Online Exploration Resources
ImaginePhD is a career planning tool for advanced degrees in the humanities and social sciences, featuring skills, interests, and values assessments that introduce 165 different job families identified through national PhD career outcome data. Each job family includes exploration and application resources like job boards, sample resumes, job simulations, and individual profiles. Create an individual development plan to establish a timeline for your goals in your degree and your career exploration.
Creating an individual development plan, or IDP, can help you identify skills, interests, and values, while tracking career goals and accomplishments. Career planning tools such as MyIDP and ChemIDP walk you through the process.
VersatilePhD is a career exploration tool for careers in industry, nonprofit, government, and business. It features career stories and application documents from PhDs who successfully transitioned into these fields. The platform also features webinars, online career exploration courses, discussion forums, and job boards. To access UT Austin’s subscription to this premium platform, log in with your UT EID.
Aurora is a career education tool for careers in academia, industry, nonprofit, government, and business. It features a video library of interviews with PhDs and online career exploration and preparation courses. Visit the Beyond the Professoriate page, select University of Texas at Austin and log in to Aurora.
Intersect is an online platform for PhD-level humanists and scientists to explore future career options through experiential projects. Job simulations offer insight into the specific, real-life duties of varying career paths. After completing a job simulation exercise, you will be able to determine if you would like to further pursue the career field before committing energy and time to an internship or additional training. The simulations are not meant to replace an internship or externship experience or a formal course, but to give you an idea of what kind of experience you want to invest in next.
PHaSS-IDP is a free online career exploration and planning tool for graduate students and postdocs interested in health-related careers in the social sciences and some humanities. The PHaSS-IDP provides a systematic and organized approach for self-reflection of skills, career tasks, values, and mission, as well as career clusters for learning about interrelated roles, and a clear framework for creating an Individual Development Plan.
Informational interviews are a way to learn more about careers of interests by asking individuals about their professional experience. To find connections, request informational interviews, and develop strategies for these conversations, revisit our resources online.
Experiential learning opportunities include internships, part-time positions, projects, and contract and freelance-based work. These experiences build valuable skills, while allowing you to assess your interest in pursuing the work full-time.
Experiences & Internships