Podcasts have been gaining popularity for years now, with millions of listeners all around the world tuning in to learn more about their favourite topic. In fact, according to a study conducted by the Canadian Podcast Listener in 2019, nearly 11 million Canadian adults have listened to podcasts in during that year.

The BCC CE Drive Podcast was started by Jason Watt in 2018 after he was inspired by another podcaster. “I got into podcasts about 4 years ago, mostly from Howard Kettner’s Benefits Genius podcast,” says Jason Watt, Subject Matter Expert and Instructor at BCC. “I listened to about 20 episodes back-to-back and thought, “that was probably the most I’ve learned in 20 hours of content in a very long time.”

Most professionals in the financial services and insurance industries need a certain amount of continuing education credits per year to keep their designation or certification. As we all know, people in this industry can be extremely busy, and effective use of their time is very important. Why not listen to an informative podcast while you are eating breakfast in the morning, or commuting to work? Enter the BCC CE Drive Podcast, which provides a way for professionals to earn their CE credits and learn more about their industry at the same time.

The CE Drive Podcast fit perfectly with BCC’s vision: they wanted to expand their subscription business, and the podcast provided a fun and unique way to give students and professionals more value. “There wasn’t anyone else that I know of that was doing this at the time,” Watt adds. “Even now, there are a few other CE podcasts, but none that cover the range of topics and possible CE credits that ours does.”

Watt mentions that coming up with content was a bit tougher at first, as he needed to find a way to gather questions and insight from students and others in the industry so he could be sure the podcast answered people’s burning questions. “It was a bit slow at first,” Watt admits. “I reached out to about 25 people and asked if they would come on the podcast with me, [and] I got about 10 good responses back.” While tackling the task of gathering content ideas was difficult at first, it provided a good learning experience for future episodes. “It’s gotten much easier,” Watt says. “Now, when a student presents an interesting idea in class or I read something on a forum or LinkedIn post, I’ll make a note of it.” As for creating the podcast itself, Watt’s approach is to think about it from the listener’s perspective. “If the listener would be curious about something, I try to ask it. If I am learning something, I expect the listener is learning along with me.”

Typically, guests that appear on the podcast are mostly financial advisors, but Watt notes that he has had some service providers and subject matter experts on the show as well, so the guests are well-rounded in terms of expertise.

Lastly, Watt remarks on the podcast in general, and talks about it’s goals as a medium to deliver educational content to listeners. “Everybody needs CE credits to stay in business.” Watt notes. “I’m trying to combine those credits with a legitimate learning experience in an easy-to-consume format.” In terms of CE credits and how they relate to the podcast Watt goes back to his goals with the listener: “In my opinion, if you didn’t learn anything from taking a particular course for CE, you shouldn’t get the credits. So I try to have at least one new thing for any listener in every episode.”

The BCC CE Drive Podcast is available on iTunes, Google Play, or through an RSS link that you can use to listen on a podcast player of your choice. By subscribing to the podcast, you’re able to earn CE credits depending on the topic of the podcast episode.

How do I Earn CE Credits?

1. Subscribe to the BCC continuing education program by choosing a subscription option from the podcast page or the continuing education page. Both are the save subscription and will give you access to the podcast as well as our online CE catalogue, half-day webinars, and IIROC Professional Development as one package. If you haven’t already created a BCC account, you’ll be able to create one after you’ve clicked one of the subscription option buttons. You can choose from a $15 per month subscription or $150 per year.
2. Once you’ve subscribed, simply listen to the podcast episode of your choice using the platform of your choice (Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, etc.). You can earn CE credits for most podcast episodes, as long as they are 2 years old or less as a general rule.
3. log into your account on the Business Career College website to access the quiz for the episode you just listened to. Once you’ve successfully passed the quiz by answering the questions correctly, you’ll earn a digital certificate. Your certificate will be saved in your account, but you can also print it out or save it to your computer if you wish.