Career Exploration

The Faculty Career Path is the most traditional career path for doctoral students. Even still, the path has more to it than it might at first seem. Master’s students considering the faculty career path have several considerations for graduate school. Doctoral students must also ponder many variables, from a university’s focus on teaching or research, to whether to remain in the U.S. or not, to the institution's location, or accessing specific research needs.  

Learn more and find resources related to Faculty Career Paths. 

Some master’s students discover their career path to faculty, though many continue or move on to non-faculty career paths. Doctoral students, while traditionally encouraged to pursue only faculty career paths, now increasingly consider non-faculty career paths by choice or necessity, or both. Many graduate students have a very limited understanding of non-faculty careers. This is often because they have been focused on faculty positions and may only now be considering changing career paths.  

Learn more and find resources related to Non-Faculty Career Paths. 

Review your self-assessments to determine if the career options you have identified fit with your experience, skills, knowledge, values and interests. For example, if after reflection you determine that you love research, but really dislike teaching, and you’re interested in a faculty career, then you may need to focus on positions at a Research I institution that allows for you to teach less and have more teaching support. Alternately, if you are interested in non-faculty careers, you might determine that you’d like to find a position in a Research Office in a university or working in research at a pharmaceutical company.  

One of the most eye-opening parts of the career exploration process is when students begin researching the specifics of career options. For students interested in faculty positions, this might mean identifying institutions or locations where they might like to work, then learning more about those institutions, the department and unit where they might work, the governance structures there, the kinds of research being done, resources available, the cost of living in that place among other considerations. Students interested in faculty positions may review job boards or online locations like The Chronicle of Higher Education or HigherEdJobs.com, or talk to mentors about jobs long before they’re on the job market to learn more about the kinds of positions, institutions, and locations.   

Whereas students who are interested in non-faculty positions might go to LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, HigherEdJobs.com (if looking for non-faculty jobs in higher education), or other common job sites to begin their narrowing process. Students who search these sites might start with a keyword or title or skill, like “policy,” “research scientist,” or “project management.” Identifying titles of possible positions or organizations where those kinds of positions exist can help students narrow their career paths further.  

Learn more about how to use LinkedIn for this kind of search 

Networking is really a buzzword to describe building relationships. Usually, you’ve been building relationships your whole life. You have a network of family relationships, a network of friendships, perhaps networks of colleagues from previous employment or schooling and sometimes even networks of connections from hobbies or volunteering. Ideally, you’ve begun building your graduate school relationships, or networking, since you began your graduate education journey. Think of your primary advisor, chair, mentor, other faculty mentors, colleagues, supervisors or lab mates. Maybe you’ve developed relationships with disciplinary experts at institutions in other parts of the country or world, built connections with those in the community or have ongoing discussions in a LinkedIn group focused on an area of interest. All these people are part of your network. When you begin more seriously focusing on beginning your job search, then you can begin to leverage your network by letting them know your interests, what you’re looking for, and asking them to keep you in mind if they know of any connections.  

Once you’ve narrowed your career options and are continuing to effectively network, it’s time for more focused research. Informational interviewing is the process of reaching out to individuals in positions, departments or organizations in which you have an interest to learn more about who they are, what they do and how they got there. Informational interviewing isn’t about having someone find you a job or reviewing your job materials. Informational interviewing is an excellent way to get a clearer, honest and nuanced understanding of what doing specific work in a specific place is like.   

Regardless of career path, being proactive, planning well, staying organized and following up will serve you well during the job search. Consider the following tips: 

1. Keep all your career exploration and job search communications and materials together. Create an email file folder, digital folder and subfolders.  
2. Keep resources together. Bookmark frequently visited sites and tag them for easy searching; create a binder and establish central locations digitally and physically for your resources.  
3. Utilize a spreadsheet or online sites to track your steps, your network, your communication and your process.  
4. Communicate clearly, effectively and regularly with those in your network to keep them informed about your process and any needs you might have.  
5. Review your online presence. Regardless of career path, level of position or qualifications, you will be searched online. Make sure that what shows up for you is what you want others to see. If not, make some adjustments.  
6. Inevitably, you will be asked for locations, dates and contact information related to previous work. It’s a good idea to go ahead and collect that information and keep it somewhere for easy access.   

While more details can be found about specific materials for Faculty Career Paths and Non-Faculty Career Paths on those pages, it’s useful to consider your materials broadly. For nearly any position you will need: 

• Previous work history and information 
• A cover letter (not always required, but can nearly always be included) 
• Resume or curriculum vita 
• References 

Most jobs beyond entry level positions will also require you to prepare other materials, such as: 

• Teaching statements 
• Research statements 
• Writing samples 
• Examples of projects 
• Written responses to essay questions 
• Others 

Review resources related to developing these materials. While more details can be found about specific materials for Faculty Career Paths and Non-Faculty Career Paths on those pages, it’s useful to consider your materials broadly. For nearly any position you will need: 

• Previous work history and information 
• A cover letter (not always required, but can nearly always be included) 
• Resume or curriculum vita 
• References 

Most jobs beyond entry level positions will also require you to prepare other materials, such as: 

• Teaching statements 
• Research statements 
• Writing samples 
• Examples of projects 
• Written responses to essay questions 
• Others 

If you are asked to participate in an interview, it may take a variety of formats: phone, video, pre-recorded, in-person with an individual at a variety of levels, in-person with a group of other interviewees or in-person with a group of representatives from the organization. While specific preparation varies widely depending upon many factors, there are some general best practices: 

• Spend time reflecting and come prepared with examples 
• Do your research 
• Have questions 
• Have what you need on-hand 
• Practice 
• Be familiar with any technologies 
• Prepare any presentations you may need to give 

While applying for a job and interviewing may be the more time-consuming and difficult part of the job search process, paying attention to follow up can be the extra effort that gets you a position. Key actions to take: 

• Send thank you emails and notes to anyone who gives effort to the interview process (both at the job and your references). 
• Reflect on your experiences and take notes. Job searching can be overwhelming and details can easily get lost. 
• Continue to participate in and engage with your networks. 
• If you have asked about the timeline for response, diplomatically and appropriately follow up to check in on the process. 
• Try your best to be patient.