The employment landscape is constantly changing. So which jobs have staying power? And which jobs are soon to be gone? Kenisha and Griffin intend to help our audience get those answers. Starting with a chat with Senior Manager, HR Strategy - Future of Work RBC, Connie Chung. Connie advises that people are switching career paths now more than ever, so get ready to be open-minded - where you start will almost certainly not be where you finish. Also, choose a job you have a passion for, not just a way of making money. Speaking of a job with passion, the Poet Laureate of Ontario Randell Adjei joins the show, to let us know about the very cool and unique career path that he’s been on, leaving our audience with a performance they will absolutely love. Maybe becoming a poet isn’t a possibility for everyone, but this interview will get you thinking of creative careers and fields for you.
The employment landscape is constantly changing. So which jobs have staying power? And which jobs are soon to be gone? Kenisha and Griffin intend to help our audience get those answers. Starting with a chat with Senior Manager, HR Strategy - Future of Work RBC, Connie Chung.Connie advises that people are switching career paths now more than ever, so get ready to be open-minded - where you start will almost certainly not be where you finish. Also, choose a job you have a passion for, not just a way of making money. Speaking of a job with passion, the Poet Laureate of Ontario Randell Adjei joins the show, to let us know about the very cool and unique career path that he’s been on, leaving our audience with a performance they will absolutely love. Maybe becoming a poet isn’t a possibility for everyone, but this interview will get you thinking of creative careers and fields for you.
RBC
RBC - https://www.rbc.com/canada.html
RBC FUTURE LAUNCH - https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/
RBC LEARN TO WORK, WORK TO LEARN - https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/
Connie Chung
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/chungcon
Randell Adjei
https://www.randelladjei.com
Instagram: @randelladej
Twitter: @RandellAdej
Hosts
Griffin Toplitsky
Kenisha Humber
RBC Team
Vishan Persaud
Rachel MacLeod
Elynn Wareham
Allison Tam
PSBX Team
Baron Manett
Dorene Arcayos
Shaun Benoliel
Isabel Magnoli
Norman Howard Team
Sandy Jobin-Bevans
Nate DuFort
Jason Reilly
Sandy Marshall
In the (K)now - The Future of Work Transcription
Disclaimer: Below you will find a transcription of this episode. The text is the result of an AI-based transcription from an audio recording.
Connie Chung: [00:00:00] Push yourself from doing something that you
thoroughly
enjoy.
Randell Adjei: I guess you can only really appreciate the light after experiencing darkness.
Kenisha Humber: Hello out there and welcome to In. Whether you're on a walk, driving down the road or taking public transit, we are very happy to have you with us. And
Griffin Toplitsky: even if you're in a helicopter riding in a boat or leading the Indie 500, we are still equally excited that you have joined us. I'm Kaisha Humber. And I'm Griffin tki.
Kenisha Humber: This isn't a show about naming modes of transportation, though we just love the fact that you never know what someone's up to as they listen to your podcast. And whatever it is you are doing, we thank you for making us a part of your day or night or evening. And
Griffin Toplitsky: now we are listing off times of the day off [00:01:00] track
Kenisha Humber: and we are just one minute into the show.
A new
Griffin Toplitsky: record. Yes. This is In The Know, A podcast that tries very hard to stay focused on issues that affect the world around us, yet is hosted by two ultra curious people who are easily distracted. The perfect combination,
Kenisha Humber: I'm gonna rein it in and tell our dear, Listen. That this episode is about the future of work.
Where will we be working and more to the point where are the best places to make money and still enjoy ourselves while doing it? That's my agenda anyway.
Griffin Toplitsky: We also want to get some opinions on how we will interact with our coworkers, and how often will the average person be changing jobs. To help us get some of those answers, we'll chat with Senior Manager HR Strategy Future of Work at RBC Connie Chung.
Kenisha Humber: But hey, we also wanna talk to someone who has a very cool job. Right now we have the poet Laureate of Ontario, Rendell AJ joining
Griffin Toplitsky: us. What a great guest combo. Very excited to introduce both of them to our audience. And speaking
Kenisha Humber: of our audience, we went out [00:02:00] and caught up with some of the people out there who may or may not listen to our show, though we hope you're out there right now.
