Career Crossroads

When you know you want to change your career but you are unsure of where to go, you might seek the help of a professional. Chris M. Wilson, this week's guest, struggled to find the help he was looking for and that challenge led him to dedicate his life to helping people going through similar struggles. As a career coach, Chris helps people find clarity in what they really want because without that you can't move forward. Before we talk about that, Chris walks me through the early part of his career as a helicopter pilot and mechanic and why he felt he needed to move on from that field. Find Chris on social media and YouTube at @iamchrismwilson _______________You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTikTok: @jonathancollaton

#87 - What's would you do if your ability to do your job disappeared overnight? How would you react? That's a question Andy Thibodeau wrestled with in March 2020 when Covid-19 shut down his career as a public speaker. As a 25+ year veteran of the industry, this was the only job Andy had ever really known and in the span of 48 hours, 31 bookings cancelled and his ability to make an income evaporated.As Andy struggled with this new reality and the recognition that he was a people person who could no longer be around people, he visited a friend one last time before we headed into lockdown. Something that friend said gave him the mental slap he needed to act and less then 5 days later Andy had a new job lined up to provided him with both the income he needed, and the interaction with others that he craved. Hear about Andy's career crossroad on this week's CC Shorts episode.

#86 -If you told 20-year-old Josh Green that he was going to be a business consultant in the future, he would have thought you were joking.  How did he end up a business consultant when he was well on his way to a successful career as an actor and improv comedian? He was getting regular work, making more money than most actors he knew, and even had scenes in movies with Ice Cube and Danny Glover.As 20-year-old Josh would soon find out, the way you feel today may not be the way you feel tomorrow, and when that happens you need to know what else interests you. It took years of travel and teaching abroad for Josh to realize that he wanted to be his own boss, and the best way for him to do that was to run his own company. Moving back to his hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Josh set to work on making that a reality. This is the story of how over the past 12 years....Josh went back to school as a mature student to obtain a Bachelor of Business Administration (his second degree)Created, sold, and/or shut down many successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) businesses from a wake park to dog walking to cookie cough and beyond Ultimately, realized his passion is in helping other people through the process of navigating the difficult world of taking an idea for a business and turning it into something realEveryone has a story to tell. Listen today to hear Josh's._______________Links from the episode:The Tangible Plan  _______________You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTikTok: @jonathancollaton

85 - Attending university can change your life. Sometimes, in ways you don’t expect. For Frank Chen, coming to Canada from his native China to study at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) was a way to get into a stable career, while also making his parents proud. To satisfy both desires, Frank chose to study accounting and he was successful in his studies. During one of his co-op terms, however, Frank came to the realization that he wasn’t passionate about accounting. When he shared this knowledge with a colleague who was also from the co-op program at UTSC, Frank was informed he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The more they conversed, the more they realized that a lack of love for accounting wasn't the only thing they had in common. Both of them were interested in entrepreneurship and it didn’t take long for Frank and his colleague to decide they were going to start their own company. That is how Frank, a university student, became the co-founder of Sumer, a grocery delivery service in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From the challenges of running a startup as a university student, to the difficult decision to shut it down in 2022, Frank and I talk through what he learned from his Sumer experience and how he is applying those lessons today.More importantly, Frank and I discuss how accepting that he lacked passion for what he chose to study taught him a lesson that has influenced every decision he’s made since then.Links from this episode:Ideas Can’t Wait PodcastFind Frank on LinkedIn  _______________You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

#85 – “What can I do with my degree?” This is one of the most common questions asked by students who have nearly finished pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into completing a difficult academic program and are now realizing they are unsure of what comes next. With a decade of experience working as a Career Counsellor at the University of Toronto Scarborough Academic Advising and Career Centre, and another decade of experience prior to that in Toronto Employment Centres, Wei Huang is well equipped to help students navigate this question.Wei’s biggest piece of advice? Reflect on your values; they will guide you in determining what careers fit what you are looking for. Listen to our conversation for the full story. If you are a student at the University of Toronto Scarborough you can book an appointment with Wei by calling the UTSC Academic Advising and Career Centre. For everyone else, email her at findyourwaycareer@gmail.com _______________You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

