Career Management

Take the Career Management Skills Assessment Now

Other Core Competencies

Developing Your Core Competency in:

Career Management

students and recruiters at a job fair — Students and recruiters at a career fair at UC Davis

Managing your career involves all aspects of career development, from self-assessment, to career exploration, and ultimately applying for positions. Graduate education or postdoctoral training also provides a diversity of career opportunities - including academia, industry, government, and non-profit agencies.

Identify resources to support your professional development. Click on categories below to expand.

Quick Quarterly Guide - F24
For an overview of activities and events use this quick quarterly guide:
Career Management handout
Online and Asynchronous Training Content
Internship and Career Center (ICC) Videos

Enroll in a Micro-credential Pathway
-Career Ready
Scheduled Virtual and Live Workshops and Events
List of workshops and events here.
Courses and Programs
Designing Your Professional Life Course
Date/Times: Thursdays, 12:10-2pm in South Hall 114 | CRN: 10984 | Manually select 2 units – S/US Grading
Course Prerequisites: Open to UC Davis Master's and PhD students only. Graduate students will use the design thinking process, characterized by curiosity, experimentation and collaboration, to examine a variety of traditional and innovative career paths. Highly interactive sessions include: Self-assessment and occupational research, Skills development (networking, writing for the job search, interviewing), and interdisciplinary interactions with career professionals from a variety of industries & work environments. No auditing of this course is available. To learn more about Internship and Career Courses, visit the ICC website: https://icc.ucdavis.edu/research/career-planning/courses.

Graduate Student Career Exploration Group (GCEG):
For graduate students who want to explore their career related preferences, identify the comparative fit of career options of interest or expand their consideration of possible careers. Group members will integrate data from their personal strengths, work and family perspectives, and career assessments with occupational information. Total cost for assessment package is $20 as GradPathways (Graduate Studies) is partially subsidizing the total fee. Please note that expected time commitment for activities outside of the 6 session group times is 1-2 hours per week. If interested in participating, please contact careercounseling@shcs.ucdavis.edu.

Experiential and Cohort Programs:
Professors for the Future
Professors for the Future (PFTF) is a year-long competitive fellowship program designed to recognize and develop the leadership skills of outstanding graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who have demonstrated their commitment to professionalism, integrity, and academic service. This unique program, sponsored by Graduate Studies, focuses on the future challenges of graduate education, postdoctoral training, and the academy.

Leaders for the Future
A cross-campus collaboration between the Internship and Career Center, GradPathways (Graduate Studies) and the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, this nine-month program helps Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars connect with applied experiences beyond academia through immersives (internships, job shadowing, projects) while supporting business skills development.

Public Scholars for the Future UC Davis Public Scholarship and Engagement and Graduate Studies have partnered together to launch a new program to support doctoral students who are interested in developing their community engaged research with non-university partners.

Mellon Public Scholars Program
The UC Davis Humanities Institute is proud to offer the Mellon Public Scholars Program, which introduces doctoral and MFA students in the arts, humanities, and humanistic social sciences to the intellectual and practical aspects of identifying, addressing, and collaborating with members of a public through their scholarship.
Individualized Advising

One-on-one mentoring or specialized programming to meet your individual needs is available.

Internship and Career Center's (Virtual) Document Review Service

Document Review is an online service for resumes, CVs, and cover letters open to current UC Davis students and recent graduates. This service is now being offered virtually and asynchronously.

Master's and PhD Students and Postdoctoral Scholars Career Services (Internship and Career Center)

Career Advisors with expertise in assisting advanced degree holders can help you with all aspects of your career search. Services include one-on-one advising for job searching, CV and resume review, job negotiation, and interview preparation, as well as workshops and panels, job site visits, and recruitment and networking events. Please sign up for an appointment via Handshake at this link.

One-on-one Career Counseling (Career Counseling Services)

Counseling Services also provides some career counseling and career assessments for graduate students.

Faculty, Principal Investigator, and Advisor

Your major professor or principal investigator can provide career guidance and introduce you to a network of their colleagues and former students. Don't overlook other faculty mentors as potential career advisors, seek out like-minded faculty and graduate student and postdoctoral colleagues to be a part of your career-building network.

FUTURE

FUTURE is a career exploration program that helps Ph.D. students and postdocs prepare for a broad range of careers. We serve scholars from all disciplines conducting research that advances health. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and identities. For the time being, FUTURE is no longer recruiting new participants but offers several structural components that remain intact. Primarily, we have an engaging and participatory partner network with more than 120 Ph.D. professionals who are available to serve as career mentors and on career panels. Please contact our staff to connect with our partner network. We also offer coaching to Ph.D. students and postdocs to support them in their academic program, and their career journey. Please contact Daniel Moglen at djmoglen@ucdavis.edu.

Community Building and Activities
Building community is essential to success. Consider participating in the following activity:
Internship and Career Fairs
Each academic year, the ICC hosts four to six large internship and career fairs. Fairs are for UC Davis students and alumni only.
Additional Resources
Individual Development Plans (ImaginePhD, myIDP, and ChemIDP)
National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity
The Versatile PhD
Income Generation Toolkit for Undocumented Students

Career Management

Take the Career Management Skills Assessment Now

Developing Your Core Competency in:

Career Management

For an overview of activities and events use this quick quarterly guide:

One-on-one mentoring or specialized programming to meet your individual needs is available.

Building community is essential to success. Consider participating in the following activity:

Internship and Career Fairs

Contact Us