And we asked, what is your current job and what do you see yourself doing five to 10 years down the road? Here's what you told
Randell Adjei: us. I, I've had a lot of positive experiences working, uh, with young men, talking about masculinity in schools. I did that for a little while, uh, almost two years. I, I would like to, to be working in school with young people, um, and with
Listener Response: their
Randell Adjei: issues.
Listener Response: Basically, my long term goal is machine learning and. That's what I'm currently working towards and also technology leadership. There are many opportunities that I see, um, and there's definitely a skills shortage, um, across North America for tech workers. Um, and I see myself doing that and I also see myself, um, transitioning from an employee to an entrepreneur.
That's my long-term goal.
I
Randell Adjei: really wanna work, um, with youth. I am really passionate about like psychology and such, so I [00:03:00] really wanna be like a youth mentor and run my own organizations, um, such as I wanna run like a cat rescue . And I also want to, um, work with other black kids and youth to just make sure that they get a better childhood than
I did.
Griffin Toplitsky: It seems that so many people our age are doing one thing, right? But looking to something else in the. At least that's what I'm hearing. I like that people
Kenisha Humber: are keeping their options open, and I think most people are realistic about their future employment goals. But I also like to hear the occasional dreamer who talks about a job that seems completely out of nowhere or even completely out of character, Dream big.
Literally my mantra. It
Griffin Toplitsky: suits your personality perfectly. Me, I tend to be happy, kind of just wherever I am. Well,
Kenisha Humber: you're doing a great
Griffin Toplitsky: job at this. Ooh, was that my mid podcast performance review? It was
Kenisha Humber: doing great, Griffin.
Griffin Toplitsky: You too. Glad we got that out
Kenisha Humber: there. Griffin. Let's get some future of work answers.
But first, [00:04:00] here's a word about a fantastic RBC program.
Griffin Toplitsky: RBC Future Launch is an initiative to help young people gain. To the skills, job experience, and career networks needed for the future world of work. Working together with young Canadians, RBC is bringing together community leaders, industry experts, governments, educators, and employers to help design solutions and harness resources to chart a more prosperous and inclusive future through programs like this.
RVC is helping. The quiet crisis of no experience, no job. Go to the RBC Future launch site to find out more.
Okay. We promise to get some answers about the future of work, and now it's time we delivered. That sounds so
Kenisha Humber: serious. Griffin
Griffin Toplitsky: Kaisha. When I get focused, my voice becomes [00:05:00] very serious. Okay,
Kenisha Humber: let's get to it. Please welcome to in the Know Senior Manager HR Strategy, Future of Work at rbc, Connie Chung. Connie, thanks for joining
Connie Chung: us.
Thanks for having me.
Griffin Toplitsky: We are always curious about what led you to end up in the job you're in. So what was your path to becoming the senior manager of HR strategy?
Connie Chung: Yeah, I, I started my undergrad at the University of Waterloo and I. A major in psychology and I specialized in human resources. And during that time I did a lot of co-op terms and within those co-op terms, had the opportunity to do a lot of HR related opportunities.
So some that were more in the recruitment aspect, some in this more strategy consulting space. But it was a great opportunity to just put my foot in the door and figure out what type of roles I was interested in given my major as well as my specialization in hr. After my undergrad, I decided to [00:06:00] pursue a master's in industrial relations and human resources at the University of Toronto.
From there I was actually working full time, um, recruiting for young talent across universities and colleges all around Canada, uh, where I had the opportunity to go to these different schools and recruit for tech talent. So talent and technology in order to build a pipeline for. As I finished my masters, I also transitioned, um, into consulting.
So I was at Deloitte, um, for about three and a half years, and I was part of their human capital practice in change management. So it was an excellent opportunity to really go into different businesses and help them solve their country problems, anything related to people. And there I had the opportunity to work for some of.
Um, biggest organizations. I worked in different industries, um, [00:07:00] particularly worked within financial services a lot and really had the opportunity to get to know many people, um, get to solve these big problems. One interest that I had at Deloitte was the future of work. And the future of work. Um, this was actually much before uh, covid hit.
