Conference

Recognizing Canadian Excellence in Recruitment

About This Event

The TalentEgg National Recruitment Excellence Awards & Conference provide an opportunity for employers, accredited universities and colleges, career centres, career educators and coaches to be recognized within the industry and among your peers and to gather valuable feedback from top students, recent graduates and early career professionals on your employer branding, career education and recruitment initiatives. We’re so egg-cited to host the annual awards and conference virtually!

The TalentEgg National Recruitment Excellence Awards & Conference is a day full of celebrations, networking and packed with knowledge. On June 02, 2020 at the Omni King Edward Hotel in Toronto, we will share insights and best practices from subject matter experts and top HR professionals on the latest human resources issues, and employer branding and campus recruitment trends. Of course, the day wouldn’t be complete without celebrating excellence with the announcement of this year’s 2020 TalentEgg Awards winners, based on voting results from our student judges from across Canada.

2023 Featured Panel Discussions

Wellness in The Workplace; Supporting Employee Mental Health

Moderator: Mary Barroll
Speakers: Paula Allen, Dave Dinino, Donna Marshall

The January 2023 TELUS Health Mental Health Index discovered that 32% of Canadians have a high mental health risk, while 43% have a moderate mental health risk. With that, anxiety, isolation, and work productivity remain the lowest mental health sub-scores and young Canadians report that they are more likely to lack confidence in their ability to cope with work stressors. Proper mental health initiatives and support are essential to your organization and your employees’ careers. When it comes to starting and growing those initiatives, employers have an indispensable role but often don’t know how best to do it.

In this panel, we will discuss tips on how to take action, promote mental health and create a healthy and supportive work environment for your employees. Let’s hear how you can get your workplace on the right track.


Empowering Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace

Moderator: Trevor Buttrum
Speakers: Shalise Goffe, Chelsea Hill, Dr. Wendy Cukier

DEI remains a significant issue for young people. In particular, when it comes to career aspirations, young job seekers yearn to find inclusive workplaces that make them feel respected, supported and safe. Our 2023 student & grad survey found that more than 70% of respondents rated an employer’s DEI initiatives as a key attribute that they look for in an employer of choice. Employers who fail to understand the importance of embracing equity, diversity and inclusion as a core value, do so at their peril.

It’s essential to start DEI initiatives if you haven’t already; if you have, there’s always room to improve. In this panel, we will discuss the current DEI trends influencing young talent and solutions on how to solve the most common DEI problems in the workplace. Together, let’s ensure all job seekers can find inclusive, safe workplaces that embrace diversity.


Soft Skills are Critical Skills; Does Your Young Talent Have Them?

Moderator: Mary Barroll
Speakers: Stephanie Koonar, Dr. Stephanie Bot, Trevor Buttrum

After three isolating years of working and studying remotely, today’s students and grads have had less opportunity to develop soft skills organically in day to day interaction with others on the job and on campus. Their communication, listening, presentation, and conflict resolution skills are rusty at best, and virtually non-existent at worst. It’s not surprising then, that the workplace can be a daunting place for young job seekers who report that they feel unprepared, ill equipped, and lack confidence in their ability to navigate the world of work. For the future success of young talent and their ability to contribute to the workplace, it’s up to employers and career educators to find new and effective ways to help foster and develop their employee’s soft skills.

In this panel, we’ll help share tips, best practices and resources to help young talent to develop the crucial soft skills they need to make their school-to-work transition easier and their future contribution to the workplace more valuable. Join us to find out how you can help students and new grads develop and prepare for success.


Students & Grads’ Career Wishlist For 2023; Young Job Seekers’ Panel

Moderator: Patricia Eddu
Speakers: Noah Gladysz, Ziga Poromon, Deepam Gandhi, Amalia Kizoff, Charmi Shah

Every cohort of students and grads reflect their own experiences in life, bringing with it new attitudes, desires, expectations, aspirations and perspectives that impact what they want in a career and an employer of choice. For recruiters, it’s critical to know what students and new grads are looking for in an employer, because it will influence employer branding, recruitment strategies and employee engagement and retention programs. After three years of a global pandemic, remote study and work, social unrest, international war, inflation and a looming recession, it’s hard to predict exactly how these historic world events may have impacted the perspective of young people you seek to bring into your workforce.

In this student and new grads panel, you will hear directly what’s on their minds and in their hearts, and what they are looking for in an employer and their future careers. Join us to discover what young Canadians want and what you can do to attract them to your workforce!

