Your Career Exploration Starts Here

Finding the perfect job is a complex and iterative process that requires a lot of effort. Whether you are a Master's student, Ph.D. student, or postdoctoral scholar, we are here to guide you as you discover, prepare, and apply for competitive positions.

Discover

 

  • What are your passions? 
  • What are your strengths? 
  • What skills are transferrable and marketable?
  • What will the world reward you for?

Prepare

 

  • What careers align with your skills and values? 
  • What makes a successful job search​?
  • What does it take to become career ready?

Apply

 

  • How to leverage your strengths?
  • How to use effective job search strategies? 
  • How to craft impressive job application materials? 
  • How to excel at interviewing?

Graduate Career Coaching

    Work with us on career readiness tasks appropriate for any stage of your career preparation, including:

    • discovering and shaping your career trajectory
    • creating a strategic approach to your career planning
    • navigating job searches
    • networking and establishing new professional connections
    • conducting informational interviews
    • navigating applicant tracking systems (ATS)
    • tailoring application materials to job postings and employer expectations
    • interviewing strategies and mock-up interviews
    • and more.

    Contact Graduate Career Services at gradcareers@iastate.edu.

    Begin shaping your career path early and reach your dream destination!

    Upcoming Events

    SmartSkills (NPA virtual course)

    2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

    Postdoc Teaching Practicum

    12:00 pm to 2:00 pm

    Teaching Assistant Training: Classroom Scenarios

    10:00 am to 12:00 pm

    SmartSkills (NPA virtual course)

    2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

    Career Watch Parties

      Schedule for Fall 2024 Career Watch Parties 

      Join informal get-togethers to watch videos and chat with each other about your career development. The Career Watch Parties are scheduled as part of the Grad Mixer Wednesdays.

      • Location: Room 1118, Student Innovation Center
      • Time: 1pm – 2pm
      Understanding the Basics of Job Searching - September 4Exploring Career Options - September 11
      Identifying Career Motivations - September 18Creating an Individual Development Plan - September 25
      Identifying Transferable Skills - October 2Building a Professional Network - October 9
      Understanding Informational Interviews - October 16Building a LinkedIn Profile - October 23
      Crafting an Impressive Resume/CV - October 30Implementing Job Search - November 6
      Preparing for a Job Interview - November 14Negotiating a Job Offer - November 20

      Career Planning

        Effective Career Planning for HCI Graduate Students: Fall 2024 Cohort 

        pd|hub logo

        This 8-week program is designed to equip attendees with the skills, resources and self-assessment information to make informed career choices both within and beyond academia. The program topics and materials are adapted from the pd|hub Collections, an NIH-funded collection of evidence-based practices to support PhD professional development.

        If you would like to participate, mark Career Planning (8-week program) in the Career Support Interest Form.

        My biggest takeaways are learning about myself and what I look for in a career to meet my values. I narrowed down my career path that aligns with my CliftonStrengths skills and best fits my passion and technical skills.

        Natasha Lambert, Participant in the pd|hub HCI Career Exploration program

        Online Resources

          Find answers to questions regarding your career development needs in these online platforms. Graduate students and postdocs can use these resources free of cost by logging in with ISU net-ID and password. 

          Beyond the Professoriate is an online career training platform designed to help doctoral students and postdocs successfully transition into academic or nonacademic careers. Informed by nearly a decade of experience supporting PhDs, this platform offers:

          • Videos, materials, and activities tailored to professional careers
          • Videos, materials, and activities tailored to faculty careers
          • A video library featuring interviews with PhDs from different academic disciplines
          • Live webinars.

          To access this platform, please navigate to https://login.iastate.edu, click Add Apps, search for 'Beyond the Professoriate', and add it to your Okta Dashboard. Once you click on it, you’ll need to sign in by selecting Iowa State University from the drop-down menu. 

          Login to Beyond the Professoriate

          Beyond Grad School is an online career training platform designed to help master’s students make the most out of their investment and build their careers. This platform guides students through each stage of their job search including  by offering:

          • Job search strategies
          • 'Deep Dives' into finding a career, LinkedIn, networking, findings and applying to jobs, interviewing and negotiating
          • Video library featuring interviews with Master's graduates
          • Online events and live trainings.

          To access this platform, please navigate to https://login.iastate.edu, click Add Apps, search for 'Beyond Grad School', and add it to your Okta Dashboard. Once you click on it, you’ll need to sign in by selecting Iowa State University from the drop-down menu. 

          Login to Beyond Grad School

          The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) supports postdocs' development of professional paths through its online Career Center. It offers:

          • Postdoc's Guide to Career Development
          • Career Planning Portal
          • Career advice regarding personal branding, networking, cover letters, etc.
          • Featured services such as creating a job alert and uploading a resume to the Resume Bank for employers to find candidates.

          To activate your ISU-sponsored NPA membership, go to the NPA's Select Your Member Type page, choose “Organizational Member”, and use your @iastate email. It will take the NPA a day or so to add you, but then you will be able to benefit from their resources and register for their events for free any time.

          Login to NPA

          Big Interview is an interactive online platform that offers immediate feedback on your interview answers and delivery. It provides:

          • Question Library
          • Answer Builder Tool
          • AI Feedback Tool
          • Resume templates and ResumeAI Tool.

          Login to Big Interview

          The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) is an independent faculty development center dedicated to supporting academics in making successful transitions throughout their careers. Students and postdocs seeking academic careers can benefit from:

          • Career workshops and resources 
          • Guest webinars with follow-up access to recordings, slides, and transcripts
          • Weekly Monday motivator e-mail messages with productivity tips
          • Monthly writing challenges, productivity webinars, and accountability buddy matches.
          • Discussion forum and peer network.

          Activate Your Membership

          Skills

            What is it?How to develop it?Why is it important?
            Ability to research career options and explore and affirm your skills, values, and goals in order to select a career pathway that aligns with your needs and core beliefs.Through reflection on your values, assessment of your current skills, and identifying actionable steps for career exploration.Allows you to explore different types of career options and consider various factors in order to determine possible career choices and best fit.

            What is it?How to develop it?Why is it important?
            Ability to build a professional connection to gain useful insights into a career field.Through connections with current and potential people to obtain crucial knowledge about your target industry and workplace.Allows you to identify possible career paths, the needed skill sets, and the different opportunities in order to implement career and SMART goals.

            What is it?How to develop it?Why is it important?
            Ability to extract key information from completed duties and experiences into an inventory of skills expected by employers.Through building on your current and past experiences and translating your skill sets to match the language of job ads.Allows you to identify your transferable skills and closely align them to job ads in order to increase the relevance of your application materials.

            What is it?How to develop it?Why is it important?
            Ability to create a strong professional identity.Through utilization of digital tools to present a strong digital professional presence. Allows you to convey your key strengths and interests in order to showcase your potential fit as a prospective employee.

            What is it?How to develop it?Why is it important?
            Ability to navigate the job interview process with clear expectations.Through preparing for behavioral interview questions using the STAR method and relevant tasks. Allows you to respond effectively and express your knowledge and potential fit within a company or organization in order to increase their hiring chance.

            What is it?How to develop it?Why is it important?
            Ability to evaluate and obtain fair and competitive compensation packages that align with personal goals and market standards.Through research and comparison of compensation packages against a given offer and knowing how to request relevant adjustments.Allows you to evaluate compensation packages and to present feasible counter-offers in order to obtain a better compensation package.