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Exploration and Planning Resources for Graduate Students

Boise State University Career Services:

  • Virtual Career Center – Career Planning and Decision Making
  • PathwayU Career Assessment: PathwayU is Boise State’s free career assessment tool that gathers information about your interests, personality, values, and workplace preferences, and shows you how those align with different career paths. As you’re exploring potential paths, you can also get career information and information on Boise State majors to consider.
  • What can I do with my degree? This tool will help you explore career options and strategies related to academic programs. When viewing a major/area of study, you can see typical career areas, types of jobs and employers, and strategies to prepare yourself for those career paths.
  • Informational Interviews: Once you’ve done some initial online research, conducting “informational interviews” with professionals working in the career you are considering is one of the best ways to find out if this career is really right for you and may lead to future opportunities.

ImaginePhD: Free online career exploration and planning tool for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

MyIDP | Science Careers: Free career-planning tool for Ph.D. students and postdocs in the sciences.

National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) Core Competencies: The NPA has established six core competencies to offer guidance to individual postdoctoral scholars who must seek out relevant training experiences, in collaboration with mentors, institutions, and other advisors who provide this training.

Princeton University Center for Career Development:

  • Individual Development Plan Guide: An IDP is a dynamic, on-going graduate student career management tool to help you: 1) Develop mutually-agreed upon academic and career objectives with your mentor(s) and/or adviser(s), 2) Stay on track and make progress toward these ever-evolving goals.
  • Ph.D. Transferable Skills Self-Assessment: As a Ph.D. student, you develop a diverse array of skills that build upon and expand beyond your research and teaching. Assessing your current strengths and weaknesses helps you identify areas that you need to work on during your graduate journey.