Career Resources

The following career resources were curated or created by the career support team of the University of Arizona Graduate Center.
https://gradcenter.arizona.edu/career-support

Goal Setting

Achieving Your Career Goals: Setting goals helps us stay focused and motivated. For your long-term career goals, identify long-term goals and set smaller goals to complete along the way.

Career Exploration and Assessments

ImaginePhD: ImaginePhD is a free online career exploration and planning tool for PhD students and postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

myIDP: myIDP is a unique, web-based career-planning tool tailored to meet the needs of PhD students and postdocs in the sciences.

Video: Top 5 Career Assessments: This brief video covers the top 5 career assessments we in the Graduate Center recommend you check out! Career Assessments can provide useful insights as well as identify specific careers you would most enjoy. This is a great place to start if unsure about what careers you might want to consider. The video provides information on: (1) Big Five Personality, (2) O*Net's Interest Profiler, (3) 16Personalities, (4) CareerExplorer, and (5) CareerOneStop.

Video: Identifying Opportunities Outside The Academy: A "how-to" for learning about opportunities you may be interested in, or a good fit for. From assessments to conversations and using LinkedIn to your advantage - there are likely a number of opportunities for you outside the academy.

Skill Development

LinkedIn Learning: LinkedIn Premium, which you get free for the first month, gives you access to LinkedIn Learning which includes 15,000+ courses for every step of your career. Chances are good you'll find some useful courses relevant to your field. Within LinkedIn Learning, "Learning Paths" are especially helpful at walking users through a series of courses and awarding a certificate at the end.

LeetCode: For coders and those who need knowledge of coding languages and platforms. LeetCode allows you to build or refine your coding skills, and includes resources for preparing for technical interviews.

Branding and Networking

Video: Branding Yourself For Industry Positions: It's important we effectively communicate how our skills and experiences align with what employers are looking for in candidates. Learn strategies for identifying what it is employers want, and how to market your skills and experiences in ways that will resonate with employers.

Deciphering Job Descriptions: As you search for and review potential internship and job opportunities, it can sometimes be challenging to make sense of what you're reading. This quick guide is meant to help you organize the information you find in a job description so that you can make informed decisions and brand yourself appropriately.

LinkedIn Profile Checklist: This list will help you craft an engaging professional profile.

Creating Your Self-Introduction: It's your job to communicate who you are and what you have to offer to as diverse an audience as possible. When creating your self-introduction, the most important thing to remember is that it is meant for employers, so focus on communicating what's most relevant for them to know and leave the rest out.

Networking on LinkedIn: This list guides you through making the most of connections on LinkedIn.

Resumes and Cover Letters

Video: Creating and Tailoring Industry Appropriate Application Materials: Your application materials need to clearly communicate how you are a good fit for the role to which you are applying. Rarely will a CV be your document of choice when applying to industry roles. Learn strategies, tips, and tricks for creating materials that will get you interviews.

APR Method for Resumes: Often, you'll use bulleted lists in your resume to describe experiences and skills. These bullets are known as accomplishment statements. When writing accomplishment statements, it is important to both explain what the task required and to highlight your successes. The APR Method helps you create effective accomplishment statements.

CV to Resume Conversion Guide: CVs and resumes aren't the same, and it can be difficult to take a long CV and convert it to a standard-length resume. This guide from Yale can help you through that conversion.

Resumes and Cover Letters for PhD Students: Harvard's guide to resumes and cover letters contains examples and guidelines to best convey your expertise and experience.

Cover Letter Checklist: Make sure your cover letters adhere to these guidelines.

Interviewing

Video: Preparing For And Acing Industry Interviews: The best way to improve at interviewing is to prepare and practice. Thankfully, there are many resources and tools available to help you do both. To help you increase your chances of receiving an offer, learn how best to prepare and practice for interviews.

Interview Guidelines: Use these guidelines to prepare for the interview process. Remember, in-person career counseling sessions are available for interview preparation and practice as well.

Online Practice Interviewing - When preparing for a job interview, it's not enough to only read advice - you need to put that advice into practice! That's why Big Interview isn't just a training course. You'll also get hands-on practice with mock interviews tailored to your specific industry, job and experience level.

Career Forward Series

The Career Forward Series was a video series facilitated in partnership with Postdoctoral Affairs over the summer of 2020 and walks participants through the process of securing an industry job. To note, the term "industry" does not refer only to STEM careers, but all non-academic (e.g., private sector, government, non-profit) careers. The following links take you to each of the 1-hour presentations that are housed on Postdoctoral Affairs' Facebook page. You do not need a Facebook account to watch these videos.