Graduate and Professional Students

Graduate and Professional Students: Exploring Your Options

We encourage all students to explore all their options in diverse industries as the workforce advances. These industries benefit from the specialized skills of graduate and professional students.

"What does career exploration look like for me?"
We recommend students explore in a variety of ways including taking assessments to examine themselves, engaging in mentorship, and conducting informational interviews with professoinals in prospective fields or positions. Often, these activities are associated with undergraduate students who are exploring. However, it is important to continually assess self as values, interests, skills, and knowledge develop and explore how they fit the evolving workforce.

Select the topics below for more details.

There are career assessments that support all students in discovering their skills, interests, values, and personality. However, there are several tools that aim at supporting students in graduate and professional programs. These tools are not exclusive to Ph.D. students and candidates despite the title. Please note even though your assessment may convey your skills prepare you to contribute to a specific job type, which does not limit you. Debrief your results with your career consultant to further career planning with a professional.

  • Imagine PhD assessment tools challenge students to reflect on their interests, skills, and values to produce job families that might fit their interests, skills, and values.
  • Beyond the Professoriate is a tool with learning modules to guide you through preparing for each stage of career transitions for academic and non-academic track, in STEM, Humanities, and Social Science fields.
  • myIDP Science Careers tools help those in science careers develop individual career development plans.
  • ChemIDP is a career planning tool for chemical scientists.

Consider joining the UGA Mentor program to develop relationships with alumni, faculty, and staff in prospective fields. From informational interviews (i.e., brief conversations with professionals who provide insight on their personal journeys) to formal mentorship, the program supports students who seek professional advice from working professionals.

Sign Up for the UGA Mentor Program for access to eager alumni, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds who are eager to connect with current students.

Individual Career Counseling
Career consultants are available to meet individually with graduate and professional students at any point during their time at UGA. To find out the name and contact information for your designated career consultant, visit our directory. To schedule an appointment, call (706) 542-3375 or login to your Handshake account.

Group Career Counseling
The Assistant Director for Graduate Student Services and Faculty Engagement hosts virtual group sessions for graduate and professional students to discuss career exploration and development topics in a more open, relaxed setting. To register for drop-in hours, login to your Handshake account and search group graduate student drop-in hours.

Drop-In Hours
Have a quick question? Stop by the Career Center from 11am until 2pm, Monday-Thursday during the fall and spring semesters, to meet with a Career Center team member for 10-15 minutes. Login to Handshake for virtual drop-ins on Fridays from 11am until 2pm. No appointment is necessary.

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