After a successful pilot in 2022, PhD Career Connect is now accepting applications for its next iteration (March-May 2023). A first of its kind in Canada, the program provides eight weeks of job preparedness training then brings together PhD students, recent graduates and postdocs with employers from the private, public and non-profit sectors to network and explore a wide range of career opportunities.
Integrating PhD students into the labour market
At its core PhD Career Connect seeks to address two important barriers that have been keeping PhD students from fully integrating into the labour market.
The first is developing skills that PhD students may not acquire while pursuing their degree, such as the ability to work in teams, networking skills and talking about their research to a non-academic audience.
The second is employer perception of PhD students, many of whom are unaware of the value graduate students can bring to their workforce.
Mengshu Cheng recently completed her PhD in communications studies and took part in the program last year. She has recently started working as an analyst at a market research company thanks to the connections she made at PhD Career Connect.