By Vanda Suvansilpakit
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
vsuvansilpakit@media.ucla.edu
To better equip doctoral students with skills in searching for jobs outside academia, the Career Center has launched a series of workshops focusing on various stages of the job search process.
Previously, programs organized by the Career Center have largely been targeted at serving the needs of undergraduate and master’s students because the counselors are more familiar with their concerns, said Dana Landis, doctoral career services supervisor.
Landis said most doctoral students are formally trained to go into academia and may not be as aware of non-academic job opportunities.
Winter quarter workshops have focused on non-academic jobs for doctoral students. Topics range from self-assessment and career exploration to effectively using a Ph.D. in searching for non-academic jobs.
“We hope the workshops will help doctoral students translate their skills into a non-academic context that can be effectively communicated to potential employers,” she said.
Based on results from a survey conducted last year by the graduate division, 57 percent of doctoral students said they received advice about employment within academia, while only 34 percent said they received advice about employment outside academia.
“The results indicated that both the Career Center and individual departments can do more to prepare Ph.D. students for employment,” said Pamela Taylor, director of institutional research and information services for the graduate division.
Taylor said the graduate division has shared results of the survey with the Career Center, and is also preparing an official report to be available for students and faculty during spring quarter.
The survey further shows that 82 percent of doctoral students have never used the Career Center at all. Many students said they find consultations with advisers and faculty members within their departments to be sufficient in job planning.
“I find it most useful to talk with faculty members because they are the ones doing the job,” said Elizabeth Graham, an English doctoral student who plans to become a professor.
Erin Taylor, a philosophy doctoral student, said she would use career resources offered by the department more than the Career Center.
“People who are doing philosophy professionally seem to know the specifics of what to do and where to apply. ... They have personal relationships with departments of other institutions,” she said.
The history department is very helpful in offering students help with taking tests and periodic workshops to help them get articles published in journals, said Jenna Gibbs-Boyer, a history doctoral student who also plans for a career inside academia.
Landis said the Career Center frequently uses information from the graduate division about student needs and incorporates it in planning for career workshops and fairs.
She added that the center directly talks to students about their needs and concerns.
“We are also doing more department-specific programs for those who requested them,” she said.
In addition to the workshops and programs, the Career Center plans to hold a Ph.D. career day on April 25, where a panel of alumni doctoral students will give talks on non-academic career options.
The graduate division is currently designing an exit survey for terminal masters and doctoral students to keep records of their career paths.
“There is a need for continuity, the need to know what alumni have gone on to become, so that students don’t have to invent new paths every time,” Landis said.