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Exploring Careers

Discover New Paths

With a graduate degree, you may have more career paths available than you realize. It’s important to reflect on what you enjoy (and what you don’t) when it comes to skills, interests, and values in the workplace. If you haven’t taken time to do this yet, now is a great time to start. This page contains tools and assessments to help you gain clarity.

Explore Jobs In...

Try a Job Simulation

InterSECT is an online platform that allows PhD-level scientists and humanists, regardless of professional stage, to explore future career options. Their goal is to provide true-to-life job simulation exercises.

Expanding your Career Exploration

Networking

Building and maintaining a professional network is crucial for long-term career success and satisfaction.

If you're just getting started or need support expanding your network, we are here to help.

While networking mixers might not be something you feel comfortable with, there are ways you can network that are less awkward and are much more effective.

Informational Interviews

Put simply, the purpose of an informational interview is to gather information about a career you are interested in from a person working in that career path or industry.

In an informational interview you are asking specific questions to learn more about: how to enter a career path or a field, what skills are required, the nature of the job or industry, norms within that area or career path, and more.

Service and Volunteering

With coursework, teaching, research, writing, and everything else that is asked of you as a grad student, you might say you just do not have time to volunteer.

However, volunteering can be an invaluable experience for a number of reasons .In some industries or fields, these opportunities are great entry points into very competitive fields such as international and domestic non-profit work, politics, museums, federal and state government agencies, and some private industries.