Gail Kastning, B.Ed., CCDP, CCS

Experience

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  Calgary Christian School

  Sept 2002 - Nov 2006

  International Student Program Designer & Career Advisor

  Designed and developed an English as a Second Language Program for international students ages 13-17 modifying the Alberta curriculum in Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Health to meet learning and language outcomes of English Language Learners who had reading levels ranging from grade 1 to grade 6. Collaborated with the International Student Coordinator and Learning Assistant in designing the international student learning program and homestay policy.Collaborated with teachers regarding prerequisite classes and meticulously organized grade 12 and international student's academic schedules according to Alberta Education high school credits, students' academic needs and career plans resulting in 100% error-free scheduling yearly.Collaborated with academic and career development team to create off campus trips to universities and colleges and career fairs throughout the city for grade 12 students and international students.Developed and designed a Career Hub for students to access information about careers and post-secondary schools in the Information Center. Met with 80 grade 12 students and 30 international students one-on-one throughout the year to review course selection, career choices and post-secondary applications.Conducted yearly information sessions with parents regarding post-secondary news, applications and high school course selection and met with international students and their parents regarding the value and benefits of the international student program. Show less

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  YWCA / Canadian Employment Skills Program

  Jan 2006 - Jan 2017

  Intercultural and Workplace Trainer -

  Designed and facilitated intercultural awareness and communication training sessions on contract in a professional newcomer employment bridging program that connected 1800 professional newcomers to 300 employers in Calgary for over 18 years. Providing a 12 week work experience in a Calgary company to bridge the gap of no Canadian experience and lack of reference. Previously trained clients in building intercultural awareness using the Iceberg Theory, Barnga, Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and cultural values training resulting in clients reporting preparedness for the Calgary workplace.Trained clients in workplace conflict styles utilizing the Thomas Killman Instrument. Clients used the results from the instrument to reflect on their own conflict style, identifying strengths and weaknesses. Clients applied their learning of the five conflict styles to workplace scenarios.Email Etiquette and Communication in the Workplace workshop. Training covered email etiquette professionalism, efficiency and liability. Training also included email review and effective written communication strategies. Conducted intake interviews to review potential candidates experience, education, skills and language proficiency and evaluate client's potential marketability for an unpaid work experience with a Calgary company in the current economy. ** Continually provide contracted training services in email etiquette, workplace communication and conflict styles training."Gail gave us important information about email, rules considering privacy in the Canadian workplace. She has a lot of experience and is a good speaker." Canadian Employment Skills Participant Show less

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  CESLM

  Jan 2007 - Jan 2012

  Intercultural Trainer and Learning Designer

  Co-designed and co-facilitated workshops designed to build intercultural knowledge and cross cultural communication skills for various organizations throughout Calgary

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  Ulrich Consulting

  Jan 2007 - Jan 2016

  Career and Employment Workshop Facilitator

  Subcontracted to Ulrich Consulting for the Alberta Human Services Contract - Career and Employment Skills Program training individuals to increase skills in work search and networking, career planning, resume writing and interviewing. Trained individuals in change and transition, career planning process, researching and exploring occupational options, networking using social media, and goal setting."Thank you so much Gail! She is very well-trained and experienced. She has insight into our career problems and gives excellent suggestions." Alberta Works - Career planning workshop participant Show less

