Beyond the Professoriate Certification

Professional Career Strategies

Successful completion of the Professional Career Strategy badges ensure PhDs recognize their transferable skills, articulate their abilities to nonacademic employers, and apply proven professional strategies in their chosen career.

Any PhD who intends on pursuing a nonacademic career will benefit from completing the certification through Beyond the Professoriate. It provides necessary training for a successful non-academic job search, including:

  • preparation for career exploration
  • creating application documents
  • interviewing confidently
  • negotiating a job offer
  • identifying an appropriate career path
  • and applying effective networking strategies and social media engagement.

PhDs earn a badge for completing each career exploration course (Discovery Stage and Research Stage), and each module in the Implementation Stage. Completion of the courses and modules will take approximately 30 hours. 

For doctoral students and postdocs certification will:

  • Empower you to make informed career choices.

Not all employment opportunities are created equal. Certification prepares you to assess your best career fit where you’ll thrive.

  • Build, grow, and expand your professional network.
Most people find their job through their network. Certification will teach you how to authentically build and grow a community that will help you during your career transition.
  • Recognize and articulate your skills to build an impactful career.
We often consider the academic tasks we perform, but not the skills we develop. Certification demonstrates you’ve considered the development of transferable skills and can describe them to an employer
  • Increase your confidence

You’ll be more confident as you navigate the path to employment.  You’ll know what your skills are and the value you bring to potential employers.

  • Expand your career prospects

Completion of the program of study demonstrates to potential employers that you’re committed to transitioning out of academia.

For graduate programs:

Universities that support graduate student skill enhancement, identify graduate student experience as a key priority, and include professional development for graduate students in their strategic plans should offer the Certification to their students. Certification is available through the Beyond the Professoriate PhD Career Training Platform.

The badges in the Professional Career Strategies:

  • Prepare PhDs and Postdocs for securing employment outside of academia.
  • Create employable PhDs who can articulate their transferable skills.
  • Complement existing on-campus graduate student career supports.
  • Promote engaged learning through reflective activities that encourage students to apply what they’ve learned.
  • Offer recorded lessons, reflective prompts, and assessments that guide the student experience and foster user engagement.