Cause I think once Covid happened, everyone started thinking about, ok, the future of work, what does this mean? What does hybrid mean for my organization? Um, but before this actually happened, this whole pandemic, I was already thinking about the future of work. Um, considering what type of work, what are those roles?
What are those different industries, um, that will have to adapt and change in the next couple of. What is the role of the office? Knowing that a lot of organizations have been cutting back on the real estate, what does that look like in the future? So when the opportunity came at RBC around defining the future of work strategy within hr, uh, hopped onto that [00:08:00] opportunity and had an excellent chance to really define what the future of work meant for rbc and more recently defining what hybrid work means
Kenisha Humber: at R.
So if I'm about to go to university or college and my prospects are wide open, what skills are going to be the most useful to me? Um, I
Connie Chung: always think about when going into university or college and you think about the programs that you're, you're looking to major in or specialize in. Um, I would always say to push yourself in doing something that you thoroughly.
And you enjoy doing. Um, I think it's important that when you think about the transferable skills and the soft skills that you can achieve, um, think about the analytical thinking. There's so much that's going on within different organizations and industries. If you're able to think of something in a concise way, um, break it down into tangible pieces, into figuring out how to get so, Resolved and [00:09:00] what that solution looks like.
I think that's really important. So thinking about your analytical skills, uh, communication, um, both verbal and written, I think you can gather a lot of the skill set, not only from your studies, but thinking about your extracurriculars when you're participating in different teams or clubs. How can you find opportunities where you are articulating what you need to communicate?
Um, having those opportunities to, uh, present at a large audience or even smaller groups and just getting that practice in, I think is extremely important. Um, and I think the third thing I would say in terms of skills is teamwork. Right now. Chances are, um, whatever program you're in or even, um, whatever part-time work, you're always working with different people.
And I think the more you're able to continue to work with others, be able to, um, get your ideas across in a group setting and being able to achieve things [00:10:00] together as a team, I think that will be big. A big, big win. Especially as you look into finding that full
Griffin Toplitsky: time career. What do you think is the over under on how many times someone who's 20 right now will change jobs or careers in their lifetime?
Connie Chung: Oh, okay. Um hmm. I think there's a, there's a methodical way of thinking about it, and then there's also, I think a way where if we ballpark, let's say right after your, your undergrad and you have like your first job usually based on a lot of the, the staff from HR. The first position someone's in, you're usually in in it for about three to five years, and that's usually your ballpark range at the age of 20, give or take.
And in Canada, at the age of retirement around 65, I think we could do the math and thinking about it this way, but I think with the way the future work and your [00:11:00] positions have evolved, I think. For an individual, you could be in the same role, but your accountabilities and responsibilities will change drastically throughout.
So even though it might not be a new title per se, a new organizational per se, I think the skills that you learn, um, within your career as it progresses would drastically evolve throughout. So if I would say, Maybe definitely over seven roles, I would say, and then, um, definitely under 20. In terms of the number of roles,
Griffin Toplitsky: that's still quite a bit.
Yeah, that's, that's
Kenisha Humber: a a lot. Honestly. It is. I was trying to think if in any of my first few jobs, if I had that kind of turnover, if I did. And I, I do remember there was one job that I had that I was working in one position, but then I switched positions in the same company and then switched and switched.
So in that job alone, that was already for, And so , I [00:12:00] think, I think you're right. I think
Griffin Toplitsky: you. Knowing what you know now after studying work and working at these different companies, if you could go back and give yourself, before you even apply to university, one piece of advice. To your younger self, what would it be?
Connie Chung: Depending on the, the profession that you decide to go into, you're gonna spend so many hours in this role. Um, sometimes a lot of these physicians, you're in it for longer than the the times you see your family. So how can you ensure that you're in a role where you feel motivated, you're solving those problems that you want to, and you have.
Internal interest. You wanna learn more, you wanna continue to read on like thought leadership books about it, endorse, enhance their education. So I would definitely say, um, do what makes you happy and something that you're really motivated and you wanna scribe towards
Griffin Toplitsky: to make a difference. Uh, I know we asked a lot of you, but we know this will help a lot of listeners in figuring out their career paths.
