Hosted by Penn’s Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (GSWS) Program
This summer, we will be featuring blog posts written by PhD students who participated in Career Services’ Career Exploration Fellowship (CEF), a program that helps doctoral candidates explore their career interests through networking opportunities with advanced degree professionals. Click here to learn more about CEF.
Describe your experience working with your host.
My experience working with my host was incredible! Having someone outside of my department and outside of academia to talk to was extremely valuable in understanding the ins and outs of non-academic work that is still affiliated with an institution. Dr. Beetham is incredibly kind and offered a lot of advice, not just in helping understand non-academic job opportunities, but also navigating a PhD.
What did you learn from this opportunity (about yourself, potential career fields, the job search, etc.)?
The most valuable thing I learned from this opportunity is that I definitely lean more toward leadership positions. Hearing Dr. Beetham talk about friends and colleagues in similar fields to my own gave me a better perspective of what opportunities lie outside of academia in terms of future careers.
How did your CEF experience benefit your future career plans?
As a first year, I found my CEF experience to benefit my future career plans by having someone to talk to that has a career outside of academia. Although I still have a couple years to go, it helped to know that there are a lot of options, especially for my field, that I haven’t really heard of before.
What was the most valuable part of your CEF experience?
The most valuable part of my CEF experience was the networking! Dr. Beetham is incredible and is well connected, which helped a lot. Additionally, the CEF program also provided me with opportunities to connect with students in other departments and talk about our PhD experiences. It was a nice bonding opportunity and helped us realize some similarities within our programs.
Top reason PhD students should apply to the CEF program?
The top reason why PhD students should apply to CEF is that it gives you an opportunity to explore other careers that you might not have heard about or thought of! It’s also a great way to learn more about other departments/programs/centers at Penn or that are Penn affiliated.
