GradCon: Launch Ready.
Turning What's Next Into Your Advantage.
GradCon is Northeastern Toronto's signature graduate career conference: a full day built around the reality of launching your career in Ontario right now. Not a generic networking mixer. Not a resumé drop. A sequenced, practitioner-rich experience that moves you from inspiration to a concrete plan, in a single room with 150 graduating master's students, top industry leaders, and the professionals shaping the fields you are entering.
What the day looks like
9:30 AM: Arrival & Registration
Check-in, Coffee/Tea
10:20 AM: Opening Keynote: Scott Stirrett, Author, The Uncertainty Advantage, Founder & CEO, Venture for Canada
11:05 AM: What Ontario Employers Need Right Now (Panel)
12:00 PM: Lunch
Booking signing by Scott Stirrett
OGS Canada Table
1:00 PM: Industry Track Sessions
PJM Track: Featuring
Elizabeth D'Cruze, Project Manager at Broadridge
Kamil Khuwaja, Manager, Power System Projects at Hydro One.
Tech Systems Track: Featuring
Himanshu Joshi, Founder, COHUMAIN Labs
Kevin Kuang, Founder & CEO of Pillarix
Life Sciences Track: Featuring
Utsav Dave, Senior Regulatory Affairs Associate at Fresenius Kabi
Peter Sampson, VP, Drug Discovery & Development at Agora Open Science Trust
Hamza Farooq, CTO & Co-Founder at BioBox Analytics Inc.
Edicon Chan, Bioinformatics Analyst at Public Health Ontario.
2:05 PM: Career Development Sprint: Choose 2 of 4 fast tactical sessions:
AI: The Job Search Whisper
AI + LinkedIn in Your Job Search
Managing the Job Search Marathon
Negotiation 101
3:05 PM: Breakout Workshops
Your Career Portfolio: Evidence Over Claims
Your Career is Not Linear: How to Face Uncertainty in Transferring Success from Campus to Industry and Beyond
Unlocking the Art of the Humble Brag
4:10 PM: 30-Day Execution Plan
Every attendee leaves with a personal, time-bound career launch commitment
4:30 PM: Grad Talent Connect: Networking Reception
Structured networking reception: connect with industry professionals and fellow graduates.
Sessions in detail
Choose what you need most.
You select two Career Development Sprint sessions and one Breakout Workshop when you register. Here's what each one covers.
S1 AI: The Job Search Whisper
Job postings rarely say what employers actually want. This session shows you how to use AI tools to decode the language of postings, surface the real priorities behind the requirements, and tailor your materials to what will actually get you noticed. Facilitated by Jean D'Souza, Career Advisor.
S2 AI + LinkedIn in Your Job Search
A tactical hands-on session combining AI-assisted research with LinkedIn strategy. You will leave knowing how to use both tools together to identify target roles, reach the right people, and build a search that works harder than applications alone. Facilitated by Himadri Dave, Career Advisor.
S3 Managing the Job Search Marathon
A long job search is as much a mental challenge as a strategic one. This session gives you practical frameworks for maintaining motivation and momentum across weeks or months of uncertainty, so you stay in action without burning out. Facilitated by Mike Sun, Career Advisor.
S4 Negotiation 101
Most graduates leave money and benefits on the table because they do not know how to have the conversation. This session covers total rewards frameworks, how to evaluate and compare offers, and how to negotiate confidently without risking the offer. Facilitated by Alex Cheah, Principal at Lionpeak Partners.
Breakout Workshops
W1 Your Career Portfolio: Evidence Over Claims
Resumes assert. Portfolios prove. This workshop guides you through building a structured portfolio outline on Notion, GitHub, or a personal site, organized around specific proof-of-work artifacts aligned to your target roles. You leave with a clear, prioritized build plan.
W2 Your Career is Not Linear: How to Face Uncertainty in Transferring Success from Campus to Industry and Beyond
The path from graduation to a fulfilling career rarely looks the way you planned. In this session, Andy Donovan, Business Development Lead at Life Sciences Ontario, draws on more than 30 years of experience to help students reframe uncertainty as a natural part of professional life. You will leave with practical perspective on carrying your campus success into Ontario's life sciences industry and building a career that evolves with you.
W3 Unlocking the Art of the Humble Brag
Self-promotion in the Canadian professional context is a specific skill. Too much reads as arrogant; too little reads as underqualified. This workshop helps you articulate your value with confidence and cultural fluency, and you will practice until it feels natural.