Information for Faculty & Staff
If you are a faculty or staff member at Penn looking to understand how the students/postdocs you work with can use Penn Career Services, or how you can collaborate with us in terms of programming or data sharing, then you are in the right place! Career Services offers guidance to undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and alumni on all aspects of career planning, job and internship searching, and graduate study. As the central Career Services office on campus, we serve the majority of students and postdocs at Penn. Please take a look at our eligibility information if you want check whether the students you work with can use our services.
Get to know some of the services provided by our office for students, postdocs, and alumni:
- Individual career advising through scheduled appointments and brief “same-day advising” for quick questions
- Advising students unclear about their options or needing help with career decisions
- Helping students appreciate the range of career possibilities opened up by studies in particular fields
- Substantial databases of summer jobs, internships and full-time post-graduate positions
- Assistance with resumes, cover letters, and interviewing practice for careers in business, industry, non-profits, and more
- Advice on materials for the academic job market including: CVs, teaching statements, research statements, and diversity statements.
- Assistance with graduate/professional school applications, including advice on applying, reviews of personal statements and graduate school essays
- An exceptional website and digital career resources featuring up-to-date information on career fields, graduate programs and potential employers
- Alumni/alumnae and faculty panels on career fields and graduate study
- Virtual and on-campus recruiting options for employers to engage with Penn students as part of the internship/job recruiting efforts
- Broad connections with employers across career fields that encourages them to give information sessions or participate in the career fairs we organize
- Customized communications with students through specific distribution lists and industry/population-focused newsletters
- Data on career outcomes for Penn students through annual Career Plans Survey Reports
- Resources for students from specific populations
Integrating career content into your curriculum
If you work with graduate students, and want explore ways to integrate professional and career development into your course material, we encourage you to review some of the resources offered by the Beyond Graduate School (Master’s) and PhD Career Training Platform (doctoral students) platforms.
- Beyond Graduate School: You can sign into this platform to view the content as a student here. For faculty resources designed to help you use this content in your courses, click here.
- PhD Career Training Platform: You can sign into this platform to view the content as a student here. For faculty resources designed to help you use this content in your courses, click here.
Looking for ways to support your students/postdocs?
Become a Career Champion
Join our Career Champions Initiative. This initiative empowers you to make a direct impact on the success of our diverse community in unique and meaningful ways that align with your role at Penn. Visit our Career Champions page for more information on how you can get involved.
Support grad students/postdocs
Graduate students and postdocs often have unique career needs and goals. One of the ways that we support this population is through our two online platforms: Beyond Graduate School (for Master’s students), and the PhD Career Training Platform (for doctoral students and postdocs)
Support international students
Please encourage international students/postdocs you are working with to visit the international student community on our website, and to take advantage of the Interstride platform built specifically for international students seeking careers in the US.
Request Collaboration
Advisors in Career Services appreciate the unique relationship you have with your students. We would be pleased to support your programs and involve you in ours.
Click here to learn more about how we can work together and request a collaboration.
Letters of Recommendation
Your students may ask you for letters of recommendation to include in their applications to medical or dental school, which may be different from a standard letter of recommendation.
Our staff has prepared some quick advice on best practices for writing these letters!
Request Data
We collect data on graduating students that are readily available. Let us know if you are seeking aggregated outcomes data for your students that might help in reviews and accreditation.
Requests to share data can be made by filling out this form.
Career Advising for Staff/Faculty
Looking for career advising for yourself? We can assist you with 1:1 career advising if you are a current student or alumni of the programs we serve. Otherwise, we encourage you to take advantage of the many online career resources we provide publicly, including the Penn Career Services YouTube channel. Penn HR also offers a robust series of career coaching resources for faculty and staff.