So thank you so much for all of those great answers. Thanks everyone. You know, I just wanna [00:13:00] say we promise to find answers and. I think we delivered or more. Connie delivered. Everybody involved delivered. I noticed podcast host wasn't mentioned as a lucrative job in the future.
Kenisha Humber: Wilin, when it comes to podcasting, it's really about the love of the game,
Griffin Toplitsky: and I love that game.
And we certainly couldn't be doing this podcast without mentioning some wonderful RBC programs, one of which you're gonna tell us all about. I
am.
Kenisha Humber: As part of RBC Future Launch, the RBC Learn to Work. Work to Learn program equips students with the self-awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to be successful in their careers. With a primary focus on identifying and building career readiness skills. Students have opportunities to participate in experiential learning initiatives, industry panels, mentorship programs, and various workshops that ultimately improve their employability.
To check this out, go to the RBC Future Launch site.[00:14:00]
Griffin Toplitsky: Kisha Connie has educated us on the future of work, and now we switch gears and talk to someone in a very unique position. Randell aj, the first ever poet laureate of Ontario.
Kenisha Humber: This is what I love about this podcast. Just when you think we're gonna turn right, we go left. Lots of surprises and this is a great one.
Griffin Toplitsky: We wanna dig into his. His career path and find out what it's like to have such a prestigious
Kenisha Humber: title. So without any further delay, please welcome to in the Know Rendell a. Rande, thank you so much for joining us.
Randell Adjei: My pleasure. Thank you for having me. It's, uh, it's great to be here to chat with you both today.
This
Griffin Toplitsky: episode is about the future of work, but before we go into the future, can you give us your backstory?
Randell Adjei: So, I think at a really young age, I always had this affinity for entrepreneurship and really social entrepreneurship. I just felt as. There was something more that I could offer to the [00:15:00] world, and I'm just very fa, I've always been fascinated about using my gifts and my talents as a way to kind of pour back and build community.
So I did a lot of door-to-door sales when I was younger. Um, it started with door-to-door sales, so. I think what that taught me was really the ability to speak with people, the ability to make connections and, and sell an an idea or sell a product or sell just some sort of concept solution to other people.
Uh, my first job was actually when I was 12 years old and I was working with an organization, a charity that was selling chocolate. So we sold chocolates and that also kind of really taught me about the city, but taught me about the landscape and what it means to kind of build a business that's, uh, given back to the community.
But really where a lot of my. I guess entrepreneurship really stepped into to the work that I do. Came, um, at a difficult moment, a near death experience that I had that really gave me a second chance at life, and it taught me the potential of turning a negative situation to a positive. How you can turn.
Rocky [00:16:00] moments into golden opportunities. And so I'm just really fixated on how do I use art storytelling as a way to support community and find ways to, to get artists in spaces, you know, to also do what they love to do and to be paid for
Kenisha Humber: it. Now you just mentioned, uh, turning your struggles into inspiration for others.
Can you expand a little
Randell Adjei: bit more on that? Absolutely. I was an angry kid at a very young. And I was angry, not because I was a bad kid or anything like that. I think the anger really came from not having a space to express who I was as a person, not having the capacity or the means to really express who I.
I had a grade a teacher that gave me a pen and paper and she said, Tell me your story. And it was probably one of the most transformative moments of my life because finally somebody gave me the opportunity to be heard. Whereas because I was a, a quote unquote bad kid, nobody gave me the time of day. No one really wanted to hear what I had to say.
They didn't want to hear what was bothering me or what I was going. And [00:17:00] I think what that teacher did for me is what propelled me to look at what I could do for other people. So transforming it was looking at my community and recognizing that not only were there not enough spaces to express ourselves in a positive way, not enough spaces to commune and gather here in Scarborough, but that idea taught me about what does it look like to then take what we don't have and create what we do have.
I guess you can only really appreciate the. After experiencing darkness. So by not having what we needed, we were able to develop and build what it is that we needed to thrive and strive and move forward. But my art is really the, the best way that I transform a lot of my pain into power, the darkness into, into light, uh, through my poetry and trying to connect with people to, to let people know you're not alone in your difficulties and your struggle.
