Graduate students used to ask me the same questions: “What are the jobs outside academia? And how do we prepare for them?”
They wanted to understand the full range of opportunities with government agencies, NGOs and industry. It wasn’t that their other professors weren’t supportive of these ambitions. Then, as now, faculty were deeply invested in mentoring students but most had built their careers within academia so their guidance was focused on how to succeed as professors. Many graduate students felt that the academic job market was flooded and wanted to explore applied work.
Students’ career uncertainty resonated with me. During my PhD at Cornell University, I decided not to follow a traditional academic path (although I later changed course). While still in graduate school, I started a consulting business and worked directly with conservation organisations to design and apply research. As a professor, I wanted to help soon-to-be college graduates. I pitched a new course – Advanced Careers in Conservation – to give graduate students in my own and adjacent departments the tools, skills and connections to explore the many possibilities beyond academia.
Our approach is easily transferrable and replicable in other disciplines and academic institutions.
Learning how to explore
The course blends practical career skills with exposure to professionals in the field. We quickly learned that one of the most impactful components is learning how to conduct informational interviews. For many graduate students, reaching out to someone whose career they admire can feel intimidating. We cover everything from how to identify who to contact and how to make the initial ask to how to ask meaningful questions, how to follow up and tips for maintaining the relationship.
- Prepare your students for the job market: part one
- Alumna, alumnus, alumni: how can graduates influence current and future students?
- Assessing career action plans: improving graduate employability
These conversations serve a few purposes: they expand students’ networks, they teach them to think critically about career options and they help identify what they need to do to be competitive for jobs they might want. Many are surprised to learn how non-linear most professionals’ paths are. Careers in conservation rarely follow a straight line, and hearing that first-hand is reassuring, even eye-opening.
We also talk about professional skills that students might not have been taught elsewhere: writing polished emails and cover letters, using job-search sites such as LinkedIn effectively, and articulating how their graduate training translates to applied settings.
Meeting people in the field
Each semester, we invite 10 to 15 professionals to join us, usually via Zoom. They come from NGOs, consulting firms, state and federal agencies, and other corners of the conservation field nationally and internationally. Students hear not only about the technical skills required but about the day-to-day realities of the work. What is fulfilling about a role in a state agency? What are the challenges of consulting? What skills are needed to thrive in NGO work? Considering these aspects of a career matter.
Projects that lead to opportunities
The class culminates in a project where each student chooses a career area to explore, interviews three to five professionals, and shares their insights with the group. This way, everyone benefits from everyone else’s research. Students also learn that it’s important to hear from multiple perspectives because each person will have a different experience within the same type of job.
Sometimes these conversations lead directly to jobs. More often, they spark connections that blossom into opportunities months or years later. Alumni who once took the course now return to speak in it. Employers discover talented students. And the university strengthens ties with conservation organisations around the world.
Making the most of campus resources
Career resources are often hiding in plain sight on campus, and part of our role as instructors is to shine a light on the broader ecosystem of support that the university offers. Academics and educators can point graduate students towards the career services office, graduate school or library, which may offer tailored workshops and training options – from writing professional CVs to honing interview skills.
Within colleges, alumni relations staff can be further sources of valuable allies, connecting students with alum eager to mentor or hire the next generation.
Use networks to connect careers support
The academic job market is tight across disciplines, and graduate students everywhere are wondering what’s next. Departments interested in replicating this model don’t need one faculty member with all the connections. Networks can be built, with faculty drawing on their own contacts in different sectors. Career services offices, alumni relations teams and graduate schools can all be valuable partners. And an interdisciplinary approach ensures that the classroom reflects the diversity of career options students will encounter and serves the breadth of student interests.
Putting students’ goals first
This work starts with listening when students look for help, and to ask, in return, what they want. Our responsibility as faculty is to support students in charting their own paths, not to funnel them into ours. For me, that has meant creating a space that demystifies jobs within the wider conservation field, helps students develop practical skills and connects them with professionals who inspire them.
Ashley Dayer is professor of human dimensions in the department of fish and wildlife conservation, a Global Change Center-affiliated faculty member and runs the Dayer Human Dimensions Lab at Virginia Tech.
If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.
comment