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Graduate School is challenging, and life can be complicated. Take care of your emotional, financial, and physical needs, and don't be afraid to get help when you need it.

• Support and Inclusion
  
  
• Student Health and Wellness Center
  
  
• Recreational Sports Department
  
  
• Financial Aid and Employment

Get the resources and experiences you need to take your career to the next level.

• Explore grants, fellowships, and other opportunities on our External Funding page.
  
  
• Take advantage of Internal Funding to conduct research, attend conferences, and more.
  
  
• Look for an internship, practicum, community-engaged research project, or other experience in order to make connections and broaden your opportunities post-graduation.
  
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• Attend Funding workshops to learn the ins and outs of applying for and securing funding.

Get the help you need to make progress on your academic projects and gain confidence as a writer.

• Attend WeWrite workshops.
  
  
• Participate in the Master's Writing Retreat or Dissertation Studio.

Your unique skills, professional competencies, and achievements deserve to be publicized. Communicate your value by effectively sharing your work––in formal conferences and informal settings––and developing professional documents.

• Practice sharing your research.
  • Present at the annual .
  • Attend a conference in your field.
  • Present at a conference in your field. (Click here for information about our Travel Grant.)
  • Participate in UTEP's Three Minute Thesis competition.
    
    
• Craft your professional documents.
  • Attend our recurrent CareerPrep workshops and/or view archived workshop materials.
  • Edit your resume, CV, and cover letters at the Writing Center ( or )
  • Get college-specific resume help at the Career Center.
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Put your skills and expertise to good use by developing and exercising leadership—what Forbes' Kevin Kruse calls ""

• Actively participate in academic and social activities.
  • Attend seminars and talks (Practice your elevator speech and networking afterward!)
  • Participate in a student organization, community organization, or service opportunity related to your field.
  • Participate in the CIRTL network to become an instructional leader in STEM.
• Get more leadership experience.
  • Participate in the .
  • Volunteer to serve on a committee.
  • Serve as an officer, project leader, or board member.

Build your network.

• Seek out mentors who are two, five, ten, or twenty years ahead of you in your field.
  
  
• Identify your colleagues (and potential collaborators) on the campus, regional, national, and international levels.
  
  
• Have honest conversations about your career aspirations, fears, and opportunities for growth.
  
  
• Join professional associations and identify:
  • Key competencies in your field;
  • Venues for publication and discipline-specific networking;
  • Established and evolving best practices; and 
  • Available resources for emerging professionals.
    
    
• More resources:

You've worked hard to get where you are–you owe it to yourself to finish your degree! Push through and complete your clinical placement, capstone, thesis, or dissertation to capitalize on your years of dedicated study.

• Stay in close communication with your advisor.
  
  
• Get help if you need it:
  • Student Health and Wellness Center
  • Schedule a support consultation at the Graduate School.
    
    
• Participate in the Master's Writing Retreat or Dissertation Studio.
  
  
• Follow the Graduate School's graduation process.

• Reflect (again) on your skills, experiences, and values.
  • Remember that employers have identified leadership, problem solving, confidence, critical thinking, global awareness, communication, entrepreneurship, social responsibility, and teamwork as important skills for new hires.
  • Identify your experiences and accomplishments that demonstrate these and other skills.
  • Practice sharing an illustration of each of these skills for a potential job interview.

• Perfect your professional documents.
  • Edit your documents at the Writing Center ( or ).
  • Get college-specific resume help at the Career Center.
  • Ask a mentor for feedback on your resume and CV and help crafting cover letters.
  • .

• Look and sound the part.
  • Revise and practice your elevator speech.
  • If you are applying for certain academic jobs, ask your mentor for help preparing and practicing your "job talk."
  • Know your context and its norms around attire, grooming, and formality.
  • Prepare your  (Students can borrow a professional outfit from the Career Closet.)
  • Brainstorm likely interview questions and practice answering them. Be sure to use specific examples to highlight the abovementioned skills!

• If you are a PhD student (especially in the natural sciences) consider whether a postdoc is () right for you.  provides information for and graduate students considering a postdoctoral fellowship. ()
  
  
• Use  to research potential employers. (Its company search includes company profiles, directories, and industry overviews.) 
  
  
• Consider working as a public servant.

• Think about a career in the non-profit sector.

• Consider international opportunities.
  • Peace Corps (UTEP Office)

• Explore jobs in North American higher education.

• Other Resources:
  • UTEP Career Center Job Search Strategies
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• Tell your colleagues (and your social media networks) that you're on the job market.
  
  
• Most professional organizations have a job site or listserve. Make sure you're in the loop.
  
  
• Ask your mentors and colleagues about opportunities.
  
  
• Use seminars, events, and conferences as opportunities to search for job openings and promote yourself.
  
  
• Send follow-up emails and thank you cards to folks who refer, help, or interview you.