Career Resources for Graduate Students
- Getting the Most Out of THIS Semester
Blog post on planning that includes links to other resources, including a webinar by Dr. Fatimah Williams on goal setting. - Individual Development Plan Template [pdf]
An Individual Development Plan (IDP) allows you to develop your goals and establish your own action plan; identifying short and long-term goals that benefit you. Learn more. - Bobby George Priorities Management [pdf]
Time management presentation slides from Bobby George, Training and Development Director, Office of Human Resources, SC PEBA. - Team Player Survey [doc]
The Team-Player Survey will help you identify your style as a team player. The results will lead you to an assessment of your current strengths and provide a basis for a plan to increase your effectiveness as a team player.
Resources on searching for academic and non-academic careers after graduation.
- The Professor Is In: Preparing for the job market, Vitae, August 2016
- The Quick and Relatively Painless Guide to Your Academic Job Search, Vitae, The Chronicle
- Non-Academic Career Options for PhDs in the Humanities and Social Sciences,
Columbia University Center for Career Education - Lilli Group: Resource for Graduate Students and PhDs interested in Non-Faculty Careers
Check out the resources tab for:- Websites and blogs
- Starting your transition
- Job advertisements
- Resumes and cover letters
- Networking
- Transition Q&As Learn about what others with a PhD have gone on to do, From PhD to Life
- #JobMarketRitual - Guest Post by Kellee Weinhold, The Professor Is In, September 2016
- Seven mistakes that keep university graduates living in your basement,
The Globe and Mail, Globe Careers' Leadership Lab series, September 2016
What are the seven mistakes?
- No self-knowledge
- Ignorance of the job market
- Rotten resumes
- Lackadaisical LinkedIn
- Networking no-nothings
- Interviewing incompetence
- Paucity of persistence
- A Classic Job-Search Guide Turns 25, The Academic Job Search Handbook , The Chronicle, August 2016
- Searching for "Alt-Ac" Jobs, a Google Doc with resources that could be useful to anyone interested in learning more about “alt-ac,” “public humanities,” and also why the humanities academic job market is what it is today.
- Community College FAQ: The Application, Vitae, The Chronicle, September 2016
- Why ‘Alternative’ Careers in STEM Aren’t ‘Alternative’, Vitae, The Chronicle, September 2016
- Big Interview
- Career Shift
- Handshake
Transferable Skills
Below, you will find resources on transferable skills - what they are, how you can identify yours, and the importance of knowing your transferable skills. When considering career options, you will need to think beyond traditional academic labels and academic indicators of success, such as the number of publications you have or invited talks you gave.
Instead, focus on the skills you used to earn your degree that will be necessary to perform a particular job; these skills are transferable skills (also called core competencies). For PhDs in the Humanities, transferring your academic skills to workplace skills requires thought - and practice.
- Graduate Student Professional Skills and Competencies Checklist, Graduate Career Development, University of Virginia
- Transferable Skills and How to Talk about Them, Connected Academics, April 2016
- Are You Career Competent? Barber, Joseph. "Are You Career Competent?" Inside Higher Ed 29 August 2016
- How to illustrate your career readiness competencies, Inside Higher Ed, Joseph Barber, 17 October 2016
- Stop fear from dictating your career choices, Inside Higher Ed, Thomas Magaldi, 05 June 2017
- Your Ph.D. Experience Is Great Work Experience -- Part I, Inside Higher Ed, Brian Mohan, 20 February 2017
- National Postdoctoral Association | Postdoctoral Core Competencies [pdf]
- National Postdoctoral Association | Postdoctoral Checklist [pdf]
Career Assessments
Resources on self-assessments and career assessments.
- Sorting out career assessments, Inside Higher Ed, Saundra Loffredo, 31 July 2017
- Why career self-assessments matter, InsideHigherEd
- Exploring your skills @InsideHigherEd
- Using assessments for career “fit” @InsideHigherEd
- Self-reflection now to guide your future
Writing a CV
“A curriculum vitae allows you to showcase yourself and your academic and professional achievements in a concise, effective way. You want to have a compelling CV that is well-organized and easy to read, yet accurately represents your highest accomplishments.”
