Career Events

GRADFair is the annual fall career fair exclusively for graduate students, postdocs, and recent graduate alumni. Attendees can find internships and full-time jobs, network with employers, and learn about future opportunities.

*If you are an EMPLOYER interested in participating, please visit the GRADFair for Employers page for more info.

Graduate students and postdocs that attend GRADFair have the opportunity to…

• Learn about companies that hire UChicago advanced degree recipients
• Grow your network with alumni and recruiters from diverse employers
• Strengthen your job applications by making personal connections
• Enhance your online profile with *FREE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS* 

GRADFair 2019 will take place on October 17th.

View Frequently Asked Questions (from GRADFair 2018)

GRADUCon is the university’s annual spring career conference for graduate students, postdocs, and recent graduate alumni. The event features a full day of distinguished guest speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and informal networking sessions. Please click here for more information regarding the schedule and panel descriptions.

2019’s event will feature panel discussions on:

Please note: tentative, and subject to changes

• Careers in Data Science
• Careers in Think Tanks
• Careers in Museums & Cultural Institutions
• Business of Science
• Careers in Intelligence
• Education and Literacy Nonprofits
• U.S. Job Search for International Students
• Careers in the Quantitative Finance
• Careers in User Experience
• Industry Research Careers for Scientists
• Careers in NGOs
• Careers in Consulting
• Publishing Careers
• First Year as Faculty (Humanities/Social Sciences)
• First Year as Faculty (STEM)
• Keynote: Career Decision Points

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Graduate students, employers, and alumni interested in more information should visit the GRADUCon homepage. They should also feel free to contact Michael Tessel at UChicagoGRAD.

GRADUCon has several central objectives:

• Empower graduate students in their career search by helping to identify the transferable skills that they are developing in the course of their academic work.
• Provide concrete takeaways from the event, giving graduate students specific next steps in their job search and a clearer vision of their career trajectory.
• Foster cross-disciplinary and cross-program conversations about various job markets and career skills.
• Connect graduate students with alumni of graduate programs.

Graduate students and postdocs with ideas about panel discussions or input about potential speakers should feel free to contact the conference planning committee directly.

The Science and Engineering Industry Expo is an annual, intimate recruitment and career exploration event, connecting UChicago PhD students and postdocs in chemistry, physics, chemical biology, biophysics, molecular engineering, computer science, and related disciplines to employers in industry and government.

Employers promote their organization and screen candidates in a variety of one-on-one interactions including: short presentations, a career panel, networking lunch, and speed interviews.

Tentative Event Schedule:

8:30-9:15am – Breakfast and Check-in
9:15-9:30am – Welcome
9:30-noon – Group 1 Employer Presentations and Panel
9:30-noon – Speed Interviews
Noon-1:30pm – Networking Lunch
1:30-4pm – Group 2 Employer Presentations and Panel
1:30-4pm – Speed Interviews
4-5pm – Wrap up and thank you

EMPLOYERS:

This event is free to attend, although we do offer sponsorship levels which afford certain perks. Most companies send 1-2 people to attend, and while not all are actively recruiting for specific positions, they utilize the event to create more awareness for their company and to build connections within our trainee population.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact Briana Konnick at bkonnick@uchicago.edu. Registration for the 2019 event is now open! Register here. 

PHD STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS:

The Science and Engineering Industry Expo will be held on September 6th, 2019! You do not need to be currently searching for a position to attend this event.

You must submit a two-page resume by the time registration closes either directly to Briana Konnick by email or through the GRAD Gargoyle system. A suggested template for this event is here, but you do not HAVE to use this version. Whatever you submit, please keep it to two pages. If you have this document ready, please upload it into your documents in GRAD Gargoyle before you RSVP. Then, when you RSVP (Events > Career Fairs), you will be able to select the resume from your document archive.

• Scientific Industry Resume Workshop on August 14, 2019 (RSVP through GRAD Gargoyle)
• Registration for this event will close on August 23, 2019 by midnight
• Sign-ups for 1-on-1 speed interviews will occur from August 26-29, 2019
• Mandatory prep session with lunch on August 30, 2019

Eligibility: The Industry Expo is open to PhD students and postdocs in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Molecular Engineering, Computer Science, JFI, KAVLI, Physics, and Geophysical Sciences

Speed Interviews: Not all attending employers are actively trying to fill a current open position, so these speed interviews can be more informational.

INDUSTRY EXPO 2018 RECAP – September 21, 2018

Employers in attendance: Argonne, BASF, Cabot Microelectronics, Citrine, Civis Analytics, D.E. Shaw Research*, Honeywell, IBM, Nalco/EcoLab, Shimadzu, Solvay*, and Tempus (*sponsor)

• Facilitated ~160 1-on-1 speed interviews between employers and PhD students/postdocs
• Employer survey highlights:
  • 100% agreed or strongly agreed that they are interested in participating again
  • 100% agreed or strongly agreed that attending was a good use of their time
  • 80% agreed or strongly agreed that the people they interviewed were appropriate and a good match
• Over 70 PhD students and postdocs attended the 2018 event. Trainee survey highlights:
  • 97% either agreed or strongly agreed that they felt satisfied with the event overall
  • 95% either agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend this event to a peer/friend

SPONSORS of 2018 Industry Expo:

The myCHOICE BSD Alumni Career Forum is an annual event sponsored by UChicagoGRAD, myCHOICE, and the BSD Alumni Association. It is a full-day event focused on career exploration for biological sciences PhD students and postdocs. Every year, we bring back 20+ alumni with a range of career paths to share their perspective and advice through panel discussions, one-on-one conversations, and lunch round-table chats.

STUDENTS: more details to come soon! Student registration is now open! (Note that when registration fills up at 200, there will be a wait list available in GRAD Gargoyle under Events>GRAD Events)

EMPLOYERS: Registration is now open! If you are interested in participating, please visit this page for more info.