Canadian Magazine Industry News
19 August 2009,     WINNIPEG
Western-based Smart Connections relaunched as national Smart Careers

Western Canada’s education-focused quarterly, Smart Connections, has gone through an overhaul. The free, Winnipeg-based magazine, published by Pegasus Publications, has been renamed Smart Careers, with a new editorial focus to match the name.

Shifting from education- to career-focused content, the magazine will now include features on specific jobs, lists of the best schools for various career paths and the general interest Smart Life section, which began in the magazine’s previous incarnation.

“It’s just a natural evolution. People have a real interest right now in ‘what am I going to be when I grow up?’ even when they’re already grown up,” says Dorothy Dobbie, president of Pegasus. “And there’s a lack of information about what it’s like on the inside of many of these jobs that exist in Canada, so that’s what stimulated this.”

In addition to the changing content, Smart Careers will now be distributed nationally to universities, colleges, high school guidance counselors and employment centres across Canada. Starting with the magazine’s November issue, 10,000 copies will be sent by direct mail to learning institutions across Canada.
 

Dobbie says that with the expansion from western-only to national, one thing readers won’t see anymore is the compendium of universities, colleges and technical schools the magazine usually compiles—it doesn’t want to compete with the annual Maclean’s university guide. But Smart Careers will do its best to provide detailed career information that students need to make informed decisions.

“In Canada we have a lack of solid information for young people. It’s really pop-oriented, it’s all surface stuff,” Dobbie says. “It’s like eating cake: you eat it, and then you feel slightly sick and quite empty afterwards. So we’re trying to provide information of real value.”

— Laura Godfrey
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