Graduate drop-in hours take place on Fridays, from 10:00 a.m-12:00 pm.
Beginning Friday, March 20, 2020, drop-in advising will be taking place via phone, Skype, or Zoom only. If you wish to access advising on Friday mornings, please log in to Careers Online. Appointments will be made available beginning on 9 am on Friday mornings.
Masters and PhD students are always welcome to attend any of The Centre for Student Involvement and Careers's workshops. We also host the following workshops tailored to a graduate student audience. For other graduate career and professional development opportunities at UBC, you can use this searchable resource.
WEBINAR: Resumes and Cover Letters: January 21, 2020 12:00-1:30
WEBINAR: Interviews and Negotiation: March 18, 2020, 4:00-5:30
Panic to Power: May 4, 2020 4:00-5:30
Register at Careers Online. Once you log-in, please navigate to "Events" and then "Workshops", and search for the title of the event you wish to attend.
Please note that registration for each session will open approximately 2 weeks before hand. Questions about the sessions can be directed to danielle.barkley@ubc.ca
Graduate school is itself a stage of your career. Being a graduate student introduces you to a particular sector of work (academia) with associated norms, values, and expectations. At the end of your graduate program, you may choose to continue to work in that sector (through continuing further studies, beginning a post-doc, or applying for academic jobs), or you may decide to bring your knowledge and skills to a different sector (for-profit industry, government, healthcare etc.).
Most graduate students will consider more than one career option over the course of their degree, and many students will find their career paths to be influenced by a variety of factors (eg. family responsibilities, desired living location, desired income, labor market trends etc.)
As a graduate student, your most valuable career development resources are curiosity, flexibility, and an open mind.
The CSI&C is a hub of career development expertise, programs, initiatives, and resources integrated within the full range of students’ academic, co-curricular, & extra-curricular experiences. The CSI&C works in partnership with Faculties to support students to become career-ready graduates.
Graduate students (Masters and PhD, any discipline and any stage of their program) can access services related to career advising and development through the CSI&C (located in Brock Hall, Room 1036, open M-F from 9 to 6). Students can also access services for up to 1 year post graduation.
Danielle Barkley, PhD, works as the Graduate Career Educator and can serve as the key point of contact for inquiries related to graduate students (danielle.barkley@ubc.ca).
Want to get started with career development and exploration? Check out our Graduate Career Guide (coming soon!)
Career Exploration involves consideration of:
Skills (what you know how to do, and are good at)
Interests (the type of work you like to do, the questions you want to answer, the problems you want to solve)
Values (what you care about, how you want to show up in the world)
There are many ways to assess and reflect on these areas; here are two key resources for graduate students:
Looking for sample documents or job search strategies?
Tool
A wide-ranging discussion of strategies for graduate students to achieve academic and career related goals
Access a combined self-assessment and goal setting tool, designed for students with graduate degrees in STEM fields that icludes information on academic and non-academic career paths.
Access a self-assessment and goal setting tool, designed for students in social sciences and humanities. It includes information on a wide variety of career paths, annotated job postings, sample job documents, and job simulation activities.
By completing job simulations you can consider which careers are of interest to you and utilize provided resources to explore future courses of action by following up with professionals in the career field.
Resources
Published in 2017 using data from 2005-2013, this data reports on the career paths of UBC PhD graduates, including distribution across sectors, sample job titles, and satisfaction reports.
UBC Department Profile Career Outcomes
On the “Prospective Students” page, most programs will include a “Career Outcomes” section with information about where recent graduates are working, their job titles, and more.
Access a detailed database listing many occupations with information about required skills and qualifications.
Career Path Profiles
Interviews with individuals with PhDs now working in a variety of fields discussing their career transitions
Guide to Post PhD Interview Websites
List of 8 websites, all of which are focused on capturing career transition stories post PhD
Blogs & Websites
Wide ranging and detailed career advice, primarily targeting those seeking academic jobs in social sciences and humanities, but with helpful advice about careers in general
Advice for graduates with STEM degrees looking to transition to industry
Career Advice, community posts, and profiles for humanities PhDs, especially from languages and literature. Includes resources for faculty members and department chairs. This resource is hosted by the MLA (Modern Language Association).
