Resources to support your career decisions and navigate your career path.

Part of what consistently makes UBC a first-choice place to work and meet your potential is that you feel you can grow in your career and achieve your aspirations. We encourage you to take an active role in increasing your vitality in the workplace, and in regularly leading your career trajectory in a direction that will lead to your wellbeing, professional satisfaction and success. View the options below to help you navigate your career journey at UBC and beyond, and find ways to positively impact your career growth. 

Coaching services for staff

Take advantage of the coaching services for staff in order to advance your professional goals and development by working with a UBC-internal or external coach — a certified professional who can support goal-setting, accountability and action by surfacing new awareness, insights and learning. Unlike counselling or therapy, coaching is an inquiry-based process with the coach acting as a thought-partner through the demonstration of active listening and curiosity, where you co-design action and accountability plans as you work towards your coaching goals. Book a 20-minute discovery session to learn more and see if coaching is right for you.

Learn more about Coaching Services.

Performance conversations

We encourage you to take a proactive role in enhancing your experience within your current role by doing your part to ensure ongoing performance conversations happen with your Manager, and are successful. Learn about the performance conversation cycle at UBC, and what you can expect from these regular conversations with your manager, including meaningful discussions around your career interests and aspirations, and seeking feedback on your performance.

Learn about performance conversations.

Career navigation and transition services

Become empowered to evolve your career and build your resilience and engagement in your current role while embracing changes at the personal, professional and institutional level, or else successfully manage times of transition when a role is ending and get equipped the tools and resources necessary to continue to build your career at UBC or beyond.

Learn more about career navigation and transition services.

Professional development

PD funding

Whether you want to improve your technical skills, leadership potential, or more — take advantage of the professional development funding available to you at UBC based on your employee group, and make use of this benefit in order to enhance your career grown at the university.

Learn more about professional development funding. 

Tuition waivers

As part of your benefits plan, you may be eligible for a Tuition Waiver, depending on your employee group. Tuition waivers allow you to take up to 12 credits of UBC courses or the equivalent in UBC Extended Learning non-credit courses or approved Sauder School of Business Continuing Business Studies non-credit courses each year. 

Learn more about Tuition Waivers.

Workplace Learning Ecosystem

Log onto the Workplace Learning Ecosystem (WPL) to continuously identify new courses, workshops and resources that can help support you in your career planning and development. The WPL is available for all UBC staff and includes a variety of workshops and courses on different topics relevant to UBC, including department- and role-specific training, and professional and personal development. 

Learn more about the Workplace Learning Ecosystem.

LinkedIn Learning at UBC

Did you know that all UBC staff have access to LinkedIn Learning courses? If you are thinking about how to map out your career, head over to LinkedIn Learning and create your own customized playlist to suit your career development needs. 

Learn more about LinkedIn Learning.

Learning Link newsletter

Stay informed about timely learning topics that matter — subscribe to the Learning Link monthly newsletter and receive regular professional development and learning opportunities directly to your inbox. You can expect helpful tips, resources, articles, guides, workshops and courses that can help you on your career journey.

Subscribe to the Learning Link newsletter.

PD opportunities by employee group

Each employee group at UBC offers its own set of benefits and resources, and may send regular communications to its members including professional development workshops, resources and more. Make sure you're signed up for the different communications channels offered to you through your employee group.

Learn more about employee groups at UBC.

Resources for you to guide your employees through successful career paths and conversations, and to also focus on your own growth and development as a manager or people leader.

As a people leader, engaging with your staff in meaningful career conversations can enable them to take ownership of their career path, and ties into an important aspect of UBC's strategic plan: attracting, engaging and retaining good people. Performance enablement is a continuous process of two-way communication between an employee and their leader that occurs throughout the year in support of an employee’s career development and accomplishing UBC’s strategic objectives, and we want to enable staff to perform their best whenever possible. 

Just as important for your role as a leader at UBC is engaging in your own leadership development through an ongoing process of setting and pursuing learning goals that advance your ability to remain highly engaged with your work and bring out the best in others. When you commit to strengthening your leadership attributes and presence, you set an example for others, making learning and development a part of everyday conversations. 

Access resources and services developed at UBC that are available to assist you in enabling your team members to have a positive workplace experience and to find career satisfaction, and also for you to reflect upon your own impact as a leader and model lifelong learning by identifying and pursuing development goals that align with your interests, strategic objectives and your teams’ needs.

Performance and career conversations

As a manager, you are encouraged to have ongoing, authentic, open dialogue and check ins with your staff members, and cultivate the conditions where employees can thrive and grow. It is highly recommended that you take a genuine interest in your staff’s career ambitions, and work with them to achieve their goals and identify related opportunities for growth, which is critical for their wellbeing and sense of purpose at work and beyond. A key way to accomplish this is to hold regular performance and career conversations, depending on where your staff member is in their annual performance cycle, with a minimum of one career conversation every year.  

As a leader, you also have the opportunity to have meaningful performance development conversations with your own manager. Successful conversations with your manager can lead to necessary insights, deeper reflections, and more robust learning plans while ensuring the goals remain relevant and aligned to institutional values and commitments.

Learn more about performance conversations.

COEC conversation model

The Connect, Open, Explore and Close (COEC) conversation model is an established UBC communication  approach developed through a partnership with HR, Coaching Services and Extended Learning. The COEC Model supports effective learning conversations of all kinds, and provides employees and managers with structure, questions and prompts and can be easily applied to your annual and ongoing performance, career and development conversations.

View the COEC video transcript. 

Conversation guides for managers and leaders

• View the COEC Conversation Model - A Leader's Guide: Learning and Development Conversations (PDF).
• View the Leadership Development: A Leader's Conversation Guide (PDF).

LinkedIn Learning playlist

View a playlist of recommended videos centered around the topic of goal setting, available via LinkedIn Learning . 

• Performance Management: Setting Goals and Managing Performance
• Setting Team and Employee Goals Using SMART Methodology
• Defining and Achieving Professional Goals
• How to Set Goals When Everything Feels Like a Priority

Career coaching

You and your staff members may benefit from partnering with a professional coach from UBC Coaching Services in order to focus on career aspirations and advance professional goals and development. Working with a professional career coach may involve clarifying and defining short or long-term goals for career growth, development or planning. You may also explore expectations, values and visioning, determining what success looks and feels like and committing to action. These services may be valuable to you as a leader, and also to your staff members for their own career goals. 

Learn more about Coaching services at UBC.

Career retention services

As a leader, you can take advantage of the services available for understanding how to successfully retain and engage your staff members, support them during times of change, and motivate them to continue performing well in their roles. The career retention services available at UBC offer one-on-one consolations or coaching sessions, career conversations practice workshops, and more. 

Learn more about Career retention services.

Management fundamentals

View resources and guides to enable you to successfully manage your team with topics like managing underperformance, managing conflict, job evaluation and reclassification, and performance enablement.

Management fundamentals resources - COMING SOON.

Expand your UBC employee group below to see the benefits available to you.

For full details, take a look at the Extended Health and Dental Benefits Booklets for your employee group's plan.