This fall, graduate students are invited to join Career Services for a week of virtual programming geared just for graduate students – the Graduate Career Skills Series!
Join us for our series of virtual workshops and panels centered around helping graduate students navigate their careers. The week ends with expanded opportunities to have your individual questions answered by a career advisor, as well as the opportunity to have your LinkedIn headshot taken.
Register for each session you’re interested in on Handshake to receive virtual access. All sessions except panels will be recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel afterward. Make sure that you subscribe and follow our channel to get notified when the video is posted!
Schedule of Events
Monday, November 7th
10-10:30 AM: What to do with LinkedIn for Master’s Students | Register on Handshake
87% of recruiters use LinkedIn on a regular basis, and with almost 500 million users, LinkedIn is the go-to site for professional social networking. In this workshop, we will highlight ways that you can update your profile to reflect the knowledge and experiences you are gaining with your graduate degree, and to reflect your more professional identity as you look for your career next step. We will also share best practices for leveraging your networks on LinkedIn as part of your broader career exploration or your specific job/internship search. Join this session to learn how to make your profile showcase your skills and how to make the most of your Penn connections.
10:45-11:15 AM: How to Showcase Your Research in your LinkedIn Profile for Doctoral Students & Postdocs | Register on Handshake
No matter your academic field, PhD students and postdocs can highlight many aspects of their research skills as part of their professional experience when exploring and applying for careers across different industries. Join this session to get some best practices for showcasing your relevant and transferable skills in your LinkedIn profile, and learn how networking on this platform can make the process of creating these career narratives much easier.
1-2:15 PM: Exploring Consulting at the Master’s Level [Panel] | Register on Handshake
Consulting firms are one of the top employers of Penn graduates and becoming increasingly popular with master’s students. You may know that consultants interact a great deal with clients as they work to improve their business. But what does that mean on a day to day basis? Wondering how a master’s student can land a job in consulting and if the industry might be a good fit for you? Join Career Services for this panel discussion with Penn alums and recruiters working in consulting. You will be able to ask questions in the chat during this panel discussion. Panelists TBA.
3-4 PM: Using Your Master’s Degree to Make a Career Pivot with Beyond Graduate School | Register on Handshake
Tuesday, November 8th
Election Day – please remember to vote!
Wednesday, November 9th
10-10:30 AM: How to Best Utilize Exponent to Prepare for Technical Interviews | Register in Handshake
Many tech jobs (even outside of FAANG) use the technical interview as a key component of their interviewing process. Preparation is key for these interviews as you have limited time to convey your problem-solving process and reasoning. Practice is the best way to prep – learn how to prepare for these interviews using Exponent, a resource sponsored by Career Services.
10:45-11:15 AM: Making the Most of GoinGlobal & Other Resources for International Students | Register on Handshake
There can be a lot of questions facing international students when it comes to the job search and it can feel overwhelming! Career Services has resources available to help – join this session to learn about how to navigate the online resources geared toward international students.
1-2 PM: Resumes for Federal Jobs | Register on Handshake
If you are applying for federal jobs, you may be asked to submit a federal resume. This Federal resume is a cross between a CV (in terms of its length and types of sections included) and a resume (in terms of the focus on skills), and so is rather unique. Join this session to learn about how for format your materials to make them suitable for federal applications and learn about tools and resources as you are applying for government jobs.
2:30-3:45 PM: Resumes & Cover Letters from the Recruiter’s Perspective [Panel] | Register on Handshake
Your resume and cover letter will be viewed by many different types of people as part of the job search process – from recruiters and human resources staff to hiring managers. While each reader may have their own perspectives on what a good resume should look like, there are also some important aspects of your resume that are essential to cover. In this panel discussion, recruiters from a range of career fields will share their perspectives on how they read resumes, and give advice on what to include, and what to avoid. You will be able to ask questions in the chat during this panel discussion.
Thursday, November 10th
10-10:30 AM: 7 Networking Best Practices for Your Next Academic Conference | Register on Handshake
Many graduate students will attend conferences throughout their time at Penn. You have probably heard that conferences are a great place to network with professionals and academics in your field (and this is absolutely true!) but how-to best approach conferences to make the most of your time? Join this session for 7 practical tips that you can adopt at your next conference or other professional event.
10:45-11:15 AM: How to Keep a Networking Conversation Going | Register on Handshake
You may have spent time this semester networking with alumni or professionals at career fairs or information sessions. Maybe you reached out to an alum or former colleague for an informational interview and found this to be helpful. And now you are wondering how to keep in touch with them as you progress through your graduate degree. This session will provide useful tips to help you keep track of your networking contacts, find ways to keep the conversation going, and to help you leverage tools like LinkedIn to keep you in the thoughts of your professional connections without even communicating directly with them.
11:30 AM – 12 PM: 5 Possible Reasons You’re Not Hearing Back from People for Networking | Register on Handshake
Graduate students who are working on reaching out to others for networking often fret about what to do if they do not hear back from people. Whether you have already started your networking outreach or are just getting started, attend this session to learn about how to best approach networking to increase the likelihood that you DO hear back from people, but also what to do if you don’t!
1-2:15 PM: Negotiating Perspectives from Recruiters [Panel] | Register on Handshake
If you are interested in getting some best practices and advice on negotiation from professionals whose job it is to negotiate with candidates, then join us for this panel discussion where we invite HR and recruiter panelists from different industries to talk about their experiences from the other side of the negotiation table. Learn about some of the questions you can ask about job offers before you start negotiating, and then get some best practices in terms of what works well, and what to avoid, as you plan your negotiation strategy. You will be able to ask questions in the chat during this panel discussion.
Friday, November 11th
12-1:30 PM: LinkedIn Headshots for Graduate Students | SOLD OUT!
We have reached capacity for this event – stay tuned for future opportunities for LinkedIn headshots
