PowerSkills Career Summit

2020 challenged us in ways that we could have never imagined. Here's what didn't change: the need to be equipped with specific skills to be competitive in an ever-changing labour market.

While these are often referred to as *soft* skills, it is misrepresentative of the POWER that comes with being proficient in these skills. Several national and international studies continue to confirm the need for soft skills such as professional communications, leadership, collaboration, cultural competencies, effective feedback, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and entrepreneurship are critical to succeed now and in the future.

Career, Advising, and Transition Services decided to take action and create the first soft skills virtual career conference of its type, featuring dozens of remote events with different formats that appeal to diverse learning styles.

The first edition took place from Tuesday, August 4 to Saturday, August 8, 2020. The entirely free event brought together more than 5000 registrants from 23 different countries and hosted 40 simultaneous sessions featuring 57 local, national, and international speakers. The formats included keynote speeches, workshops, webinars and panel discussions.

PowerSkills at a glance:

PowerSkills was born in 2020 as a response to the career needs and challenges resulting from the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the global economy. In an effort to provide students of McGill's School of Continuing Studies (SCS) and the larger community with relevant and timely motivation and guidance during this unprecedented era, SCS' Career, Advising, and Transition Services (CATS) developed an online career summit that –to this day– has celebrated three editions and it's getting ready for its return in 2023.