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It is no secret that the job market is changing. Changes to funding for higher education, institutional restructuring, and the repercussions of generative AI have all destabilized traditional employment pathways, further complicating what is often considered a binary for many PhD students: “Pursue academia, or roles in other industries?” Given the uncertainties, this year’s Graduate Career Diversity Symposium will focus on the question: What does it take to get hired in a complex market?

The 2025 theme, Getting Hired, addresses several topics over the course of a full day event to serve this purpose. Our keynote speaker, Dr. L. Maren Wood, PhD, will share her expertise in navigating job market twists and turns. Guests, including recent alums who secured diverse positions outside of academia, will share their experience. And our concurrent sessions will center on graduate career development concerns, how-to, and strategy for engaging the job market.

Job search skills and planning are essential for everyone, no matter your discipline or your career direction. No matter where you are in graduate school, Getting Hired will help you engage in job search preparation, both now and in the future. We hope you are as excited as we are to connect and to enhance your knowledge, skills, and abilities to get hired!

Agenda:

8:15 - 9:00 AM Check in and continental breakfast in the Frangipani Room 

9:00 - 9:15 AM Welcome
9:15 - 10:15 AM Opening Panel: Getting Hired: Insights from Graduate Alums Who Recently Secured Diverse Positions
10:15 - 10:30 AM Break
10:30 - 10:45 AM Remarks and keynote introduction, David Daleke, Dean of the University Graduate School - Bloomington
10:45 - 11:45 AM Keynote address, How Graduate Students and PhDs Can Stand Out in Today's AI-Driven Job Market, Dr. L. Maren Wood, Director and CEO, The Center for Graduate Career Success
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM Lunch, and 12:15 - 12:45 PM Three Minute Thesis 

1:00 - 2:00 PM Concurrent Sessions Round 1 in the Tree Suites
Leveraging Your Teaching Experience on the Job Search
Beyond Graduate School: An Overview of the Beyond Curriculum for Master's Students
What Was it Like to Interview? Round Tables with Recent Graduate Alums
Applicant Tracking Systems & Beyond: Getting the Interview and Telling Your Story

2:00 - 2:15 PM Break

2:15 - 3:15 PM Concurrent Sessions Round 2 in the Tree Suites
Strategic Networking: Building Social Capital for Career Success
Beyond the Professoriate: An Overview of the Beyond Curriculum for PhD Students and Postdocs
AI & the Job Hunt: Navigating the Future of Work
Thriving in U.S. Workplaces: Understanding Culture and Building Professional Networks

3:15 - 4:15 PM Networking and refreshments in the Tree Suite Lobby

A fundamental principle of a thesis or dissertation (required by all graduate research degrees) is the identification and application of relevant sources of information to address well-defined research questions.  

This can take many forms: The synthesis of large data sets to develop conclusions and reports based on findings; the design and analysis of surveys and experiments; the collection and coding of qualitative data to draw conclusions; the articulation and management of budgets, logistical plans, and events—all of these are common to the graduate student experience. By accomplishing these things through their training, graduate students gain valuable skillsets in data and analysis with broad transferability beyond the academy. The 2024 Graduate Career Diversity Symposium focused on this aspect of graduate education and highlighted ways in which these advanced skills serve graduate students in diverse career pathways.