Subscribe to receive the latest updates about the awards and conference here

Past Panel Agenda

The Post-Pandemic Workplace

Moderator: Mary Barroll (TalentEgg)
Panelists: Ariane Lamy (SNC-Lavalin), Mehak Shoeb (CIBC), Whitney Perrett (Chick-fil-A)

As we emerge from the Pandemic, many of us will be facing very different kinds of workplaces than we did two years ago. Companies like Shopify and AirBnB have announced that they’re embracing a “work from anywhere” policy and becoming completely remote workplaces. Other companies like CIBC and SNC Lavalin are either welcoming employees back to the office or embracing some kind of hybrid model. Many other employers are still experimenting with some combination of work-from-home, remote and hybrid workforces to figure what will work for them in the future. This panel will discuss some of the challenges in overcoming returning to the office jitters, how to maintain culture among remote employees, how to support employee engagement among staff in these varied workplace styles, and explore the new demands created for recruiting and onboarding students and grads into these new workplaces.

 

New Trends for The Future of Campus Recruitment

Moderator: Mary Barroll (TalentEgg)
Panelists: Carolyn Seward (Career Connections), Shalise Goffe (CIBC), Jennifer Smith (Everything Podcasts)

Now that almost everything has opened up, it’s time to decide where to put your campus recruitment efforts. In post-pandemic life, it can feel like there is an overwhelming number of options. Where is the best place to put your campus recruitment resources? Is virtual recruitment here to stay or is it critical for recruiters to return to campus? Or is some kind of hybrid strategy the best way forward? This panel will explore the new ways of recruiting and employer branding that emerged during the pandemic, assess their applicability to the future of recruitment during fall 2022 and beyond, as we gaze into the crystal ball of the future of campus recruitment and introduce some new employer branding strategies.

 

The Importance of Soft Skills in Today’s Workplace

Moderator: Mary Barroll (TalentEgg)
Panelists: Diana Kawarsky (The Soft Skills Group Inc.), Donna Marshall (Workright Ltd.), Trevor Buttrum (CACEE)

In 2019, LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends Report highlighted that employers increasingly value so-called “soft skills”. 92% of talent professionals reported that soft skills are equally or more important to hire for than hard skills. And 89% said that when a new hire doesn’t work out, it’s because they lack critical soft skills. With the pandemic driven remote work, remote studying and virtual events that students and grads have experienced over the last 2 years, soft skills — and new ones required for virtual workplaces — are arguably even more critical than ever before. How can you and your team adapt and be on the cutting edge of these changing soft skill trends?

 

Mental Health in the Workplace

Moderator: Mary Barroll (TalentEgg)
Panelists: Dr. Stephanie Bot (Dr. Stephanie Bot & Associates), Minami Alguire (Bell), Chelsea Hill (Vale)

In LifeWorks’ recent 2022 Mental Health in the Workplace Report it was identified that since April 2020, the mental health of Canadians has been 10 points or lower than the pre-2020 benchmark. They also found that more than two in five Canadians end their workday feeling mentally and/or physically exhausted and more than one-quarter of Canadians cannot disconnect from work after usual work hours. At the same time, students and grads report that support for mental health in the workplace is an important driver of their decision about where they want to start their careers. In this panel we’ll discuss important mental health initiatives you can explore for your workplace and strategies for supporting your team, as well as highlighting your safe and supportive workplace culture as part of your employer brand.

 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Hiring and Workplace Practices

Moderator: Trevor Buttrum (CACEE)
Panelists: Josh Basile (accessiBe), Devon Peterika (Worley), Tara Monoghan (Export Development Canada)

In the wake of the 2020 death of George Flloyd, last year was marked by tragedies such as the discovery of mass graves at the sites of Residential Schools, discrimination and violence again Asians and a vehicle attack on a Muslim family in Canada. In 2022 Anti-oppression and anti-racism movements have continued to build momentum, causing many employers to take a long, hard look in the mirror to face their own challenges related to systemic racism, bias in hiring, and microaggressions in the workplace. Ethical employers continue to navigate through new hiring practices that offer a more inclusive and diverse experience while also creating more safe and welcoming workplaces for all. Join us as we explore best practices on how employers can incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of their recruitment and employee engagement strategies.

 

2022’s TalentEgg Student Survey Results – What Students Want in their Recruitment, Onboarding and Career Journey

Presenter: Mary Barroll (TalentEgg)

In the first half of 2022, TalentEgg has been collecting data from students, new grads and working professionals to find out the latest trends in what they’re looking for in their next workplace and employer, what they’re passionate about, what’s most important for them in building their career, what inspires them and what turns them off as job seekers. All of this data helps TalentEgg to synthesize the most important findings to help craft and amplify your employer brand to better attract and engage top students and grads and become an employer of choice for young talent. Join Mary Barroll as she discusses all the biggest workplace and recruitment trends of 2022 for students and new grads and the best content marketing and branding strategies to help you capture their attention, attract and engage top young job seekers!

Subscribe to receive the latest updates about the awards and conference here

Learn More About Being A Sponsor

For sponsorship opportunities, please visit our Sponsors tab here.

2023 Conference Sponsors