Graduate Career Services
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
-
Fall 2025 Thesis/Dissertation Retreat
9:00 am to 12:00 pm -
Writing Accountability Group 1
9:00 am to 11:00 am -
Research Writing Seminar: Results
2:00 pm to 3:00 pm -
CCE Peer Review Group 1
3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Career Conversations
Schedule for Fall 2025 Career Conversations
Join us for a series of engaging, interactive virtual workshops designed to help you explore key career development topics, strengthen your job market readiness, and connect with peers on your professional journey.
During the Fall 2025 semester the Career Conversations will be held every Tuesday from 11 a.m. to noon starting on September 2nd . Each session offers valuable insights, practical guidance, and opportunities for meaningful discussion in a supportive, collaborative environment. All sessions will be run via WebEx.
| Date | Topic | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2 | Career Planning for Graduate Students & Introduction to Graduate Career Services | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Sep 9 | Getting the full picture on one page: a successful resume | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Sep 16 | How to Navigate the Career Fairs? | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Sep 23 | Connect with Purpose: Networking Strategies for Graduate Students | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Sep 30 | How to Translate Graduate Skills for Employers? | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Oct 7 | Job Search Strategies & Application Timelines | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Oct 14 | Building Your Professional Brand | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Oct 21 | Career Exploration Tools & Assessments | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Oct 28 | Using AI in Your Job Search | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Nov 4 | The Hidden Job Market: Unlocking Opportunities Through Conversations | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Nov 11 | Mastering LinkedIn: How to Use It Effectively? | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Nov 18 | Cyhire, Big Interview, Beyond, Going Global - How to Use These Online Platforms? | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Dec 2 | Interview Preparation & Etiquette | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
| Dec 9 | Negotiation & Compensation | 11:00 a.m. - noon | WebEx link: Svitlana Zbarska's Personal Room https://iastate.webex.com/meet/szbar |
Career Planning
Global Career Exploration for PhDs: Summer 2025 Cohort
This 12-week program is designed specifically for PhD students pursuing global careers within various disciplines. Participants will explore, identify, and evaluate different roles, the required competencies needed, and the types of projects and tasks involved. Upon completion, participants will have gained intentionality of specific roles, ensuring compatibility between their skills, strengths, and interests.
During the summer of 2025, the Career Exploration Program will be offered for Ph.D. students majoring in Aerospace, Agricultural, Chemical, Materials, and Mechanical Engineering. The program will start on May 29th with the Final Poster Showcase on September 4th. If you would like to participate, please register here.
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.
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.
The Student Employment Center in the Office of Student Financial Aid is collaborating with ISU Career Services to house all student employment opportunities in one system. This includes post-graduate, internship and part-time student jobs. Graduate and undergraduate students can find employment opportunities that fit their specific job criteria, and faculty, staff and off-campus employers can post positions for parttime employment on or off campus, internships and post-grad employment opportunities.
GoinGlobal is an online platform helps new and experienced job seekers find opportunities both at home and abroad. GoinGlobal provides a one-stop resource to help fast track job and internship searches. All ISU graduate students and alumni has access to the GoinGlobal. ISU subscription includes:
- 42 Country Career Guides
- 32 Global City Career Guides
- 46 USA City Career Guides
- Global Key Employer Directory
- Jobs & Internships Database
- H1B/OPT Database
- CultureWizard
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.
To login to the Big Interview visit the CyHire/Resource Library/Big Interview
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.
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.
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. |