Career Services (Penn)

Penn Career Services has compiled an extremely valuable list of resources for graduate students:

Updated website – new URL
https://careerservices.upenn.edu

Digital and real-world resources everyone should know about
Career Services subscribes to a variety of digital resources for the benefit of the students and postdocs we serve:

1. National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity: The NCFDD is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for graduate students, post-docs, and faculty members. Resources for graduate students and post-docs include webinars, courses, discussion forums, and other resources on topics ranging from preparing for the academic job market to crafting book, grant, and fellowship proposals. Penn is an institutional member, so students can claim their institutional sub-account membership at no cost. To do so, click “Register Now” under “Institutional Sub-Account Membership” and be sure to register with your Penn email.
2. Versatile PhD: The Versatile PhD is a web-based platform for PhD students and postdocs in STEM, Humanities, and Social Science fields to explore the full range of career fields that value the PhD experience, and the skills and knowledge associated with doctoral education. With information about common career paths followed by PhDs, a complete online course for exploring career options (Options 4 Success), samples of application materials that PhDs used to successfully obtain non-faculty roles in different fields and industries, and jobs, the Versatile PhD can help PhDs develop and demonstrate their versatility as professionals. Students should register for a free account here https://versatilephd.com making sure to list University of Pennsylvania as their doctoral institution during the registration process in order to gain access to the premium content.
3. Imagine PhD: This tool has been specifically designed for PhD students in humanities and social science fields, and is a fantastic way to assess you own values, interests, and skills, and to use this information to help you to explore the full range of career options that value an advanced degree, and where you can find many PhDs working in roles that they find intellectually satisfying.
4. myIDP: myIDP provides a tool to help STEM students/postdocs to examine their skills, interests, and values as a way to explore a list of more than 20 scientific career paths. myIDP also has a useful tool for setting strategic goals for the coming year, with optional reminders to keep students on track, together with articles and resources to guide them through the process. For students in the chemical sciences, there is also ChemIDP.
5. InterviewStream: Get access to over 7000 questions for all career fields and industries (including academic/faculty interviews) by accessing InterviewStream – an online, mock interview resource to help you to practice interview questions from the comfort of your own computer.
6. Carpe Careers: A weekly blog written by PhD/postdoc career advisors from academic institutions across the US who share optimistic, actionable advice on how to make the most of the PhD experience.
7. Academic Job Search Handbook: The comprehensive guide to finding a faculty position in any discipline. We can provide this book to students at a discounted rate of $10.
8. The Grant Advisor: Designed exclusively for U.S. colleges and universities, The Grant Advisor provides searchable databases of grant and fellowship opportunities organized by discipline and populations.
9. LinkedIn – Penn Alumni: LinkedIn remains one of the most effective tools for finding Penn alumni in a wide range of career fields, including in faculty roles. Click on this link to explore the 150,000 Penn alumni and current students featured in an interactive, filterable and searchable table. Students can set up an appointment with a career advisor to learn how to take advantage of this resource, as well as the searchable QuakerNet database of Penn alumni.
10. InterSECT Job Simulations: An online platform that allows PhD-level scientists and humanists, regardless of professional stage, to explore future career options. These true-to-life job simulation exercises can help individuals consider their professional interests and skills, determine how their interests and skills translate to potential careers, and discover additional career options?
11. CareerShift: CareerShift offers a comprehensive online resource, designed to support the #1 request of job seekers: an easy to use website to conduct and organize their job search. With CareerShift, you can: 1) Search, store & record job listings at all publically posted websites, company websites, and newspapers. 2) Set job alerts. 3) Get inside contact information immediately, including email addresses, for millions of companies, even alumni, then save and manage your lists. 4) Upload/ Copy and Paste as many targeted resumes and cover letters needed or upload your current documents. 5) Create personal marketing campaigns, including unlimited resumes and cover letters easily, and save them to access, print or e-mail. 6) Manage your confidential CareerShift account securely from any computer 24/7, to update & maintain your organized and recorded job search. CareerShift is free for Penn graduate students and postdocs to use.
12. Canvas course on networking, effective resumes, and interviewing: Encourage your students to take advantage of this course on Canvas to get a solid foundation for their networking, resumes, and interviewing. This course focuses primarily on expanded careers beyond faculty roles.

Engage with Career Services through Handshake

Handshake is our student and employer engagement platform. All students and postdocs have accounts on Handshake that they need to activate by visiting https://upenn.joinhandshake.com. Handshake users can book appointments with career advisors through the online scheduler, explore all of the programs, workshops, career fairs, and other employer events that Career Services provides, and search for internships and jobs. You can see a list of all upcoming career fairs provided by Career Services here, including the BioSciences Career Fair which is the one career fair developed specifically for STEM graduate students and postdocs. We hope to see lots of students/postdocs at this event on the 24^th October to interact with the 41 employers that have registered so far who are looking to connect with advanced degree students and postdocs.

• CAREER-FIRE: FINANCE, INSURANCE AND REAL ESTATE: Thursday 5^th September
• CAREER LINK: opportunities in consulting, communications, consumer products, education, manufacturing, marketing, nonprofits, and retail: Friday 6^th September
• ENGINEERING CAREER DAYS: Tuesday 10^th September (Organizations A – G); Wednesday 11^th September (Organizations H – Z)
• POLICY AND GOVERNMENT CAREER FAIR: Friday 20^th September
• BIOSCIENCES CAREER FAIR: Thursday 24^th October 

Setting up appointments with Career Advisors

One of the most helpful resources we offer to students and postdocs is the opportunity to have 1-on-1 meetings with a career advisor specialized in working with graduate students and postdocs. Students/postdocs are welcome to stop by any day for our scheduled walk-ins, or set up 30-minute appointments (or 60-minute mock interviews) to ask any career-related questions, or learn about the resources we have to offer. Students can even come as a group with two other students to have a Group Appointment – which can be great if everyone has similar questions, or is working on similar parts of the job search process. The easiest way for students/postdocs to set up appointments will be to use Handshake, but they can also call 215 898 7530. The advisors who serve graduate students, postdocs, and graduate alumni are:

• Joseph Barber, PhD
• Helen Pho, PhD
• Dianne Hull
• Marianne Lipa
• Many of the efforts of the Graduate Student & Postdoc Team at Career Services are supported by our Administrative Coordinator, Kate Lawrence.

Students may also review the “10 ways to use Career Services as a PhD student/postdoc” handout.