Manage Your Career

Engaging in purposeful professional development and career planning are important parts of the doctoral and postdoctoral experience and essential to building a fulfilling career across one's lifetime. From day one, it's valuable for all doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars to self-reflect on values and interests, establish connections with academic and professional mentors, and identify meaningful career pathways, as well as the requisite skills and experiences that pave the way for a fruitful job search. The Graduate School's Career and Professional Development services offer a wealth of invaluable resources to doctoral students and Postdoctoral Scholars in preparation for a wide range of careers.

Doctoral students should intentionally build skills and gain experience at all stages of their training. Those preparing for an academic career should also plan for at least one more career outside of the tenure-track faculty option:

Have a plan. Create an IDP (Individual Development Plan) that includes academic and professional development goals for each year of your program.
Explore career options. IDP platforms mentioned above are great places to start, and move to specific steps in the Career Development Model.
Leverage alumni. Schedule informational interviews to explore career options with alumni through Terrapins Connect or LinkedIn.
Review and use the available services and resources at every year of your studies.
Log into Beyond the Professoriate (a virtual learning platform) and explore the information about preparing for professional and/or academic careers.

For master's students, the basic steps are similar, but please review the website for your primary career center annually. Attend career related events and workshops regularly during every year of your program.