Requesting a Workshop

As faculty, staff, and group leaders who serve doctoral students and Postdocs, you can easily promote career and professional development within your academic program, department, or school/college!

Forward our bi-weekly newsletters to your doctoral students or Postdocs and highlight areas you think they could benefit from the most;
Encourage your doctoral students and Postdocs to attend our workshops and programming early and throughout their time at UMD;
Request a tailored workshop for your unit at a most convenient time (such as seminars or other scheduled events with anticipated attendance);
Collaborate with us to create a relevant offering (presentation, review, career panel, or more) to complement what we already provide.

Requesting a Workshop/Program

For suggested topics that we already cover, please see the list below. Faculty, staff, Postdocs, and graduate student organizations are welcome to request additional workshops specific to your group's needs. Please reach out 4 weeks in advance (minimum) to schedule a workshop. The target audience should be primarily focused on current UMD doctoral students and Postdoctoral Scholars. If you have a different audience in mind, please check out this page to learn more about university-wide career resources and structure.

If you are interested, please email Dr. Yi Hao (yihao@umd.edu) directly. In the initial email, please share your target date (range), audience, length, format (in-person or virtual), and any information that is helpful to craft a tailored presentation.

The requesting group/unit is responsible for organizing and advertising the event, and communicating to their members. We can help brainstorm things to encourage attendance and minimize no-shows, but our focus is on preparing for the content/learning outcomes. We'd also appreciate the use of a registration form to ensure the impact aligns with our efforts. If you have a smaller group (<10), we are happy to turn a presentation into a group discussion and Q&A.

[For Your Doctoral Students or Postdocs]

Career planning & timeline: Preparing for academic or professional careers early on
Effective job search strategies for international students and scholars
Networking: Using LinkedIn to elevate your online presence; Conducting informational interviews
Exploring diverse career pathways or articulating transferrable skills
Understand the hiring process and employer perspectives in professional careers
Resume and cover letter for professional careers
Preparing for your academic job search or workshop on specific documents needed for postdoc/tenure-track applications
Understanding faculty careers: Teaching, research, service, and different types of institutions/academic appointments
Navigating interviews and/or negotiations
**Storytelling framework (highly interactive): this is a great workshop for community building and understanding strengths and values; also helpful for networking and interviews (We are trained facilitators by Professional Development Hub, supported by NSF and NIH funding)
Using AI to support your career development/job search process

If you are unsure or have other topics in mind, we can help you brainstorm what may be best for your group.

[For Faculty and Staff]

These are areas if your program or department wants to learn more about providing career support to your doctoral students.

Using Individual Development Plan (IDP) to help your students develop their careers
Using career-focused tools to facilitate effective advising conversations
Building connections with graduate alumni: Using tools such as Academic Analytics or LinkedIn
Tracking career outcomes of your graduate alumni: Introduction to major initiatives nationwide and common taxonomies
Other topics