You know that thing when you return to work after a conference and you really don't want to lose the feeling of being with your tribe, your mates, your conference buddies? Well that's how 200+ CarCon attendees are probably feeling today, now that CarCon24 in Amsterdam is over. What a great conference.
Jos's comprehensive LinkedIn post below reports the highlights, keynotes, award winners and organisers to give you a sense of the conference. Let me add my thanks to Jos Akkermans and the whole team at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for your planning, organising and hosting this conference.
So as one door closes, another opens... Moving forward, might you want to host the next CarCon, gather careers scholars from near and far to visit your part of the world? Please start to think about whether you and your university might be our next host. Think about when you might be ready to host and who you might include in your organising team. A formal call for nominations will be distributed to assess interest in the next CarCon, likely to be after AOM Copenhagen in 2025.
In the meantime, I wish you well as we ramp up to Chicago in August.
Report from CarCon24, Amsterdam, by Jos Akkermans:
Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting the second-ever AOM Careers Division community conference. It was so special to welcome over 200 friends and colleagues to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam). It truly felt that my two "academic homes" came together for this conference.
💡 We had over 40 sessions covering a wide range of topics, such as career success, meaningful work, career shocks, gender dynamics, sustainable careers, international careers, and many more. I enjoyed seeing so many exciting research projects!
💡 Our three keynotes offered much food for thought. Sharon Parker argued that work design and career research could learn a lot from each other. Mina Beigi emphasized the need to look at career impact beyond the individual. Frederick M. argued that an event-based approach to career research is one of the most promising ways forward. Thank you for your great insights!
Conferences also come with awards!
🎉 The Best Symposium Award runners-up were Tania Biswas, Acil Abdul Hadi, and Rodrigo Mello (global mobility in transition) and Nele De Cuyper, Anneleen Forrier, and Ilke Grosemans (labor market activation). The winner was Annabelle Hofer (platform work challenges).
🎉 The Best Student Paper Award runners-up were Judith Langerak et al. (proactive coping among non-standard workers). The winners were Elaf Basri, MBA et al. (reciprocity and variability in meaningful work).
🎉 The Best Paper Award runners-up were Ariane Froidevaux, Ph.D. et al. (changes in perceived age discrimination) and Caitlin Porter et al. (navigating internal job markets). Michael Dunn et al. won the award (emergence of transactional careers).
Finally, a few thank you notes:
🙏 This conference would not have been possible without the support of Prof. dr. Svetlana Khapova and Management & Organisation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. I am very proud to be part of this department!
🙏 Thank you, AOM Careers Division and Denise Jepsen, for allowing us to host CarCon in Amsterdam!
🙏 We had such an amazing volunteer team for this conference! Thank you, Marc Bolhoven, Lei Chen, Liubov Elivanova, Ludovica Greggio, Jana Hübner, Diana Kushnir, Jenny Isosaari, Jiang Lin, Karolína Lipusová, Iulia Munteanu, Giovanni Orlando, Ilias Minos Psyllakis, Sana S., and Rebekka Tavakoli.
🙏 Thank you to the best co-organizers ever: Claire Schulze Schleithoff, Vedika Lal, Di Dong, Andra Iacob, Willemijn Dekkers, and Dr. Evgenia Lysova. It was fantastic to work with you during this process. We did it! 💪
Thank you, everyone, for joining hashtag#CarCon and making it such a meaningful and enjoyable experience!
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Denise Jepsen
Chair, Careers Division
Professor, Macquarie University
Sydney Australia
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