#83 - In the early days of his career, Brian Millado jumped between jobs in the Department of Student Life at the University of Toronto. He wasn't jumping because he didn't like his roles, or because he was chasing higher pay; he was jumping because he was continually offered the chance to work on different programs as his skillset was in demand. Things were good. Until one day, they weren't. One day, Brian looked around and realized that all his peers knew what their next step was....but he had no idea what was next. He had exhausted all areas of interest and suddenly, he didn't see a path forward in Student Life.In this, the first CC Shorts episode of Career Crossroads, Brian and I discuss this moment in time where he hit a dead end. We walk through the emotions of his situation, how he overcame it, and what advice he has for others who experience a similar crossroads.If you'd like to get in touch with Brian, you can find him here on LinkedIn._______________ You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

#82 – Chris Lewarne is well known in the Toronto fitness community as one of the trainers at Barry’s Bootcamp, helping people achieve their fitness and health goals. Fitness, however, was not the path Chris set out on when leaving high school. Growing up, his family struggled financially, and Chris worked some awful jobs as a teenager to help contribute. With those experiences pushing him forward, he dreamed about the financial stability a high-paying career could provide and as a successful student, he chose a career in law to help him achieve his goal. Upon graduation, Chris was obsessed with making his way to New York City and it didn’t take long for that to happen; his first job offer was with a corporate law firm in NYC and Chris jumped at the chance. Then one day, Chris’s life changed. It changed so profoundly that he quit his job at the law firm without any real plan and spent the day wandering the streets of New York.  Ultimately, one of the worst experiences of Chris’s life set him on a new path that brought him back home to Toronto, years later. Listen today to hear about:What it was like working in corporate law in New York CityWhat prompted Chris’s move from law to fitnessHow Chris ended up back in TorontoHow his new career led him to become a contestant on Canada’s Ultimate Challenge. Links from this episode:Follow Chris on Instagram @the_cuddlycanadian Take a class with Chris at Barry’s Bootcamp’s Richmond studio in TorontoWatch Canada’s Ultimate Challenge on CBC Gem_______________  You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

Today, we get vulnerable. In this short and final episode of the chronicles series,  we discuss what new episode formats are on the horizon and talk about how this series has driven forward Jonathan's public speaking work. Despite the good news we share, there is plenty of work still to do. If you're invested in the Career Crossroads journey, this episode is a must-listen to.Referenced in this episode: Chronicling Career Crossroads #1 - The Career Crossroads CrossroadNew Podcast Episode Formats Explained_______________  You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

When products change, their marketing has to change: that's the core of the fourth episode of the Chronicling Career Crossroad series. But how to market something that is still in flux? It's not a question I can answer on my own so I need to bring in an expert. Enter Ronak Patel. As a business owner, former guest of the show, and a friend, Ronak is the perfect person to bounce ideas off of.  Listen to our conversation about how marketing and promotion are changing in an ever-evolving social media landscape and how getting a 'rubber stamp' could be a game changer for Career Crossroads._______________  You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

Content is king. You've probably heard or read that phrase over the last decade with the rise of online content creators, but the origins of the phrase can be traced to magazine editing in the 1970s. What does that have to do with this episode? Well, content is the subject of Chronicling Career Crossroads #3. For a podcast, every episode is considered content, but in the context of the Chronicling Career Crossroads discussion, what content is really king? What is the best content available and how can it be utilized in a different way? Those are the questions I look to answer in this episode. _______________ You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

When this episode was first conceived it was titled “Research – or how to make sure what I’m doing isn’t a waste of time”.As the episode title was….simplified, the core idea for the episode stayed the same: research. In order to determine if the planned Career Crossroads pivot is hitting the mark, I need to find out if the audience I intend to support (high school students, university/college students, and young grads) will actually benefit from this content.To find the answers to these questions in this episode I speak to three people:  Denise, a retired high school Guidance CounsellorWei, a Career Counsellor from the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC),Tara, UTSC’s Director of Alumni RelationsListen in to hear their takes on what young people know and need to know about their career trajectory, and how Career Crossroads can help them._______________  You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:Instagram: @career_crossroads LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast Twitter: @jcollaton TikTok: @jonathancollaton

How do you handle change? Sometimes it’s forced upon us, and sometimes we just know it’s time. Sometimes change is needed. That is where I’m at with Career Crossroads. It’s changing. It’s evolving into something better and I’m going to take you along on the journey through that evolution.This is the first in a five-part series I’m calling Chronicling Career Crossroads. Without spoiling too much, it talks about where Career Crossroads and I have been, and where we’re going. Whether you’re a faithful listener or stumbling across the podcast for the first time, I think there’s something in this episode for everyone. _______________You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

