Learning and Connecting at the 2022 SCWIST Annual Career Fair

On June 3, 2022, SCWIST welcomed more than 400 attendees and 18 organizations from across Canada to our virtual Annual Career Fair!

Our day-long event, generously sponsored by STEMCELL Technologies, was jam-packed with engaging guest speakers, excellent exhibitor panellists and informative workshops that provided attendees with employment and career growth opportunities. Several exemplary companies from many different areas within STEM posted more than 70 job opportunities that attendees could apply to, both within Canada and internationally. There were also several opportunities to network, including virtual icebreaker questions, community topics and post-event meet-up opportunities.

Panel discussions with leaders in STEM

To start the day, Dr. Christy Thomson (Principal Scientist, Amgen) shared her career journey in the event’s keynote: Master of All, Expert of None. She spoke about the steps and challenges in her career that led her to a position making the chemicals used in medicine. An enthusiastic Q&A session with the audience followed.

After the opening event, attendees could either attend the Strategies on Industry Leadership panel discussion with Dr. Nasim Boustani (Director of Operations, META), Dr. Alexendra Merkx-Jacques (Manager – Research Partnerships, NSERC) and Leann Sweeny (Business Unit Director, Amgen), or the Owning Your Value: Identifying Transferable Skills and Leveraging Your Unique Potential workshop with Jasmine Shaw (Engineer & Entrepreneur).

The final activity before the scheduled networking session was a Career Spotlight with representatives from STEMCELL Technologies, D-Wave Systems, Acuitas Therapeutics and adMare Bioinnovations. After several informative talks, our attendees had a quick lunch break and returned to network!

Making valuable connections

Although time was set aside for networking halfway through the day, our attendees started conversations and chatting with each other from the start of the career fair. Whova, the virtual platform used to host the career fair, provided several opportunities for attendees to connect based on the information they added to their profiles.

There was also an icebreaker area where attendees could post their answers to fun questions and a community tab where any attendee was able to organize both in-person or virtual meetups, share upcoming conferences and create discussion topics. During the event, over 30 different discussion topics and 400 messages were posted on the Community Board. One of the most engaging topics was focused on science communication, where attendees discussed knowledge translation, battling misinformation, STEM education and employment opportunities. 

At the end of the day, we were thrilled with how the event turned out and hope several long-lasting connections were made.

Feel like you missed out? Follow SCWIST on social to stay on top of exciting events for women in STEM including our 2023 Career Fair! You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. For more networking events and workshops, please visit our website.