Graduate drop-in hours will be resuming soon; exact date TBD. If you are a Masters or PhD student seeking advising services, please contact the Graduate Career Educator at 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 do 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?
Tools
Wide-ranging discussion of strategies for graduate students to achieve academic and career related goals
A combined self-assessment and goal setting tool, designed for students with graduate degrees in STEM fields. Includes information on academic and non-academic career paths
A self-assessment and goal setting tool, designed for students in social sciences and humanities. Includes information on a wide variety of career paths, annotated job postings, sample job documents and more.
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.
Detailed database listing many occupations with information about skills required, and what the job is like
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.
Many 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.
Telephone: 604 822 4011
Web: Book an advising appointment online.View map
