Career Forum 2026

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More than 2,000 career professionals from around the world will take part in the forum

CAREER FORUM

Online / free

Technologies, case studies, unique methods, scientific research, tools for career counselors, and much more

October 9

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10+

Continents

16+

Top experts

What can you expect at the FORUM?

Priority on career counselors and their clients

The latest methods, including the use of AI

Integration of theory and practice

Free access to knowledge

CAREER FORUM

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WHO IS THE CAREER FORUM FOR

FOR HR SPECIALISTS AND MANAGERS

FOR PROFESSIONALS

For those planning a career transition

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02

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For HR professionals, including HR directors, T&D leaders, and staff who are professionally engaged in team assessment, development, and career growth

For career coaches, psychologists, and other helping professionals who are self-employed or run their own practice

For those considering a helping profession in the career field and wanting to understand what these professionals actually do

Across different countries, we work on the common needs of our clients

Sharing experience is essential for addressing these needs

The latest scientific knowledge helps us work with our clients more effectively

Our Values

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headliners of our events

David Blustein (USA)

Author of Psychology of Working Theory, an influential framework connecting career development, decent work, and social justice.
Professor and Golden Eagle Faculty Fellow at Boston College, specializing in counseling and vocational psychology.
Recipient of the NCDA Eminent Career Award and the APA Leona Tyler Award for Lifetime Achievement in Counseling Psychology.
Author of The Psychology of Working and The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty, and consultant to the International Labour Organization, OECD, and United Nations Development Programme.

Rodolfo Ambiel (Brazil)

Professor of Psychology at PUC-Campinas, specializing in career development and psychological assessment.
Former President of the Brazilian Association for Career Guidance and Counseling (2015–2019).
Former Editor-in-Chief of the Brazilian Journal of Career Guidance and Psico-USF.
Research focused on career adaptability, career decision-making, self-efficacy, and psychological assessment in career counseling.

Nurten Karacan Özdemir (Turkey)

Associate Professor of Guidance and Psychological Counseling at Hacettepe University.
Expert in career adaptability, career counseling, and Career Construction Theory.
Published in leading international journals, including the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the Journal of Career Development.
Research focused on career development across different life stages and populations, from adolescents and university students to working adults.

SPEAKERS

Sophie Gerdel (Italy)

Organizational and career psychologist and researcher specializing in career calling, meaningful work, career transitions, and career development

Helen ONell (UK)

Portfolio career specialist, author, and book coach helping professionals build sustainable careers and turn their expertise into published work

Amanda Flora (USA)

Associate Professor at UVA School of Education & Human Development/Counselor Educator focusing on Career Development

Lama Al Imam (Portugal)

Career development and HR expert specializing in organizational development, career growth, and the intersection of careers, education, and the workplace

Marcelo Ribeiro (Brazil)

Professor of working studies and career guidance and counselling at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Member of the UNESCO Chair in Lifelong Guidance and Counselling and the Career Lead Network

Freda Zapsalis (Australia)

Career educator and researcher working at the intersection of career education, psychology, and anthropology

Ronel Kleynhans (South Africa)

Career psychologist and lecturer at the University of the Free State, specializing in career construction, life design counseling, and career development for performing artists and neurodiverse individuals

Zeynab Mahmoudi (Iran)

HR and performance development expert recognized among the Top 30 HR Innovators in the MENA region by GO PLATFORM — Skills of Tomorrow

Daniel Samaan (Switzerland)

Senior Economist in the Research Department of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva. Researches the labour-market impacts of technological change, with a recent focus on AI, jobs, and productivity

Alyona Seneva (Uzbekistan)

HR practitioner with 15 years of experience, currently serving as HR Director at Uzum Fintech, one of Uzbekistan’s leading technology companies in e-commerce and fintech

Aigiun Kurbanova (Poland)

Founder of Career Management School and President of the Career Counselors Association. Former HR Director with 20 years of experience in human resources

CAREER FORUM AGENDA

Online, October 9

Dear forum participants, please note: the times listed on the website are in Central European Summer Time (UTC+2). Please consider the time zone difference when planning

09:00 – 09:30 AM

About the School

Aigiun Kurbanova (Poland), founder of Career Management School and president of the Career Counselors Association

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09:30 – 10:00 AM

The End of the Corporate Career: How the Rules of Professional Growth Are Changing and What This Means for Career Professionals

Aigiun Kurbanova (Poland), founder of Career Management School and president of the Career Counselors Association

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Why the traditional career model is no longer working.
Why companies will no longer be responsible for building employees’ careers.
Why the greatest career risk of the future is not losing your job, but losing your career resilience.
Why personal career capital is becoming your most valuable asset.
Why everyone will need to become a “company of one.”
How the role of the career professional is changing in this new reality.