Many other scholarly associations (AHA, APA, etc.) will have career resources designed for graduate students available on their websites.
This list represents some examples of opportunities for graduate students to gain experience and expand their networks.
The Work Learn program offers paid, part-time work opportunities on campus for current students.
Canadian organization working to connect industry and academia. Offers funded internship opportunities, post-doc opportunities and professional development training opportunities to students from all disciplines
UBC Public Scholars Initiative
Provides funding for UBC PhDs to pursue community-connected research
Opportunity for PhD students in English or History to complete a related co-op term as part of their doctoral degree
UBC Sustainability Scholars Program
Paid internship program that matches UBC graduate students with on- and off-campus sustainability partners
UBC Graduate Pathways to Success
A palette of non-credit workshops, seminars and other activities to support graduate school success and professional development.
Peter Wrinch was focused on a career in academia throughout his studies in Russian History. He now has a career in the not-for-profit industry as the Executive Director at Pivot Legal.
Marwan Hassan is a Professor and Geography Department Head at the University of British Columbia. He gives insight into choosing a career in academia and methods of achieving a job.
Veronique Hadade has a Masters in both Mechanical Engineering and Management, which she has applied to a career in Business Development at MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.
Leslie Ng supplemented her undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering with an MBA. She now works for the City of Vancouver as an engineer and planner for the sustainability team.
Kathryn Hayashi is the Chief Financial Officer at the Centre for Drug Research and Development, with a career spanning a variety of industries from music to biotechnology.
Harish Vasudevan holds a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from UBC. After deciding that academia wasn't for him, he focused his career on industries requiring high intellectual capital instead.
Graduate Student Career Activation Project (GSCAP) provides UBC graduate students the creative freedom to prepare for the career of their dreams. Students work directly with the CSIC and are granted up to $1,000 to invest in their career development. The stories below highlight the achievements of our 2019 cohort; more to come!
Savoy Williams is a personal trainer and Masters student at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. Savoy completed the CanFit Pro Personal Training certification and now uses this training to empower gender and sexually diverse students to engage in an active lifestyle.
Video Credit: Love Intersections
Evan Bowness is a PhD Candidate with the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability. Evan's research harnesses the power of drone photography to tell stories about how we use land. GSCAP funding has allowed him to acquire some of the necessary training and certification to be able to fly places that require special permission. Evan is in the process of creating a photo series, including aerial photos at UBC Farm photographs showcasing the diversity of agroecology at UBC. To read more about Evan's experience, click the link below
Laura Bulk is a PhD candidate in Rehabilitation Sciences; her research focuses on disability and belonging in academia. Laura used GSCAP funding to attend a mentorship and networking event to support early career scholars with disabilities; since then, she has started a new position as an Accessibility Advisor supporting UBC students in health programs. The video below highlights Laura’s ongoing research.
Wilson Mendes is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Mendes utilized GSCAP funds to attend a 3-day workshop to learn more about how to address structural racism, and plans to apply these learnings to ongoing research food system policies, planning, and governance.
Sonia Medel is a PhD student in the Department of Educational Studies. Medel used her GSCAP funding to enhance her multilingual fluency in Quechua in preparation for community engagement and federal/international policy employment. The funding was applied to host open workshops where members of the UBC community could come together to benefit from language learning led by a local expert.
Kyle Gooderham and Drake Levere are two PhD students with the UBC Department of Psycology. Drake and Kyle put GSCAP funding to use by enhancing thier research focsed podcast, BrainBuzz. The episode below takes a look at how PhD students can enhance research through communications tools like podcasting as well as how GSCAP has helped them explore future career possibilities.
Career Advising & Drop-In Services
In support of social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak, the Centre for Student Involvement & Careers has suspended all in-person operations and has transitioned services to online delivery. The physical CSI&C will remain closed until further notice.
Career Advisors remain committed to supporting you with your questions and curiosities during this time.
Sign up in advance or on the day-of through CareersOnline.
For additional support, please email csic.support@ubc.ca or phone 604-822-4011 from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday through Friday.
Telephone: 604 822 4011
Web: Book an advising appointment online.