Griffin Toplitsky: Was it with that grade eight teacher that you first got into
Randell Adjei: poetry? Yeah, it was that grade eight teacher that I first got into poetry. She really. Opened me to a whole world that I never even knew existed. I didn't realize that poetry [00:18:00] could be so cathartic. So she really gave me the tools to recognize what was possible.
But I, I put it down shortly after just because no one else in my community, no one else around me was doing so. But I picked it up again three years later when I saw another poet doing what they were doing, and this was a poet at a conference at U of T. I was in high school at the time. I saw him on stage and immediately I kind of knew that this is what I wanted to do.
And so I'm like, My poetry is also to do the same, that if I can be on stage and inspire the next randel to realize that they can do something with their life, that they can, that they have a voice. That's something that's really, really important to me. So I picked it. Put it down again. Um, but I think the third time was definitely the charm.
When I, when I decided that this is what I wanted to do.
Griffin Toplitsky: What advice would you give to young people who want to get into the arts and make it their
Randell Adjei: career? So the first thing I wanna share with you is some people may doubt you if you're not [00:19:00] talented enough. Some people may doubt you if they don't see that you're gifted.
But I wanna just express that all of us are artists. All of us create, whether we believe it or not, you can. You don't have to be a dancer or a painter to be an artist. We all create every day. Every day you live, you're constantly creating. And that's what an artist to me is about. But a true artist is somebody who's cognizant of what they're creating, who's able to maneuver, and to be mindful of what they're creating for other people.
But my advice would be recognize that you are an artist and have always been an. That's one. The second thing I would give you is find your voice and understand what is your why, right? Like, you have to know your why as an artist. So by knowing your why, it's the thing that pushes you. Like it's, it, it nudges you from behind, right?
It's something that pushes you forward so that you can continue moving towards, um, some sort of end goal. And the third thing I would say is, You know, you want to develop a relationship with creativity. [00:20:00] Creativity isn't necessarily something that is far from us, like we, creativity is in our bodies. It is something that lives within us all the time.
But you wanna build a relationship with creativity. And my next piece of advice is you really wanna take a moment to do an asset map, um, as an artist. And an asset map is just mapping out all the different assets you. Taking the opportunity to recognize the people, the resources, the aspect, like just the different aspects that you have connected, uh, to you.
And then ask yourself, you know, how can this help me get to where I want to go? And the last piece of advice that I would say is just find multiple streams of income. We don't wanna put so much pressure on us to perform and make money performing, or pressure our writing to make us, to make us all this money.
You wanna find different streams of income. And that's where I would start. There's, there's so much more I can say, but I, I kind of, I'd start. Well,
Griffin Toplitsky: let's talk about being poet laureate. First of all, what does that mean for listeners who might not
Randell Adjei: know? So the Poet Laureate is an independent officer of the [00:21:00] Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
So it's a provincial position, and what it means is, for me, I had the opportunity to work with the OLA to decide what does this first position look. And I solely am an advocate for arts and culture across the province. So as an independent officer, you know, I worked on different events, I collaborated different organizations.
My focus is really on young people. I wanna help the, the next generation of young people in Ontario to know that it's, it's okay to have a voice, that your voice really matters. And when we think about politics, it's about having a voice to represent people, and I'm just making that connection between politics and arts.
But besides that, the position is something that I'm really grateful for. And I'm excited because, you know, coming from where I'm from and, uh, the way I look and who I am as a person, I hope to inspire other people to, to recognize that no matter, you know, what your dreams are like, things are really possible, that you can achieve what [00:22:00] you set yourself up to.
Griffin Toplitsky: Amazing. Well, I think it would be a huge miss for us to have you here and not have you read some of your work. Uh, would you be okay to read one of your pieces for
Randell Adjei: us? I'd be completely fine with it. I have, uh, a poem that I'm, I, I really, really love this poem actually. This one is, it's about legacy and it's about what it means to, uh, live in a world.
Where we are constantly focused on what we leave behind, you know? And legacy is not necessarily just about what you leave behind, but it's what we're building every day. It's what we are doing every day. We have an opportunity to create our legacy. So this poem is called the Dash. I often question if a coffin is where my legacy is destined.