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  Purposeful Careers

  Jan 2007 - now

  Our area of specialty is in the innovative design and delivery of career and business support for independent workers (freelancers, contractors and consultants) and the people that hire them. Our latest design and delivery pilot project was The Branch Out Workshop Series funded by the Alberta Government. This project partnership provided career support to non-traditional workers and gathered much needed data regarding the needs of non-traditional workers in Alberta. This program was new to the Alberta career development industry, launched in the fall of 2023 and was completed in January 2025. About this project? In 6 months, our learning design team built 3 - two-day virtual workshops accompanied by digital learning materials. Then, our delivery team delivered 54 workshops in 18 months. During this 18 month period, our consulting team gathered data regarding the career and business needs of this client group and compiled our learnings for the purposes of informing future development of career and business support for non-traditional workers. The non-traditional workforce is growing in Canada and we are here to provide much needed training. In the fall of 2025, we will launch our online courses and digital learning products that will support flexible workers and the careers and businesses of freelancers, contractors and consultants.Please check out our website to learn more. Show less Advise growing solopreneurs, and leaders of startup companies, small and mid-size businesses in hiring non-traditional workers to meet their talent needs. Help combat misconceptions about hiring on-demand workers and create worker credibility and organizational openness to hiring non-traditional workers for specific roles or projects.Help leaders identify traditional & non-traditional roles within their organization using business needs assessment tools and questionnaires. Helped leaders narrow down their most critical positions, understand the requirements for each role and define the talent competencies required for success within their projects.Train how to develop job descriptions that attract independent workers. Advise leaders in the identification of competency requirements at each stage of their project planning using helpful example tools and templates.Suggest formal processes that help identify and connect to non-traditional workers for specific roles in their organization.Suggest the development of interview and negotiation strategies better suited to hiring independent workers.Developed individualized leadership plans to facilitate goal-setting, training and skill acquisition of new and existing leaders when it comes to hiring non-traditionally. Build organizational processes that help potential leaders fill in the gaps in their talent pool with skills and experience from independent workers and helped them progress into readiness for their future goals.Support organizations in measuring and tracking progress of their independent workers through competency indicators and regularly sharing results with key stakeholders.Help organizations identify knowledge transfer gaps within traditional and non-traditional talent, and create knowledge transfer opportunities and mentorship with organization’s talent structure.Highly knowledgeable of the changing world of work, independent workforce trends and digital impact on the workforce. Show less Excellent leadership and influencing skills with a track record of building quick rapport with key stakeholders and inspiring high performing learning & career development teams in the energy, education, international student, non-profit and career development sectors.An accomplished organizational and learning design specialist with strong technical skills and over 5 years’ experience facilitating, creating and developing learning programs for multiple stakeholders from various industries using the ADDIE instructional design model.Vetted LMS platforms to host career services education online courses and developed training materials for career development topics such as resume writing, interview skills, work search, career planning, self-employment and portfolio careers (articles, visuals, videos and online courses). Developed workplace training materials and workshops for both virtual and face-to-face application and put final touches on new digital training materials, Power Point presentations and online courses.Developed measurement assessments to evaluate specific learning points and continuously improved online career school offerings, incorporating feedback from pilot participants.Designed and piloted The Purposeful Career Tree Approach™ methodology further refining the methodology and tool working in collaboration with a team of illustrators. Designed asynchronous and synchronous virtual and F2F career and job search programming for job seekers in resume writing, job search, interview skills, portfolio careers, self-employment and entrepreneurship.Designed DIY Career School™ providing "How to" online career support for a “Do It Yourself” market of job seekers and career changers using Teachable LMS.Interviewed and featured career stories of portfolio careerists, independent workers, solopreneurs, side hustlers and entrepreneurs for Off the Ladder Careers Blog creating a resource of non-traditional workforce support. Show less

  • Founder / Company Owner

    Jan 2015 - now

  • Workforce Development Specialist

    Jan 2015 - now

  • Learning and Design Specialist

    Jan 2007 - now
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  MCG Careers

  Jan 2012 - Jan 2016

  Career & Employment Workshop Faciliator

  Subcontracted to McBride for the Alberta Government Alberta Human Services - Career and Employment workshop delivery contract providing career planning, job search and networking training to a diverse clientele with unique and varied work backgrounds. Facilitated career planning, resume writing, interview skills and work search workshops."I have trouble learning in workshops but the way Gail taught I absorbed everything." Alberta Works resume writing workshop participant

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  Ministry of Community and Social Services

  Jan 2016 - now

  Career and Employment Service Provider

  Virtual and in person delivery facilitator training job seekers and career changers in career planning, job search and networking, resume writing, interview skills and LinkedIn. Administered interests, personality preferences, skills and values assessments. Certified in Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Strong Interest Inventory, Personality Dimensions and Thomas Kilmann Inventory.Trained clients to wisely utilize information from assessments to focus on work roles and personal style rather than on occupational titles. Captured individual uniqueness with 100% of clients reporting an improved understanding of how to use the information to better target potential future work.Directed clients through the effective research of possible career directions utilizing the internet, social media and informational interviews to gather information prior to making career decisions.Facilitated goal setting utilizing the SMART formula establishing concrete and measurable criteria for career goals coupled with building in consistent accountability to reach immediate, short term and long term goals.Trained job seekers in accomplishment based resume writing using action - result statements to communicate skills and benefits to employers resulting in clients reporting 100% satisfaction in improved understanding of how to write effective resumes. Trained clients to enhance their interview skills to make a memorable first impression using skills/benefit statements and effective Behaviour Descriptive Interviewing techniques - STAR stories in mock panel interviews that provide well-rounded, effective feedback.Trained job seekers in utilizing social media to leverage their networking and work search, make connections with employers and gather information to tap into the hidden job market. 100% of clients report knowing their next step in making changes to improve their work search strategies. Show less