#75 – Although he would never do it, Claudio Teixeira could probably pull a Frank Abagnale and fake his way through flying a jet aircraft. That’s because Claudio has over 5000 hours in the ‘sky’ on the Boeing 777 simulator that is the crown jewel of his company, uFly Simulator Inc, which exists to entertain, help people get over their fear of flying, and train soon-to-be pilots.For years before he started the business, he would spend his evening playing Microsoft Flight Simulator flying between Toronto and New York, or setting the auto-pilot overnight so he could take off from Rio de Janeiro before going to bed, and land in Toronto when he woke up in the morning. With such a passion for flying, why did Claudio never become a pilot himself? Well, that’s a long story involving his father's gas station business in Brazil, multiple border crossings in the cover of darkness, and a window washing empire in Toronto. Sit back, relax, and enjoy my conversation with Claudio.______________________Find uFly Simulator Inc. online at uflysimulator.ca or on Instagram @uflysimulator.______________________To support Career Crossroads, click hereTo leave Career Crossroads a review, click hereYou can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroadspodcast.com or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

#74 – As the creator of the 40th podcast in the world way back in 2004, Evo Terra has had an impact on the world of podcasting for almost two decades and was recently honoured as a 2022 inductee into the Podcast Hall of Fame. You might imagine that someone given that honour makes a career in podcasting, and while that is true now, podcasting as a ‘career’ was not an option for Evo until the mid-2010s. On a recent episode of Evo’s own podcast, Podcast Pontification, he mentioned some of the jobs he has had in the past. Tire sales….advertising…travel blogging….I knew Evo must have an interesting story to tell so I invited him to share it on Career Crossroads. Luckily for me, he was willing to tell his story, so sit back, relax, and listen to Evo walk me through all the twists and turns of his career.  Here’s where you can find Evo online:·         Evo’s Twitter ·         Podcast Pontifications·         Sounds Profitable·         Simpler MediaAlso mentioned in this episode are previous Career Crossroads guests:·         James Cridland·         Lindsay Graham______________________To support Career Crossroads, click hereTo leave Career Crossroads a review, click hereYou can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroadspodcast.com or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroads LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast Twitter: @jcollaton TikTok: @jonathancollaton

#73 – Have you ever wanted to collect data on wild jaguars or help rehabilitate a monkey with a broken arm? Well then let me introduce you to Hailee Hallas. Along with tree-planting in northern Ontario, studying these animals were some of the first employment opportunities she received in her young career after completing an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from Carleton University.Despite how amazing these jobs may seem they were not without their drawbacks. Little pay and massive competition made that industry incredibly difficult to break into beyond short-term contract roles. Given that, Hailee decided that a more specific education would help her in the future, so she headed off to Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland to obtain her Master of Science. With her new degree in hand, Hailee obtained a job as a Field biologist studying bird and bat mortality on wind farms. As an outsider looking in, it would seem that her further education had paid off and her career in conservation was well underway. How then, did Hailee come to enter an entirely new career as a Police Officer just three years later? That is a long story and you’ll have to listen to the interview for the details.Also discussed in our conversation is how Hailee has been able to balance employment opportunities with another passion of hers – travel. Having visited more than 30 countries by her 30th birthday, Hailee tells me about how the flexibility of her first career allowed her to enjoy her life, even if that career didn’t provide the financial stability she eventually sought out. ______________________To support Career Crossroads, click hereTo leave Career Crossroads a review, click hereYou can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroadspodcast.com or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

Career Crossroads is back after an unplanned break! Before we get into some new interviews, I’ve got some updates about why there has been such a long break as well as some information about some other projects I’ve been working on.After you've listened, check out my wife and I's new travel vlog on YouTube - Jon and Tash Travel 

