Women in AI Canada hosts career fair to empower women in AI and technology, encourages student connections

By Hannah Caparino, November 20 2024—

Women in AI Canada hosted a recent career fair at Platform Calgary and featured a number of companies for attendees to grow their network and connections. The Calgary lead of the organization, Yukun Zhang, spoke with The Gauntlet about the goals of the career fair and how the organization’s mission can create a space for women to develop connections in the AI and technology industry.

“Women in AI is a global community working towards shaping AI for our common future and it’s an organization fully run by volunteers … Our mission is to inspire, educate, and connect female talent in the area of AI,” said Zhang.

The organization has teams across Canada, with bases in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal. As the team lead, Zhang had mentioned how Calgary had taken part in the career fair starting last year at the University of Calgary, and had garnered a number of volunteers from the initial fair.

“I have ten members in my team [and] we find that for women … we’re underrepresented, and the other thing we find is that women generally, they don’t have enough confidence as other people. So the goal of the career fair is we want to create a space where talented women can find support, opportunities, and resources that they deserve. Especially in AI and technology where they are often underrepresented or face unique challenges in advancing careers,” said Zhang.

In regards to who was in attendance at the event, Zhang comments on how bringing large and local organizations provides women opportunities to branch out and expose them to all different kinds of companies involved with industries that involve AI and technology. The event also included panels and networking opportunities with the various companies in order to expand participant’s network.

“For large organizations, we have Google, CDI, Slalom, and ATB Financial, those are the large organizations that will join us,” said Zhang, “We want to balance some companies with an oil and gas background and some companies, they are more of a consolidating company and trying to capture all kinds of Calgary companies to make sure that the job seekers have a chance to interact with them all.”

In terms of getting connected, potential new volunteers and team members can connect with the Women in AI Canada LinkedIn page to be aware of upcoming events and can know of various virtual events that are being held across all the different cities. There are also opportunities like the annual hackathon and the symposium, and through these events, individuals can join the Calgary team and build a community. Zhang speaks on how essential the community has been when building a team that can interact in and out of the industry or workplace environment.

“Our members are very close to each other and we’ve been together … for the past two years. We’re really building a community that we can support each other and grow together, and support each other through every stage of our lives,” said Zhang.

The organization also provides how they can help other women break into the industry. Through events like the career fair, hackathon and workshop opportunities, there is space to connect mentors with mentees who can help guide them through their career and map out specific goals, as well as discuss how they can approach hands-on projects.

Zhang speaks on how beneficial mentorship and education can inspire all women in STEM within the industry and comments on how the University of Calgary community can continue to collaborate with Women in AI to create better representation for the city. Zhang also explains that everyone can work towards filling the gender gap, and references how support can always be found through the simple act of reaching out and contacting organizations like Women in AI.

“You can do everything in your everyday life to try to fill the gender gap. If you need support you can always reach out to Women in AI to get someone to talk about the challenges that they have faced before,” said Zhang.

Women in AI Canada is continuing to break ground for women in the STEM industry and will create space for inclusivity and diversity. For more information about Women in AI Canada, click the link here.