliette Lester, then Executive Director of NOICC, met with Lionel Dixon of Human Resources Development Canada and a group of federal, provincial and territorial officials. That conversation helped inspire two important developments: The NOICC Training Support Center in the United States, established in 1990 The Canada Career Information Partnership, also established in 1990 with me as its National Coordinator. The Canadian partnership’s first major project was Canada Prospects, a national career newspaper for students. The idea had been suggested to me by Walt Webb of NOICC, drawing on the successful career tabloids produced by many American states. Just as Canada’s CHOICES/CHOIX system had travelled south, the American career tabloid concept travelled north and became Canada Prospects/Perspectives Canadiennes. This was not imitation. It was reciprocal innovation. Each country recognized something the other was doing well, adapted it to its own context, and then contributed new learning back to the partnership. The Real Game crosses the border The collaboration deepened in 1995 when Juliette Lester accepted an invitation to involve the United States in piloting The Real Game. Conceived in Newfoundland and Labrador by Bill Barry, inspired by a conversation with his daughter Mara, The Real Game allowed participants to experience adult life in simulated roles. Students received occupations, incomes and family circumstances, then made decisions about housing, transportation, budgeting, education, work and community life. They did not merely read about adulthood. They rehearsed it. The first prototype was piloted in every Canadian province and territory and in three American states: Vermont, North Dakota and—somewhat optimistically described at the time as a “border state”—Arizona. Nancy Perry coordinated the early American involvement, and Burton Carlson later became the United States coordinator. Thousands of students, teachers, counsellors and parents contributed to the design, piloting and refinement of what ultimately became The Real Game Series/Jouer, pour de Vrai programs spanning elementary school through adulthood. The Real Game demonstrated something we still need to remember: information becomes far more powerful when it is connected to experience, reflection, relationships and consequential choices. Building a shared language for career development A further milestone came in 1996, when NOICC authorized Canada’s National Life/Work Centre to adapt the American National Career Development Guidelines. The result was the Blueprint for Life/Work Designs/le Plan Directeur, introduced in 1997. The Blueprint gave Canada a developmental framework describing the competencies people need to manage learning, work and life. It was not a prescription for choosing one occupation. It recognized that career development unfolds throughout life as people learn about themselves, explore possibilities, make decisions, encounter transitions and adapt to change. The American Guidelines and Canadian Blueprint gave professionals on both sides of the border a broadly shared language. That made it easier to align curriculum, resources, training and evaluation while allowing each country—and each province, territory or state—to adapt implementation to its own circumstances. Our partnership also extended to the training of career development facilitators. A curriculum created in the United States for people providing employment-related services was adapted for Canadian use through collaboration involving NOICC, the National Career Development Association, the Center for Credentialing and Education, and the Canadian Career Development Foundation. This work recognized that good resources are never enough on their own. Practitioners need the knowledge, skills and confidence to bring them to life. What made the partnership work? In 2000, Burton Carlson, Robert Goguen, Juliette Lester and I documented this history in The North America Career Development Partnership: Experiment in International Collaboration, published in The Career Development Quarterly. We identified five lessons that remain strikingly relevant today. 1. Bring all the stakeholders to the table Governments cannot build effective career development systems alone. Neither can schools, employers, professional associations, community organizations or technology providers. Broad participation creates better resources, stronger ownership and more sustainable implementation. 2. Build on what already works Canada did not need to recreate the American National Career Development Guidelines from scratch. We adapted them. The United States did not need to reinvent The Real Game. American partners helped test, improve and extend a Canadian innovation. Collaboration allowed both countries to move further and faster. 3. Connect programs rather than accumulating them Career information, developmental competencies, experiential learning, portfolios, practitioner training and labour-market information were treated as related parts of an ecosystem. The goal was not to produce more disconnected resources. It was to help people navigate. 4. Invest in the people who deliver the work Practitioner training was essential. A framework sitting on a shelf could not help a student or displaced worker. Its value depended on educators, counsellors, employment professionals and community partners who knew how to use it. 5. Provide seed funding and durable stewardship Many of the initiatives succeeded because public institutions (including the Canadian [HRDC] and U.S federal governments supplied early funding, legitimacy, convening power and infrastructure. Resources were pooled, duplication was reduced, and partners accomplished more together than either country could have achieved alone. A lesson for today Our labour markets have changed enormously since that article was published. Artificial intelligence is reshaping tasks and occupations. Young people face more complicated transitions from school into work. Adults can expect repeated work-to-work transitions, sometimes by choice and sometimes through disruption. Yet the central need has not changed. People require more than job listings. They need opportunities to understand themselves, encounter possible futures, develop relevant competencies, gain experience, build relationships and learn how to navigate change. The Canada–United States partnership showed that career development could be treated as shared infrastructure rather than a collection of isolated services. It combined national leadership with state, provincial and local adaptation. It connected information with experience, frameworks with practice, and innovation with professional development. Most importantly, it was built on trust. Stu Conger, Lionel Dixon, Juliette Lester, Burton Carlson, Robert Goguen, Bill Barry, Nancy Perry and many others understood that good ideas do not need passports. When people share a purpose, respect one another’s strengths and are willing to learn together, borders can become bridges. Canada and the United States face different political and economic circumstances today. But we still share a continent, deeply connected labour markets and a common interest in helping our people use their talents fully. We have done this before. Perhaps it is time to remember what was possible—and begin building together again. AI Acknowledgement: This post was conceived and written by me with creative and editorial assistance from my partner, ChatGPT.