Explore Future Careers and Understand Yourself
Conducting advanced research and scholarship as a graduate student or postdoc is an exciting and transformative journey, but for many, deciding what comes next can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re envisioning a future as a faculty member, pursuing industry opportunities, or exploring roles in government, nonprofits, or beyond, it’s essential to understand your values, skills, and interests to create a career path that feels meaningful, challenging, and rewarding.
Every graduate student’s and postdoc’s journey is unique. Some graduate students enter their program with a clear idea of their future path and postdocs may be committed to pursuing a faculty position, while others discover their passions along the way. Both are valid! Our goal is to empower you to explore your options, gain confidence, and prepare for a career that aligns with your aspirations.
Steps for Career Exploration
Understand Yourself
Career exploration starts with self-reflection. Taking time to evaluate your skills, values, and interests helps ensure your career decisions are aligned with what matters most to you. Consider these questions:
- What motivates and excites you?
- What skills do you enjoy using and want to develop further?
- What work environments best suit your personality and values?
- ImaginePhD – A free online career exploration tool designed for humanities and social sciences PhDs, but helpful for all disciplines.
- myIDP – A career planning tool for STEM PhDs to help you set goals and explore various career paths.
The National Career Development Association Internet Sites for Career Planning offers free self-assessment tools, such as:
Explore the Workplace
With your self-assessment as a foundation, it’s time to research potential career paths. Your training equips you with highly transferable skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, project management, and communication—skills valued across industries. Learn about different sectors, roles, and opportunities to see where you might thrive.
Job Market Trends
Explore potential jobs and industries in depth using data that reflects real-time labor market trends on Dartmouth’s Center for Career Design, the undergraduate career center. Information include average earnings by location, top employers, employment trends and projections in the next ten years, “hard” skills, and popular job titles. Use keywords of by filtering for industry and occupation.
