Career Events

GRADFair

GRADFair is the annual fall career fair exclusively for graduate students, postdocs, and recent graduate alumni. Attendees can network with employers, learn more about various career paths, and find internships and full-time jobs. GRADFair 2020 will take place on October 15, 2020 from 3:30 to 7:00 pm, virtually, within GRAD Gargoyle.

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

This year’s GRADFair will focus mostly on careers in business and industry areas such as data science, finance, healthcare, consulting, and technology, and will feature a diverse array of employers seeking advanced-degree candidates across a variety of disciplines. Student registration will open on September 15, 2020.

• Learn about companies that hire UChicago advanced degree recipients
• Grow your network with alumni and recruiters from a variety of employers
• Strengthen your job applications by making personal connections

Are you planning to attend GRADFair 2020? View a list of Frequently Asked Questions.

GRADUCon is the university’s annual spring career conference for graduate students, postdocs, and recent graduate alumni. The event features a full day of panel discussions, distinguished guest speakers, 1-on-1 chats, and informal networking sessions.

GRADUCon 2021 will be held virtually on Thursday and Friday, April 1st and 2nd, 2021. Please click here for more information regarding the schedule and panel descriptions. Current UChicago graduate students, postdocs, and alumni of graduate programs can RSVP in GRAD Gargoyle.

Each year GRADUCon brings together hundreds of graduate students, postdocs, and alumni from across UChicago’s divisions and professional schools. The event inspires attendees with alumni stories and empowers them to take steps toward their professional goals. What can you get out of GRADUCon?

• Develop a clearer vision of your ideal career
• Identify the transferable skills that you are developing in the course of your academic work
• Learn concrete next steps that you can take to launch your job search
• Engage in cross-disciplinary and cross-program conversations about job markets and career skills
• Connect with alumni who have been in your shoes

The annual Science and Engineering Industry Expo is an intimate recruitment and career exploration event that connects employers in industry and government to UChicago PhD students and postdocs in chemistry, physics, chemical biology, biophysics, molecular engineering, computer science, and related disciplines. Employers promote their organizations and screen candidates via a variety of one-on-one and group interactions. Past events have included short company presentations, panel discussions, networking, and speed chats or interviews.

The 2020 Science and Engineering Industry Expo took place entirely online on September 11th, 2020! We facilitated 1-on-1 video chats or interviews between employers and UChicago PhD students and postdocs, as well as short company presentations.

EMPLOYERS:

The 2020 event was free to attend, and was conducted 100% virtually. Most companies have 1-2 representatives attend though you can certainly have more participate. While not all companies 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 about future iterations of this event, please contact Briana Konnick at bkonnick@uchicago.edu.

PHD STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS:

The Science and Engineering Industry Expo was held virtually on September 11th, 2020!

Employers in attedance: Argonne National Lab, BMS, Cabot Microelectronics, Citrine Informatics, D.E. Shaw Research, Google, Honeywell, IBM Quantum, Institute for Defense Analysis, Nalco Water, PPG Industries, Sinocare

Important Dates:

• Scientific Industry Resume Workshop on September 2, 2020 (RSVP through GRAD Gargoyle)
• Prep session on September 4, 2020 (RSVP through GRAD Gargoyle)
• Register and have your resume in the GRAD Gargoyle system by September 7, 2020

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

1-on-1 Video Chats: Not all attending employers are actively trying to fill a current open position, so these video chats may be more informational.

Registration for the 2021 event is not yet open. Check back closer to the event.

INDUSTRY EXPO 2019 RECAP – September 6, 2019

Employers in attendance: Argonne, Cabot Microelectronics, Citrine, Ecolab/Nalco, IBM Quantum*, Intel, Shimadzu, Solvay, and Tempus (*sponsor)

• Facilitated ~90 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
  • 100% agreed or strongly agreed that the people they interviewed were appropriate and a good match
• Over 80 PhD students and postdocs attended the 2019 event. Trainee survey highlights:
  • 75% either agreed or strongly agreed that they felt satisfied with the event overall
  • 81% either agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend this event to a peer/friend

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

BSD Alumni Career Forum

The myCHOICE BSD Alumni Career Forum is an annual event sponsored by UChicagoGRAD, myCHOICE, and the BSD Alumni Association. It is a full day 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 perspectives and advice through panel discussions, one-on-one conversations, and lunch round-table chats. The 7th annual myCHOICE BSD Alumni Career Forum took place entirely virtually from September 22-30th, 2020.

Data Science and Business Analytics Career Fair

The 2021 Data Science and Business Analytics Career Fair will be held virtually on Thursday, February 25th from 3:30-7pm. Student registration is currently open in GRAD Gargoyle.

EMPLOYERS: If you are interested in participating in a future fair or would like more information, please visit the employer information page. The 2020 DSBA Career Fair featured 40 employers and was attended by 247 students. Whether your organization is looking for full-time employees or interns, this fair is a great way to meet quantitative and computational advanced-degree talent from University of Chicago. Participants will include students from these programs:

• MS in Analytics
• MS in Computer Science
• MS in Statistics
• MS in Financial Mathematics
• MA in Computational Social Science
• MS in Computational Analysis & Public Policy
• PhD students and postdocs in physical sciences and engineering (statistics, computer science, physics, molecular engineering, etc.)

Questions about the event? Visit our FAQ page.