The Career Design Workshop Series is a four-week sequence of one-hour professional development workshops for graduate students.
The workshops are designed to address doctoral and postdoctoral fellows’ career goals beyond academia by engaging in discussions and activities that help them plan and start implementing their professional goals.
Starting Summer 2025, the series will be composed of two tracks running simultaneously from June 3 to July 3:
- Career Exploration — every Tuesday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Career Exploration track is geared to those in the early stages of learning and identifying possible roles to pursue.
- Job Acquisition —every Wednesday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Job Acquisition track is geared toward those who have identified roles to pursue and are ready to market themselves to employers.
Note: There will be no class on June 17 and 18.
Students can sign up for one or both tracks.
Workshops will be held in-person and students are encouraged to attend all classes in their chosen track. This allows students to build upon concepts and material discussed in the previous class.
Students are encouraged to register as soon as possible as space is limited.
Postdoctoral fellows and professional and master's students can register, but preference will be given to PhD students. Applicants will be reviewed and will receive an email confirming successful registration to the workshop.
Summer 2025 Sessions
Registration for the Summer 2025 term is now at maximum capacity. If you are interested in participating in the summer workshops, please fill out the survey linked below to be put on a waitlist.
Instructor
- Karen Chow
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Karen Chow is the Graduate Career and Professional Development Manager on the Graduate Studies team. She is responsible for overseeing a comprehensive suite of programs focused on graduate professional development, with a particular emphasis on supporting doctoral students in their career pathways.
This includes leading the Career Design Workshop, managing Interstride for specialized career exploration support for both international and domestic students, and overseeing Graduate Career Foundations, which helps students build essential career-readiness competencies for success beyond graduation.
Prior to the University of Pittsburgh, Karen served as a learning scientist at Duolingo where her contributions to the development and successful launch of a new music learning app earned recognition in TIME’s “Best Inventions of 2023”. She has also co-sponsored and led various professional development programs as part of University of Pennsylvania's Data Driven Discovery Initiative.
Karen holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology and an MA in Psychology from the University at Buffalo.
If you have any questions, please reach out to graduate@pitt.edu.
Weekly Schedule
Career Exploration Workshops
Week 1: Finding Meaningful Work
Identify skills, interests, and values that will guide career exploration and decision-making
Week 2: Leveraging Your Strengths as a Graduate Degree Holder
Create your definition of success and find evidence of transferrable skills you would like to use in a future career
Week 3: Options for Success
Explore the breadth of career options available for people with graduate degrees
Week 4: Envisioning a Future Self
Evaluate how different career options align with your skills, interests and values through informational interviewing
Job Acquisition Workshops
Week 1: Building Your Team and Job Search Strategy
Identify where you are on the job search journey and a create a professional development support network
Week 2: Socializing Your Value to the Public
Learn how to present yourself as a professional and communicate how you can add value
Week 3: Networking for Newbies
Develop a networking strategy that works for you, gives you confidence, while expanding your connections
Week 4: Creating a Toolkit for Tackling Interviews
Practice answering the most common interview questions and develop a framework for talking about yourself