Career Development Certificate (CDC)
Contact Information
Marion Lajoie
Career Counsellor
613-562-5800 x 2884
What is the Career Development Certificate (CDC)?
Activities associated with the CDC are designed to provide you with the self-understanding and necessary tools to establish a meaningful career. In addition to the knowledge you are acquiring through your academic program, participating in Career Centre activities ensures that you are equipped with the career management skills to be successful at the end of your studies.
Upon completing a series of career-related activities, you will be able to obtain your Career Development Certificate!
By enrolling in the program using the Career Launch platform, your activities will be tracked automatically. You will find the certificate under the ‘Career Development Certificate’ tab in your dashboard.
Log In to Career Launch
You can complete the activities at your own pace: in one year, over the course of your 4 years at Telfer, or anywhere in between.
Why Participate?
The workshops and activities associated with the Career Development Certificate will provide you with the tools you need to find meaningful work. It can also help you market yourself more effectively, as employers recognize the certificate as a valuable step in your career planning process.
You will have the opportunity to do the following:
- Identify your interests and preferences
- Learn about passive and active job search techniques
- Strengthen your resumé and LinkedIn profile
- Ensure your application stands out to employers
- Enhance your networking skills
- Learn how to ace the interview process
Career Development Activities
To obtain the Career Development Certificate, you must complete 10 Career Centre activities. This includes 9 Career Centre workshops or services + a series of reflection exercises (to solidify what you have learned throughout the program).
* N.B. Certificate requirements were updated in the summer of 2025. If you plan to complete your certificate by March 2026 and would like to remain in our legacy program, please email Marion Lajoie (the coordinator of the program) at
Activities required
*You must attend at least one of the following two networking events:
Telfer Connects (TC)
Held in September for 3rd- and 4th-year students only
Telfer Networks (TN)
Held in January for all undergraduate students
*You must also participate in the following workshops or services:
- Who Am I: Self-assessment and Career Testing (or 2 individual results sessions)
- Jump Start Your Job Search (or an individual meeting entitled Jump Start Your Job Search – replacement workshop)
- Rock Your Resumé (or an individual appointment titled Let’s Talk Resumés – replacement workshop)
- Ace Your Interview (or an individual appointment titled Let’s Talk Interviews – replacement workshop)
- Network Like a Pro (or an individual appointment titled Let’s Talk Networking – replacement workshop)
- General resumé critique (with the Professional Development Coordinator)
- Individual mock interview (with the Career Counsellor)
- LinkedIn profile critique (with the Professional Development Coordinator or Career Counsellor)
*Finally, you must complete a series of “reflection exercises” (A, B & C)
A) Through the CDC, we have provided you with the opportunity to explore 3 “pillars of career development”.
To solidify what you have learned during the process of completing your certificate, we have created reflection exercises associated with each pillar. You will find these activities embedded in the CDC Tracking System. You can complete them as you go, or at the end.
Career Development Pillar # 1: Self-Understanding
Career Development Pillar #2: Self-Promotion
Career Development Pillar #3: Relationship Building and Job Search
B) uOCompetencies: The University of Ottawa strives to offer opportunities for you to develop and enhance 11 core competencies (above and beyond your academic knowledge). You will also find a final reflection exercise related to this at the end of your CDC Tracking System.
C) Early-program and post-program survey: We would like you to complete a short survey when you register for the certificate as well as after you have completed all of your activities. This will help us assess if the certificate has boosted your confidence and job search readiness. Thank you in advance for completing this step!
How to participate?
You can enroll in the certificate using your CAREER LAUNCH dashboard.
- Enroll by clicking on the “Career Development Certificate” tab (found within the left-hand menu). Next, click on “Apply to courses and programs.”
- Register for associated events through the Calendar of Events or book an appointment.
- Attend the associated activities (and be sure to sign in).
- The Career Launch portal will automatically track your events and activities.
- When you are near the completion of the activities, we encourage you to schedule an appointment with our Career Counsellor to review your progress.
- Your certificate will be available for pick-up in March at the invitation-only Career Centre Celebration event.
Frequently Asked Questions
Securing a job can be challenging. That being said, if you understand how to approach the process strategically and how to market yourself effectively, you will ultimately boost your confidence as well as your chances of finding meaningful work.
The curriculum associated with the CDC will ensure that you touch on the key topics that are essential for job search success.
Additionally, employers are impressed by students who choose to focus on personal and professional development throughout their studies. By highlighting the CDC on your resumé, you can show industry leaders that you took concrete steps to integrate a career development thread into your time at Telfer.
You only need to register for the CDC once.
N.B. You can continue tracking your progress over multiple years.
Mandatory activities are offered in both the fall and winter terms (sometimes multiple times).
N.B. You can book individual appointments during the spring/summer term if you would like to continue working on your CDC.
Yes. Certificate requirements were updated in the summer of 2025.
N.B. Integrating reflection exercises into our experiential learning programs, is a top priority for Telfer. Therefore, instead of completing an “activity of choice” outside of the list of mandatory CDC activities (as was the case in the past), we have created a series of reflection exercises related to 3 “pillars of career development” as well as the “uOCompetencies” created by the University of Ottawa. In short, the “activity of choice” (from the old program) was replaced by these reflection exercises.
*We encourage you to follow the new program, but if you plan to complete your certificate by March 2026 and you would like to remain in our legacy program, please email Marion Lajoie (the coordinator of the program) at
If you notice any issues, please email Marion Lajoie (the coordinator of the program) at
To get your Career Development Certificate, you must complete 10 activities. This includes 9 Career Centre workshops or services + a series of reflection exercises (to solidify what you have learned throughout the program).
N.B. We created reflection exercises related to 3 “pillars of career development” as well as an exercise related to the uOCompetencies created by the university. In addition to that, there is a short early-program survey and post-program survey to help us assess the effectiveness of the program. Finally, there is a verification step (completed by the Career Centre) as a final step. (9 activities + 4 reflection exercises + 2 short surveys + a verification step = 16)