A Riga mortis reflection of. Buried six feet deep in the six, My legacy, my soul, awaiting the arrival of 12 disciples and no remnants of me, no [00:23:00] fruits of labor left from my seeds. Not leaving this world better than when I came in my name forgotten, Not even whispered upon the lips of those, my actions impacted.
It's scary. I heard once that the worst thing that can happen to us when we are no longer here is not death. It is to be forgotten and I cringe at the thought of my efforts lost in coffins, boxed in the same confines that cause me problems, my life, my beliefs, encrypted in tombstone, indicating the dates to and from.
But I hope the dash in between represents more than just the good work I've done. My life blowing in the wind, like the breath that has left my lungs only to leave this world unfulfilled with holes and the potential that I was given and res, spinning the same cycle to my children. See when your time comes and your soul is sent, what will the dash on your tombstone [00:24:00] represent?
Griffin Toplitsky: Wow. It was incredible.
Randell Adjei: It really was just a reminder to people, you know, we gotta live a, live a life of purpose in that there's a, a beautiful opportunity to, to build a legacy that is long lasting, something that can inspire people. I don't think we're here for ourselves, and I think through our entrepreneurship and through the work that we do, it's how do we do this work?
And make the world around us better and leave something that somebody else can build on. Um, so I'm just really fixated on legacy and I, and I wish you all, uh, a beautiful process in building yours.
Griffin Toplitsky: Well, thank you so much for being here with us. That was amazing. Pleasure.
Randell Adjei: Thank you.
Kenisha Humber: That was incredible. I don't know if the average person thinks of being a poet laureate.
Griffin Toplitsky: It really is one of those titles that instantly conjures up so much distinction and prestige,
Kenisha Humber: and yet Rendell is completely down to earth with nos whatsoever. The
Griffin Toplitsky: work in man's poet laureate.
Kenisha Humber: That's it. So what I'm getting from all of this is that the future of work is [00:25:00] still pretty wide open.
Griffin Toplitsky: Yeah.
Although there are certainly jobs that are seemingly on the way out, the vast amount of. Fields that are opening up is encouraging. I agree.
Kenisha Humber: Griffin, we are coming to the end of another episode of In The Know, and this is where we tease up our next one.
Griffin Toplitsky: Next up we are looking at trends and we're not talking about Velvet Bell bottoms or the HE 10, but meme, we mean ai, the metaverse, and other key trends for investment ideas, startups, and all that kind of inspiration.
Kenisha Humber: The head of R C X and Ventures, Sid Paquette will be
Griffin Toplitsky: here and joining. Sid will be a very successful entrepreneur, the CEO of Surf Swish Gwai.
Kenisha Humber: Do not miss that. I need to know what's trending
Griffin Toplitsky: Griffin, And you will, but you will also have to wait until the next episode. Well, what if I need to know now? I heard patience is trending.
Kaisha
Kenisha Humber: well
played, well, played.[00:26:00]
Griffin Toplitsky: Thank you for listening to In the Know we've been your
Kenisha Humber: host, Kisha Humber and Griffin Tosky.
Griffin Toplitsky: Our thanks to senior manager HR Strategy Future of work at RBC Connie Chung for being here.
Kenisha Humber: And thank you to the poet Laureate of Ontario Rendell AJ for being here as well. And
Griffin Toplitsky: finally, we'd be nowhere without our in the know listener community.
Thank you all for sending such amazing questions for this week's. If you would like a chance to be included in a future episode of In The Know, email us at RBC future launch rbc.com. Within the Know in the subject line,
Kenisha Humber: in the KNOW is a production of RBC dedicated to focusing on the issues that matter and are important to society and people.
For more on RBC citizenship, check out the links in our show notes. And here to share their mission is none other than Mark Beckel, Vice President, social impact and innovation at rbc. All yours, Mark. At rbc,
Mark Beckles: our purpose is to help clients thrive and communities prosper, and that's why [00:27:00] we are investing $500 million over 10 years.
As part of RBCs Future Launch to help empower young people for the jobs of tomorrow, we want to help you be the best that you can be. So we work to increase your access to information programs, tools and resources to share different points of view and challenge your norms, and ultimately helping you make sense of the world around you.
We know that our future. And the future of our communities starts with you, and that's why we want new to be in the know.