10:00 – 10:30 AM

Topic pending approval

Ronel Kleynhans (South Africa), career psychologist and lecturer at the University of the Free State, specializing in career construction, life design counseling, and career development for performing artists and neurodiverse individuals

10:30 – 11:00 AM

Thinking Across Boundaries: What Interdisciplinary Learning Teaches Us About Navigating Career Uncertainty

Freda Zapsalis (Australia), lecturer in career education at RMIT University. Works at the intersection of career education, psychology, and anthropology

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Career uncertainty is prevalent across the world, where 2 in 5 young people feel uncertain about the future (OECD, 2024). Research from my PhD work on the role of interdisciplinary team projects will showcase learning impacts and their value beyond employability.
Using recent research on career wisdom (Xu, 2024) to support my research, I will show how young people can develop an interdisciplinary mindset that supports career adaptability as they explore the world of work

11:15 – 11:45 AM

Writing Yourself In: How Authorship Builds Careers for Coaches and Clients Alike

Helen ONell (UK), portfolio career specialist, author, and book coach helping professionals build sustainable careers and turn their expertise into published work

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Why writing should be seen not as an extra activity after client work, but as career capital in its own right.
How authorship can become a valuable part of a coach’s career.
The Notice — Name — Share framework: how to spot your expertise, shape it into a narrative, and share it with others.
How to turn your expertise into a book, an article, or a social post.
Practical actions that can be used for your own career development and in work with clients.

11:45 – 12:15 PM

AI and the Changing World of Work: Implications for Jobs, Skills and Careers

Daniel Samaan (Switzerland), senior economist in the Research Department of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva. Researches the labour-market impacts of technological change, with a recent focus on AI, jobs, and productivity

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How AI is already changing the world of work: which jobs and workers are most exposed and where productivity gains are emerging
Why exposure to AI does not mean the disappearance of entire occupations, and why its impact remains highly context-specific
How AI may reshape skill requirements and entry-level opportunities
The changing roles of technology, human expertise, and professional judgment
Why teaching people to use AI is not enough: how jobs, training, and career pathways need to be redesigned
How to prepare workers and students for a labour market where tasks are likely to change faster than occupations disappear

12:15 – 12:45 PM

Identity Crisis: Who Do I Need to Become to Stay Irreplaceable?

Sophie Gerdel (Italy), organizational and career psychologist and researcher specializing in career calling, meaningful work, career transitions, and career development

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Why career problems can’t be solved without first addressing identity and mindset, and how coaching supports better decision-making in times of uncertainty.
Research into young professionals’ search for meaning: what it reveals about career struggles and how to identify the real point of tension behind them.
Looking ahead to 2030: how AI is reshaping jobs — yet cannot replace who we become.
The six premium human skills, from critical thinking to leadership, that will define future value.

01:45 – 02:15 PM

From Performance Management to Career Growth: How Individual Development Plans Support Employee Development

Zeynab Mahmoudi (Iran), HR and performance development expert recognized among the Top 30 HR Innovators in the MENA region by GO PLATFORM — Skills of Tomorrow

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Why performance management should go beyond evaluation and ratings
Identifying employees’ development needs through performance and competency assessment
Connecting competency gaps with individual development goals
Designing practical and achievable Individual Development Plans (IDPs)
Linking individual development with employees’ career goals and organizational needs
The role of managers and HR in supporting and following up on development plans
Practical examples and approaches from my professional experience

02:15 – 02:45 PM

Career Is Not a Ladder: How to Grow People from Within a Growing Business

Alyona Seneva (Uzbekistan), HR practitioner with 15 years of experience, currently serving as HR Director at Uzum Fintech, one of Uzbekistan’s leading technology companies in e-commerce and fintech

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Internal growth as a scaling strategy: filling key positions with internal talent.
Transparent criteria instead of complex competency matrices: clear rules for career progression.
Two career paths — managerial and expert: enabling growth without forcing people into leadership roles.
“Safe” internal mobility: trying new roles and teams with the option to move back.
The right to change direction: why changing your career path is a normal part of development.
Uzum Fintech in practice: real data and examples of internal career moves.

