We are now heading into summer, and you should definitely take a well-deserved break from one of the most challenging academic years ever! However, it’s also never too early to begin thinking about the job market. Whether you’re going on the job market next year or you still have several years left in grad school, using your time at UCR wisely can lead to many insightful opportunities and boost your confidence going onto the job market. When considering your post-graduate career, it’s important to think about what skills might be the most advantageous for you or what might look good to a potential employer.

Signing up for professional development opportunities, applying for grants and fellowships, and seeking employment outside of your department are great ways to build your skillset and make you a stronger applicant. Depending on where you are headed, or even if you’re unsure of where you’d like to go, these programs, professional development opportunities, and grants and fellowships available right here through UCR can help pave the way!

[Image description: Spongebob Squarepants opens a document that is so long it continues to unroll over the table of food, walls, and ceiling until the end reaches his back.]

Pictured: Your curriculum vitae after accepting every opportunity UCR has to offer.

 

GradSuccess

GradSuccess offers several professional development and employment opportunities:

The Graduate Student Mentorship Program uses a mentorship model to connect experienced graduate students with first-year graduate students who come from diverse backgrounds. As a mentor in this program, you gain skills in navigating professional relationships with the aim of reducing student attrition, become more aware of campus-wide resources, attend workshops, and work with faculty and fellow graduate students across campus. Applications to be a mentor are open until July 2^nd! For more information about the requirements of this position and the application, click here.

The University Teaching Certificate program offers training in advanced pedagogy. This two-quarter long certification program is designed to assist graduate students interested in careers as university-level instructors in developing teaching and lecturing strategies, designing a teaching philosophy, and becoming members of the professional teaching community. Being able to show your commitment to teaching and put language to the strategies you implement in a classroom can go a long way in a teaching philosophy statement and in job interviews for a teaching position. The application for the Fall 2021 – Winter 2022 cohort is closed, but applications for the Winter – Spring 2022 cohort will open in Fall.

GradSuccess also offers summer and year-long employment opportunities! You can click here to check out the requirements and expectations for the consultant and coordinator positions. The 2021-2022 team has already been hired but if you are interested, keep an eye out for Summer 2022 and 2022-2023 positions as well as other graduate student positions on campus. These positions allow you to get experience working collegiately, planning and executing events, as well as evaluating and managing progress, all while building excellent presentation, communication, and interpersonal skills – all highly desired qualities for any job!

[Image description: Two people standing on the side of a whiteboard with the text reading “Don’t wait to be asked to engage in professional development or mentorship programs – seek out the opportunities yourself.”]

 

Making Excellence Inclusive Diversity Certificate

Graduate students can also participate in Graduate Division’s Making Excellence Inclusive: Graduate Student Diversity Certificate Program. This professional development opportunity brings together graduate students from across campus to explore, discuss, and respond to broad issues that affect higher education, such as microdynamics of pedagogy and instruction, representation within curriculum, departmental politics, and organizational structures of the educational institution and the communities it serves. Developing skills in research, pedagogy, and activism around issues of diversity and social justice will demonstrate your commitment toward creating more inclusive and equitable spaces. This program is offered yearly during the Spring quarter.

 

Science to Policy

The Science to Policy program trains graduate students to use their research and analytical skills to inform public policy by being active and trusted members of the public policy community. In this program, graduate students gain insight into policy making processes and how to engage with public policy experts. If you are interested in building up your curriculum vitae or resume with these skills, the Science to Policy Program offers a Graduate Certificate in Science to Policy. This program will offer a series of presentations and workshops with the aim to cultivate a knowledge base and skillset that can be used to translate science into public policy or to help transition into policy careers. Applications for this competitive program are open until July 26^th! Additionally, graduate students can elect to pursue a Designated Emphasis in Public Policy through the School of Public Policy.

 

Graduate Student Association

The Graduate Student Association is a student government that serves the graduate and professional students at UCR by advocating on our behalf, organizing campus committees, and supporting graduate student life. Getting involved in the GSA by participating in or organizing a Departmental GSA or becoming an officer is a sure way to showcase your leadership and communication skills, knowledge of how student governments operate at a departmental and university level, and ability to organize and manage funds, events, and meetings. Elections to become an office roll around every year, so if you are interested in strengthening these skills, or even if you are just interested in attending meetings to get a better understanding of what discussions are happening on campus, be sure to read their emails!

[Image description: Three people dancing across the screen with the text “teamwork makes the dream work” appearing on the wall behind them.]

 

Fellowships, Awards, and Grants

Being able to write clear and compelling grants, apply for and secure funding, and understand the expectations, needs, and management of funds are great skills within and outside of academia. There are many extramural fellowships, awards, and grants, but here are a few opportunities provided by UCR and links to additional fellowship opportunities outside of UCR: click here. I have heard competing advice about this, but it may be worth a discussion with faculty in your field as to whether unfunded fellowships and grant applications should be listed on your curriculum vitae or resume when on the job market. Even if something is not funded, the experience of grant writing might be worth displaying.

 

Prepping for the Job Market

There is support for you, regardless of what stage you are at. Whether you’re just starting to put together your curriculum vitae/resume and other job materials, they just need some minor editing, or they need a complete overhaul – know that there is help to be found! The Graduate Writing Center offers writing support to all graduate students and postdoctoral scholars through workshops and writing consultations. In addition to feedback on your CV and resume, they can assist with any genre during any stage of the writing process (e.g. job market statements, abstracts, grant applications, developing journal articles, and much more). The Career Center is another support service that can give you feedback on your job market materials and aims to provide guidance on all aspects of the career path, including assessing different careers, interpreting job descriptions, and even conducting mock interviews!

[Image Description: Franchesca Ramsey looking into the camera and shouting “yes!”]

Pictured: You after you get a job offer!

Whether you’re ready for the job market or still unsure of what exactly you’d like to do, the programs covered above will help you build up your curriculum vitae and/or resume, strengthen skills that will be advantageous for many positions, and may even stoke a passion you didn’t know you had!

 

Happy applying and wishing you success!