Graduate and Professional Students Career Readiness and Employability
The graduate student experience at Ohio State goes far beyond the classroom experience. It includes advanced training in research labs, studios, or the field; being involved in campus or community activities for networking and leadership skills building; and participating in signature events such as the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) or The Edward F. Hayes Advanced Research Forum to showcase one’s scholarship and hone communication skills. Importantly, being a graduate student means being planful to become career ready and employable.
Career readiness can best be described as the process of preparing graduate and professional students with the essential transferrable (soft) skills and technical (hard) skills they need to find, acquire, maintain, and grow within a chosen academic or non-academic (e.g. industry, government, business, social media, nonprofit, etc.) position.
Employability can best be described as a graduate or professional student having developed a set of achievements. skills, expertise, understandings, and personal attributes – which makes them stand out from the crowd in today’s highly competitive job market.
A great strategy to increase one’s career readiness is to utilize the many career readiness and employability resources available to graduate students at Ohio State. Below please find the links for our career resources in the Graduate School as well as select Ohio State resources.
Career Readiness and Employability Resources
Preparing Future Faculty
The Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program was designed and hosted by the Graduate School to support new faculty development as part of the graduate student experience.
Accelerate to Industry (A2i)
The A2i program is designed to meet graduate students’ developmental needs by offering: (a) an Industry Company Site Visit, (b) an Industry Team Practicum, (c) an Industry Internship, (d) Industry Job Search Strategies and (e) an Industry Immersion Week.
Preparing Future Professionals
The Preparing Future Professionals program is offered by the Graduate School to help students become career ready and employable, not only in higher education but also in other areas such as industry, business, entrepreneurship, etc.
Beyond the Professoriate and Beyond Graduate School
Digital career training platforms designed to help your master's, doctoral and postdocs quickly scale up their skills and prepare for career and job search success through on demand online workshops and resources.
Three Minute Thesis (3MT)
The 3MT is an academic competition for doctoral and master’s students engaged in their own research, summarizing it to an educated layperson in 3 minutes or less, using pre-determined guidelines. A panel of judges scores each student to determine the top awardee.
Graduate Associate Leadership Awards (GALA)
The Graduate Associate Leadership Award (GALA) is Ohio State’s recognition of the exceptional leadership provided by graduate students as leaders (on and off campus) while being an OSU graduate (master’s or doctoral) student.
Tips for In-Person, Virtual and Reverse Career Fairs
Various tips for successfully participating in virtual, in-person and reverse career fairs.
Graduate School Mentorship Programming
The Graduate School regularly offers programming around graduate mentorship design both for faculty and students.
Graduate Faculty Mentorship Award
The Graduate Faculty Mentorship Award (GFMA) is Ohio State Graduate School’s recognition of the exceptional guidance provided by the graduate faculty as mentors of graduate master’s, doctoral, and professional students.
Graduate School Mentorship Workshops
Throughout fall and spring terms the Graduate School offers mentorship workshops and events with guest speakers providing best practices as both mentors and mentees.
Upcoming Career Development Events
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University Wide Resources for Graduate Students
Handshake
Handshake is Ohio State's new university-wide position posting system where students have access to search and apply for part-time jobs, internships, co-ops, and full-time career opportunities.
Versatile PhD
The Versatile PhD is a resource for members of the graduate community at Ohio State who are interested in exploring non-academic career options for graduate students.
AlumniFire
Alumnifire is our online community to connect for career advancement, mentoring, affinity groups, or staying in touch with what is happening at Ohio State.
Campus Office Resources for Graduate Students
Buckeye Careers
As part of the Office of Student Life, Buckeye Careers is an university-wide initiative designed to support students throughout their professional development, with a focus on connecting them with local, national and global organizations.
Michael V. Drake Institute of Teaching and Learning
The overall purpose of the institute is to integrate and enhance teaching and learning efforts at Ohio State, and to elevate such work to the institutional level.
Barnett Center
The Barnett Center educates and prepares students for successful careers in the arts and related entrepreneurial fields.
Keenan Center
The Tim & Kathleen Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship works to grow and foster a culture of entrepreneurship for the Ohio State community through the creation and support of new ventures and the education and encouragement of their founders.
Still Have Questions?
Development, Engagement, Careers, and Workshops
Assistant Dean Karin Jordan
jordan.1193@osu.edu