From Writing an effective academic CV, Elsevier
- Dr. Karen’s Rules of the Academic CV, The Professor is In, August 2016
- The Post-Ac's Guide to the Resume The Post-Ac's Guide to the Resume (The Professor Is In, April 2 0 16)
- The CV Doctor, The Chronicle
- Creating an effective academic CV, Vitae
- Academic CVs: 10 irritating mistakes, The Guardian, November 2013
- Creating an effective academic CV
- Writing the CV, The Purdue OWL
- Resumes and Vitas, The Purdue OWL
- CV Tips and Samples
- Converting a CV to Resume
- Going on the Job Market? Some Dos and Don'ts for an Effective C.V. and Cover Letter
- UofSC Career Center's page on resumes
- Sample graduate student and post-graduate CVs by six writers show your options when preparing a CV.
- Build a better CV: Simple steps to help graduate students improve their CVs.
- How to write CVs, ProfessorIsIn
- How Candidates are Assessed: Study of what one panel’s members wanted may offer insights
- Writing an effective academic CV: How to create a CV that is compelling, well-organized, easy to read
- Tips for a successful CV
- Creating effective CVs as a researcher
- CV resources from @UofSCCareers
Writing a Resume
- Essay on how new PhDs should prepare resumes for non-academic job searches @insidehighered
- The non-academic career path @APA
- Resume writing for graduate students @VanderbiltU
- Teaching Philosophy Statement From Wash U's Teaching Center.
- Teaching Philosophy Worksheet Also from Wash U's Teaching Center.
- Cover Letters From Adam G. Hooks' Anchora website. Dr. Hooks directs the U of Iowa's Placement Practicum. There are a number of other great job-related resources on his website.
- "Understanding Cover Letters" From Inside Higher Ed.
- Writing a Job Letter From the " Parezco y digo : Reflections on Early Latin American and Digital History" Blog.
- "Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks (and what you can do to fix it)" From The Professor is in.
- Academic Cover Letter Sample From the OWL at Purdue.
- Writing a Successful Cover Letter From Columbia.
Avoiding Gender Bias in Reference Writing [pdf], from the University of Arizona:
Got a great student? Planning to write a super letter of reference? Don’t fall into
these common traps based on unconscious gender bias.
- The Professor Is In: Making the most of a Skype interview, Vitae, August 2016
- "Good" Interview Questions
- Preparing for the Non-academic Interview
- Interview Questions for Non-academic Jobs
- Interviewing for a Non-academic Job
- Preparing for Academic Interviews
- The #Facepalm Fails of the Academic Interview
- How to Shine in an Academic Interview
- How to do well in an Academic Interview
- The inverse interview (good questions to ask)
- How to interview like a professional for non-academic and academic careers
- First-round interview vs. campus visit
- Preparing for academic interviews
- Non-academic job interview questions
- Creating Online Presence [pdf]
- Networking from Scratch, Vitae, The Chronicle, September 2016
- The art of schmoozing. How networking really works, Huffington Post
- Grad Student Advice Series: How To Network and Add Value To Yourself and Others, October 2012
- 25 useful networking sites for graduate students
- Using LinkedIn as a career tool
- Essay on five professional skills for graduate students to learn
Grad students can be strategic about being employable later, writes Karla P. Zepeda (Inside Higher Education, January 5, 2015) - 7 Tips for Going Beyond the Professoriate, Webinar by Jen Polk and Maren Wood (#VitaeWednesday, June 22, 2016)
- What can I do now to get ready for my career after graduate school?, Jennifer Polk, From PhD to Life, March 2016)
- Online graduate student identity and professional skills development, Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 2013
- University of Nebraska, Graduate Student Career and Professional Development. Professional
skills:
- Collaboration and Teamwork
- Leadership
- Mentoring
- Negotiation and Conflict Management
- Project Management
- Productive Meeting Management
External Professional Development Resources
- National Postdoctoral Association
UofSC has a membership to the National Postdoctoral Association, which is open to graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty and includes relevant resources. You are eligible to join with a UofSC email address. - ImaginePhD
ImaginePhD is a free online career exploration and planning tool for PhD students and postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Humanities and social sciences PhD students and their mentors have long recognized the need for more resources to help bridge the knowledge gap between doctoral education and the realm of career possibilities. ImaginePhD is designed to meet this need by allowing users to:- assess their career-related skills, interests, and values
- explore careers paths appropriate to their disciplines
- create self-defined goals
- map out next steps for career and professional development success
The Graduate School has a list of opportunities for professional development.