02:45 – 03:15 PM

Ethical and Appropriate Use of Career Assessments in the Workplace

Amanda Flora (USA), associate professor at UVA School of Education & Human Development/Counselor Educator focusing on Career Development

Ethical and appropriate use of career assessments in the workplace.
Key principles of psychometrics.
Differences and appropriate uses of informal and formal assessments.
Interpretation of assessment results.
How assessment results should be delivered to clients.
The session is suitable both as an introduction for newcomers and as a refresher for experienced practitioners.

03.30-04.00 PM

The Missing Rungs: Rebuilding the Career Ladder in the Age of AI

Lama Al Imam (Portugal), career development and HR expert specializing in organizational development, career growth, and the intersection of careers, education, and the workplace

What happened to the first rungs of the career ladder: which entry-level tasks AI is automating first and where the impact is greatest.
Why this is a structural shift, not a temporary crisis: if AI takes over the tasks through which young professionals used to learn and gain experience, where will the next generation build professional judgment?
What graduates need to do differently: stop competing with AI where it already wins, focus on what AI still cannot do well, and build a portfolio of demonstrated work before the first job.
AI fluency as a baseline skill: learning not only how to use AI, but how to direct it and critically evaluate its outputs.
What employers, universities, and career professionals need to change to create new pathways into the workforce for young people.
How to rebuild the career ladder rather than trying to preserve a model that is no longer working.

04.00-04.30 PM

Topic pending approval

Nurten Karacan Özdemir (Turkey), associate professor at Hacettepe University and career development researcher specializing in career adaptability, career counseling, and Career Construction Theory

04:30 – 05:00 PM

Getting the Most Out of Interest Assessments: A Narrative Approach Through the "Taking a Test is Telling Stories" Procedure

Rodolfo Ambiel (Brazil), professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas, Brazil.
President of the Brazilian Association for Career Guidance and Counseling Psychologist

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Introduction to Taking a Test is Telling Stories (TTTS), developed by Ambiel in 2021.
How to turn assessment feedback from a one-way written report into a collaborative narrative conversation.
How clients can reinterpret their own results and create a coherent story about their interests and career path.
A step-by-step structure for conducting a TTTS session.
The approach draws on Therapeutic Assessment, Life Design Counseling, and Social Cognitive Career Theory.
How TTTS activates important sources of career self-efficacy.
Evidence from a randomized controlled study with Brazilian adolescents.
Why passive written feedback can sometimes fail to improve — or even undermine — self-efficacy.
How practitioners can use TTTS as a structured alternative to traditional assessment feedback.

05:15 – 05:45 PM

Potentialities and Limits for the Use of Social Media for Offering Career Guidance and Consulting Services

Marcelo Ribeiro (Brazil), professor of working studies and career guidance and counselling at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Member of the UNESCO Chair in Lifelong Guidance and Counselling and the Career Lead Network

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Understand how contemporary changes (e.g., the increasing flexibility and precariousness of work, the individualisation of life, technological and digital changes, climate crises and disinformation) are reproduced or challenged by career guidance and consultancy delivered through social media.
Identify possible means and methods for providing career guidance and consultancy via YouTube and Instagram.
Highlight problematic practices.
Assess their potential and their technical and ethical limitations in relation to their ability to assist people in reflecting on and planning their careers.
Recommend good practices based on the main existing guidelines for career guidance and consultancy.

05:45 – 06:15 PM

Topic pending approval

David Blustein (USA), author of Psychology of Working Theory and Professor at Boston College, internationally recognized for his research on work, career development, and social justice

06:15-06:45 PM

You Need to Fail to Succeed

Stephen Wagner (Germany), trainer, coach, and international speaker.
Vice President of BDVT — the Professional Association for Training, Consulting and Coaching in Germany.

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A dream job in Australia, unemployment, and 141 rejections.
The transition to successful self-employment and becoming an author.
My personal fuckup story as an example of how career setbacks are no barrier to entrepreneurial success.
A professional rollercoaster of new beginnings and setbacks.
How to deal with uncertainty.
The turning points that led me to where I am today.
What the audience can take away from my story for their own careers.