PhDs & Postdocs: Explore
As a PhD student or postdoctoral scholar, we are excited to help you explore what’s next, no matter your interests or goals.
Leverage Your Network
To explore pathways and to learn about how your interests, skills, and values align with a diverse array of careers, we encourage you to activate your network, including Stanford’s robust network of PhD and postdoc alums.
- Stanford Alumni Mentoring (SAM) is a platform that allows you to reach out to Stanford alums for career conversations.
- Access CareerEd’s Informational Interviewing resources on Handshake to learn how to make connections and have valuable conversations
- Login to LinkedIn to connect with Stanford alums
- Learn how to find alums, make connections, and conduct informational interviews by accessing the Stanford Alumni Association’s resources.
Career Guide
Our Careers Strategies Guide for PhDs and Postdocs is a comprehensive resource that provides advice on how to explore your interests and pursue a meaningful career both within and beyond academia.
Higher Education Administration Directory (HEAD)
The Higher Education Administration Directory (HEAD) is a searchable directory of Stanford staff from across the University who hold doctoral degrees. Using this directory, you can connect with and learn from others with PhDs–humanists, scientists, social scientists, engineers–who have forged careers in various higher education administrative staff roles at Stanford. Learn more about the career paths represented in the directory.
Events, Programs, and Resources
Access Handshake for more programs, panels, and workshops.
PhD Pathways
PhD Pathways programs educate PhD students and postdocs from all disciplines about career pathways available beyond academia. PhD Pathways is an annual one-day conference. We recorded PhD Pathways panels in 2020-22.
Humanists at Large
Humanists at Large (HAL) is an annual program that exposes PhD students in the humanities, arts, and humanistic social sciences to meaningful work beyond academia that capitalizes on humanistic knowledge and skills.
Grad Grow
Grad Grow from VPGE is a tool to help you explore and sort through the many professional development resources available to you at Stanford, including career development.
Career Fairs
Career Fairs are an excellent way to connect with employers to learn about job and internship opportunities along with the specific skills they are seeking. CareerEd hosts several career fairs each academic year featuring employers excited to connect with PhDs and postdocs.
Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) hosts regular programs and events to support postdocs in their career and professional development.
Courses
CareerEd is involved in the following Stanford courses designed to help PhDs and postdocs explore their path to meaningful, purposeful work.Stanford has many additional career-focused courses available. These can be found by searching "career" on Stanford Explore Courses.
Designing the Professional (ENGR 311B)
Graduate students and postdocs apply principles of design thinking to designing your professional life.
Crafting Your Humanist Career (DLCL 326)
PhD students from all humanities disciplines learn how to chart a deliberate path through graduate school and explore diverse careers.
Integrative Learning Portfolio Lab (ILPL)
The ILPL helps PhDs and postdocs identify their current online story and curate it into an ePortfolio medium by identifying and translating their skills.
