Overview
The Graduate College's Career Ladder programs offer cohort-based support to help you strengthen professional skills and explore career options. Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars learn with peers and maintain accountability with specially designed sessions including:
- Career pathways (industry, government, social services, non-profit, academia, etc.)
- Identifying and strengthening skills for your career of interest
- Building your professional network with tools such as LinkedIn
- Tailoring your resume or CV (or other materials) for your career of interest
- Developing a career exploration and preparedness framework that can be applied to any job search
- Gaining tips and techniques for interviews and salary negotiation
Details
Who?
Career Ladder is open to current University of Iowa graduate students (master's and doctoral) and postdocs. It is best suited to those preparing to transition to the next phase of their career.
When?
The Graduate College Career Ladder program lasts one semester for master’s students and postdocs. For doctoral students, it is a two-semester program covering additional topics. Participants commit to monthly in-person meetings during the semester/s. Meeting times will be set after enrollment closes.
How?
Each Career Ladder session provides 90 minutes for you to focus on your professional development. By using this time to design your career path, plan your next steps, and create a transition strategy, you'll gain a valuable advantage in the job market!
Career Ladder 7-Step Curriculum
Design -> Prepare -> Transition to your Career
- Self-Assessment for Your Career Planning: Evaluate your interests, skills, and values and use them to focus on careers compatible with your assessment.
- Informational Interviews: Gain first-hand knowledge about a career of interest by interviewing people with that job.
- Personal Branding: Build your online presence for a good first impression - LinkedIn, Google Scholar, GitHub, etc.
- CV & Resume Crafting: Update your CV and customize a resume for a target job, aided by peer review and expert feedback.
- Cover Letter / Application Materials Drafting: Learn strategies to draft tailored cover letters and other application materials requested by your future employer.
- Interview Strategies: Learn about tips and tricks for behavioral questions and conduct mock interviews with the facilitators and peers.
- Salary and Benefits Package Negotiation: Practice the basic techniques for negotiation.
Read About Others' Experiences
"Each session shared really useful insights that are rarely covered elsewhere and helped clear up common myths about job hunting. What really stood out was how personalized the support was-everything tailored to my own career goals and values."
"I was in the Career Ladder Program, and I can confidently say was one of the best decisions I've made for my career. I received personalized career coaching and hands-on training during the program. I even secured a job before completing the course!"
"This program helped me understand different career paths and what factors to consider when selecting a position. Through this process, I successfully secured a postdoctoral position that perfectly aligns with my research interests!"