#71 – In 2016, Jenn Harper founded Cheekbone Beauty despite having no previous experience in the cosmetics industry. This was a major career change as up until that point she had worked exclusively in hospitality and in wholesale foods, leveraging her strong relationships with chefs to succeed. So why cosmetics? What changed? Well, in 2015 as Jenn was learning about her Indigenous grandmother’s experience in residential schools she had a dream. In this dream she saw “native little girls covered in lip gloss” and as soon as she woke up, she grabbed her laptop and started making notes. She did not yet know what she would call her company, or what skills she might need to make it successful, but she knew she needed to make that lip-gloss and she knew she had to work ethic to achieve her goal.In this episode, Jenn tells me about the jobs and experiences that led her to Cheekbone Beauty and all the things she’s had to learn over the last six years to make her company such a success. With Cheekbone’s sustainability efforts, support of Indigenous youth and women, and general success as a business, it’s clear Jenn made the right choice when confronted with her own career crossroad.You can read more about Cheekbone Beauty and browse their online store at www.cheekbonebeauty.com.Follow Cheekbone Beauty on Instagram at TikTok, @cheekbonebeauty______________________To support Career Crossroads, click hereTo leave a review, click hereYou can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroadspodcast.com or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

#70 - Isil Uysal Cavelli grew up in Izmir, Turkey, and didn't have a lot of role models.  Consequently, if you told her that she couldn't have a specific career she would believe you without giving it much thought. Dancing? No, she was a chubby kid and it was unlikely she would become a professional. Doctor? No, it was too stressful and required too much studying to become a professional. Artist? No, it was not a stable career and art is more of a hobby anyway. Influenced by her family, Isil decided that what she really needed was a good stable career with a respected employer where she could separate work from her personal life, so she headed off to Istanbul to study Management. During her studies what she really enjoyed was marketing, but upon graduation, she was fearful about not getting a job quickly enough. When the job offers did not come, Isil quickly pivoted to accept a job as an auditor for a barge bank and left her marketing dreams behind. The work was far more technical than what she wanted to do but there were also many positives to working at a bank, specifically the stability and having a respected employer. She was also good at it and over time moved up the ranks to become part of a global team working all around Europe and this allowed her to travel to fancy balls in Vienna (which is how she met her Italian husband - but that's a story she'll talk about in the interview).Eventually, Isil became unfulfilled in her career, and by now she was living in Munich, Germany. Her role had become overly technical and she needed more freedom to be creative and more one-on-one work with people. How could she pivot thought when this was all she had done? She had this one specific skill set and was a foreigner so she was concerned about who would hire her. In this episode, Isil shares the journey that led her to her career crossroads and all the steps she took to overcome it.  ______________________To buy a copy of Isil’s new book, The Gift of Being Unfulfilled at Work, click here.Join her workshop, Unwrap Your Gifts on April 17th, 2002 from  4 PM - 7 PM CET. Register by clicking here. You can sign up for Isil’s newsletter here, and listen to her podcast, Unique Careers, Unique Lives, here.______________________To support Career Crossroads, click hereTo leave a review, click here You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroadspodcast.com or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroads LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast Twitter: @jcollaton TikTok: @jonathancollaton

#69 – Priya Sam grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, and was torn between two interests. Should she explore her interest in teaching, something she developed entirely on her own, or should she work towards a path in journalism, a career her parents suggested she had a specific skillset for? In this episode, we talk about how Priya chose journalism, and how she ended up teaching in South Korea for six years immediately following her post-secondary education. We hear about her rise to becoming the co-host of CTV’s Your Morning News and the things she noticed about the industry that led her to leave it behind – at least for now. Priya also tells us how someone with experience in journalism ends up working at Hoostsuite as a Solutions Engineer and how she gets to utilize the transferable skills she picked up from her broadcasting career on the daily.This episode is for you if you want to learn:-          How putting in extra work in your chosen field can pay off-          When to make the decision that it’s time to move on-          Practical steps to figure out how to pivot when you’re unsureFind Priya on Instagram (@priyasam) and Twitter (@priyasam) or by searching her name on Facebook and LinkedIn.Find Turning Point at these locations: YouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify______________________To support Career Crossroads, click hereTo leave Career Crossroads a review, click hereYou can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroadspodcast.com or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton

#68 - After eight weeks off, Career Crossroads is back! I'm rested and somewhat recovered so it's time for an update on what's been going on with me and the podcast. This episode recaps everything that's gone on in the time I was off, including;Rediscovering old passionsSome podcast achievementsChanges to the podcastThe future of the podcastStarting next week we'll be back to new interviews, and in the meantime, please take a second to subscribe to the NEW Career Crossroad's YouTube channel by clicking here, or searching for Career Crossroads on YouTube.______________________To support Career Crossroads, click hereTo leave Career Crossroads a review, click hereYou can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroadspodcast.com or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton