As a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin, you have access to a variety career and professional development resources.
From workshops and career advising, to recruitment fairs on campus, you can prepare for your future career while earning your degree.
University Resources
Office of Career & Life Design
The Office of Career & Life Design acts as a central hub for resources, services and support so that all grad students and postdocs can excel in their work, build essential skills, maintain personal well-being and prepare for their future careers.
Career Advising for Graduate Students and Postdocs
Consult privately with a career advisor who understands the unique needs of graduate students and postdocs. Advisors from the Office of Career & Life Design specialize in this area along with academic career navigation and management.
Career Center Directory
The University of Texas at Austin is home to 16 career services offices, each with a unique and specialized approach to career development and employer relations.
HireUTexas
HireUTexas powered by Handshake is a job board where UT Austin students and alumni can connect with local, national and global employers offering career-oriented opportunities and internships, as well as campus employment, work-study and part-time jobs.
HookedIn
Get plugged into a network of Longhorns working in every industry. Learn from their experience and build your resume. Join the professional networking platform powered by Texas Exes.
Teaching Development and Support
The Center for Teaching and Learning provides opportunities to advance graduate students’ pedagogical, academic and professional progress.
Explore Career Options: Alumni@Work
The University of Texas at Austin prepares graduate students for a wide range of career possibilities. Search alumni profiles by disciplinary background, industry and identity and watch their short videos to learn more about the type of work that advanced degree alumni pursue, the strategies they employ and how their typical days look.
Online Career Exploration Resources
Intersect Job Simulations
InterSECT is an online platform that allows PhD-level scientists and humanists, regardless of professional stage, to explore future career options. The goal is to provide true-to-life job simulation exercises that help individuals explore their career options experientially, so they can better consider their professional interests and skills and how they translate into potential careers.
Career-Planning Tool for the Sciences
Learn how to leverage your expertise into a career through My IDP (Individual Development Plan).
ETS Writing Mentor
The Writing Mentor application provides feedback about your writing to help you to make it convincing, well-developed, coherent, and well-edited!
ImaginePhD
A free, online career exploration and planning tool for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
Big Interview - Virtual Mock Interviews
Big Interview provides step-by-step video lessons and interview practice tools to help you strengthen your interview skills, whether you’re interviewing for a job or internship. Practice virtual interviewing for opportunities in academia, consulting, nonprofit, engineering, finance and more.
Interstride for International Graduate Students
Interstride provides a one-stop shop for international students, including visa and immigration information; companies that sponsor employment visas; guidance on intercultural networking; job listings, real-time hiring trends, and employer information; and tailored assessment tools.
The Versatile Ph.D.
The Versatile Ph.D. is a tool that helps graduate students interested in non-academic careers explore the extensive range of available options.
It offers assistance to students in the humanities, social sciences and STEM disciplines, and contains free content available to anyone and premium content available by institutional subscription. The University of Texas at Austin’s institutional subscription makes available premium content to all current students, faculty and staff with valid UT EIDs.
Features on the site include authentic application materials used by Ph.D.s to secure their first post-academic jobs. These materials include resumes, cover letters, additional correspondence, position announcements, curriculum vitae and narratives written by Versatile Ph.D. members explaining exactly how the jobs were won. These members are often available to answer questions and offer advice.
Visitors of the site will also find first-person career autobiographies in which advanced Versatile Ph.D.s describe how their careers evolved after leaving the academy, as well as panel discussions including small groups of Ph.D.s working in the same non-academic field who describe what their work is like and answer questions from users.
Access to Versatile Ph.D.
Access the Versatile Ph.D. premium content area with your UT EID.
Alternative Academic (Alt-Ac)
Alt-Ac Careers List
Interested in receiving email announcements on career resources and upcoming programs specifically designed for graduate students? Join the mailing list for graduate students interested in alt-ac careers.
Alt-Ac Career Coaching
Currently enrolled UT Austin graduate students, regardless of discipline, are eligible for individual career coaching appointments through Liberal Arts Career Services. If you are graduating soon and plan to pursue a non-academic career, consider scheduling an appointment sooner rather than later.