Masters Timeline
Career Development is an on going process - Career initiatives taken throughout your graduate experience and entire career, significantly impacts your success in achieving the career goals you strive to achieve. It is very much like a research plan, a business strategy, or any other plan to achieve a set of goals and objectives towards developing an informed career life plan.
Reflection - The more you reflect on what tasks, experiences and coursework you most enjoy, the easier it will be to determine the career or to reaffirm the career that you have chosen.
Self Assessment
Graduate students at all stages, benefit from self-assessment. Making career decisions can be confusing without a clear understanding of your own internal priorities. Learn to develop a framework to help you think about your future career options, values, interests, and transferable skills, which graduate students often possess but may not have recognized.
Meet with your career counselor - call 253-4733 or stop by 12-170 to make an appointment - to assess your career at MIT. Set personal goals for the first semester: attend career service workshops, career panels, and connect with faculty and staff in your department. Develop a strategic plan needed for the next steps of your career planning process.
Create a website or folder that contains a portfolio which demonstrates your undergraduate and graduate abilities and interests: key projects, college accomplishments, honors/awards, extracurricular and volunteer activities, internships and work experience (non-internship if applicable) and other additional information.
Register for MITCO workshops and view our on-line workshops
Develop a resume from your portfolio - attend a resume workshop. Come in during MITCO walk-in hours for resume and cover letter critiques.
Exploration
Research fields and occupations to become familiar with different career options. You can begin to develop context and make contacts with people to help you think about specific careers. Meet with a career counselor in MITCO for further discussion of options.
Research career paths of past graduates. Contact alumni through the Infinite Connection. Do research about their company prior to making the contact and do informational interviews.
Attend panels on career opportunities outside the lab.
Take additional coursework in areas to expand your marketability and skills (finance, entrepreneurship, management). Participate in programs and clubs such as Science and Engineering Business Club. Whether you are looking for a career in industry or academia.
Attend Career Fairs in the fall and spring to learn what future career opportunities are available and to network with company representatives.
Focus
Reality Testing - The third step in the process may allow you to get some practical experience in the field you're considering. Before committing to a field or industry, conduct informational interviews with professionals in the field, network with specific speakers at career events and do an internship or part-time work in the field.
Through internships and summer jobs, you will have the opportunity to explore practical applications to industry, organizations, firms and agencies.
Visit CareerBridge which lists full-time, summer, and part-time jobs
Participate in On-campus Recruiting
Academic Career
If interested in an academic career, begin developing your CV. Attend a CV workshop. To learn more about a career in academia, review PhD career planning timeline.
Individualize your personal marketing and job search strategy, by integrating what you have learned: through self-assessment, portfolio, research of career exploration, internships and/or summer jobs as well as other experiences. Identify and gather any information you need to target you best opportunities.
Key Activities
Adapt your resume, cover letter, portfolio to targeted industries and focus on the specific fields. Continue to conduct informational interviews and build your network of contacts. Attend workshops and view our on-line workshops.
Job Search
Perfect and practice the skill you will need for this phase, by attending MITCO workshops.
Arrange a mock interview to polish your interview skills.
Register on CareerBridge to send resumes and cover letters, as well as to explore advertised job openings and other leads.
Seek feedback, guidance, and support from MITCO and your academic department - You do not need to do this alone!
Pursue jobs and employers who do not recruit on campus using hidden market method.
Interview, generate offers, and negotiate terms. See evaluating job offers workshop and accept a final offer to a great job!
Last updated on Wednesday, October 01, 08 at 02:21:24 PM EDT.