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  Calgary Career Counselling - Calgary, AB

  Apr 2018 - Jan 2020

  Career & Job Search Strategist

  Provided one-on-one career, education and job search coaching helping clients optimize job search strategies, modernize resumes for Applicant Tracking Systems and networking opportunities increasing client success rates in landing a promotion or new opportunity. Prepared clients for Behaviour Descriptive Interviews aligning and honing stories to competencies increasing client success in landing offers.Supported independent workers such as consultants and contractors in building a personal brand, LinkedIn account and opportunity search. Specialize in portfolio career design supporting clients who want to income stream. Show less

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  JIVA School of Energy

  Feb 2019 - now

  Subject Matter Expert and Consultant

  Consultant & Subject Matter Expert (SME) on a Pipeline Construction Inspection career development initiative connecting 100 highly skilled unemployed and underemployed Calgarians to PCI (Pipeline Construction Inspection) as a viable career option.Provided feedback on the clarity of language in the career pathways in the PCI Career Roadmap tool and advised on how to share information about Pipeline Construction Inspection as a potential viable career direction with Calgarians.Advised on marketing & communication strategies to connect with other career development service providers in Calgary regarding Pipeline Construction Career Roadmap and advised on how to use the PCI Career Roadmap as a tool for building awareness of potential opportunities.Consulted on project design, implementation, initiative delivery and marketing strategies working in collaboration with project manager, facilitators, designers and other subject matter experts.Designed a resume writing and networking workshop in collaboration with a team of technical writers and instructional design experts focused on helping clients transfer skills to pipeline construction inspection.Continuous collaboration, consultation and debriefing sessions with project manager, workshop facilitator and design experts during the initiative.Collaborated with project managers, subject matter experts, and illustrators to evaluate an interactive career roadmap for pipeline construction inspection. Worked closely with project manager and industry experts to identify workforce gaps in pipeline construction inspection, knowledge transfer gaps and how to mitigate future workforce shortages.Continued proposal writing consultants, subject matter experts and career development consultants with JIVA. Show less

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  Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)

  Feb 2022 - now

  Analyzed existing career support services and supported manager in re-conceptualizing offerings to meet the unique needs of continuing education digital bootcamp and international students. Built 5 - 2 hour workshops to support digital bootcamp students in their job search. Program design included slide decks and tip sheets incorporating the Lumina assessment. To be used in live virtual delivery. Designed 8 - 20 minute lunch and learn workshops: slide decks and tip sheets to be used for virtual presentations and in a digital content library.Program and learning designer on this project working with a team of 4 career support specialists. Show less Analyzed current approach to industry engagement through conducting internal meetings to understand current and future internal and external stakeholder needs in the evolving digital and tech industry in Alberta.Conceptualized and developed a 3 pillar stakeholder engagement framework to support building learning excellence and the development of talent pipelines in an evolving digital and tech stakeholder ecosystem.Identified internal teams to take over industry engagement activities and transitioned activities to these teams. Captured the experience and knowledge of the internal team to understand both internal and external stakeholders' shared purpose further determining scope and direction of future engagement activities.Piloted stakeholder engagement activities that connect students and industry leaders for the purposes of building knowledge and talent pipelines in an emerging and evolving digital and tech industry.Created guides, run sheets and communication templates to support the pilot projects and provide a hub of support for team members conducting future stakeholder engagement activities.Created workflow strategy and templates to direct communication in a dynamic and quickly changing stakeholder engagement environment.Researched communication tools to support a robust stakeholder engagement environment.Sourced UX capstone projects with local, national and international entrepreneurs for the purposes of providing real-world learning experiences for students while helping businesses solve user experience problems.Presented learnings, results and outcomes to internal leaders informing decisions regarding building a community of purpose that connects stakeholders in the digital tech sector. Show less

  • Career Support Program Design (On-contract)

    Feb 2023 - now

  • Career Services Program & Industry Engagement Program Design (on Contract)

    Feb 2022 - now