Some of the characteristics of a successful job or internship search are very similar to launching a successful new business or venture. Both require taking initiative and being proactive, finding ways to stand out and differentiate yourself, and being resilient and adaptable if your first plan doesn’t come together. Your job or internship search is a "contact sport" where making professional connections will help you through every step of the process.
Job & Internship Search
- Starting a job or internship remotely? See the OCS guides to Making the Most of a Virtual Internship and Making the Most of your Virtual Full-Time Role.
- Read the OCS Networked Job Search publication (pdf).
- Explore a field through a January Experience or a site visit/trek to an organization during winter break.
- Read The Harvard Guide to Your Job Search publication.
- Read the OCS Navigating Your Summer publication.
- Attend Career Fairs.
- Search online databases for job or internship listings:
- Consider Harvard's Campus Interview Program.
- Visit Harvard's Student Employment Office for term-time and summer employment opportunities
- Consider participating in MIT’s OCI Program if you are an engineering concentrator (available through a reciprocal arrangement between our two institutions).
- Take stock of the skills you have and those you wish to develop using the OCS Skills Tracker.
- Learn about requests for internship course credit.
- Read the HES Build Your Network publication (pdf).
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Search online databases:
- Crimson Careers, UCAN.
- Vault (career guides and more).
- Consider Harvard's On-Campus Interview Program.
- Attend networking webinars.
- Attend Positioning Your Extension School Degree to Employers webinar.
- Attend Career Fairs.
- Explore ProFellow - a database with 1000+ fellowship programs
- Meet with an adviser
Ready to begin applying for jobs? OCS advisers provide support and resources to help you prepare for and engage in a proactive job search, whether within or beyond academia.
Nonacademic
- What You Can be with a PhD – Discover many career options you might consider, and see a sampling of post-PhD jobs Harvard alumni have landed. Work with OCS to imagine your own possibilities!
- Read the OCS Building Professional Connections publication (pdf)
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Attend nonacademic job search workshops and webinars on topics such as:
- Resumes and Cover Letters
- Networking
- Career Fairs
- Behavioral Interviews
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Explore options:
- Versatile Ph.D. (successful job search documents, career transition narratives, career panel discussions)
- Career Pathways (tailored resource for diverse industry clusters, targeted towards undergraduates, but relevant to grad students)
- Vault (career guides and more)
- Imagine Ph.D. (career self-assessment and exploration for humanities and social sciences)
- myIDP (career self-assessment and exploration for those in the sciences)
- Attend Career Fairs, relevant to your interests.
- Search Crimson Careers (OCS online jobs & internships database).
- Consider Harvard's Campus Interview Program.
- Explore these useful external links, a compilation of career exploration and job search links for Academic and Nonacademic careers.
- For help with your job/internship strategy, come in to GSAS drop-in advising most Wednesdays from 1-4pm, or schedule an appointment through Crimson Careers.
Academic
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Attend Becoming Faculty workshops including:
- Craft and Tailor Your CV and Cover Letter
- Going on the Academic Market
- Preparing for Conference, Phone and Skype Interviews
- Preparing for Campus Interviews
- The View from the Search Committee
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Real-Life Stories from the Academic Job Search
- Check the OCS Events Calendar for details
- Learn about Interfolio to manage your academic job search materials, especially letters of reference.
- Explore these useful external links, a compilation of career exploration and job search links for Academic and Nonacademic careers.
