GRADUCon

GRADUCon

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

GRADUCon 2020 was held on Friday, April 3rd, 2020.

Information for GRADUCon 2021 coming soon!

GRADUCon has several central objectives:

  • Empower graduate students and postdocs 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 and postdocs 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 and postdocs with advanced-degree alumni

Please see below for more information regarding upcoming and past GRADUCon schedules and panel details.

Graducon 2019 at I-House Panel discussion: Careers in Consulting Moderator Pam Schilling, left to right, Anna Chen, Karen Wasserman, Andrew Kirkley, Brittany Hayden. (photo by Anne Ryan)

 

GRADUCon 2020 - April 3rd, 2020

The 11th annual GRADUCon was held on Friday April 3rd, 2020.

In light of recommendations with COVID-19, we moved all panels and the keynote address online for GRADUCon 2020.

Click below to hear audio recordings of the individual panels! (Please note it may take several seconds for the recording to fully load)

SCHEDULE

9:00 – 10:20AM: Panel Discussions, Session I

10:30AM – 11:50AM: Panel Discussions, Session II

12:00 – 12:50PM: Keynote

1:00 – 2:20PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

2:30 – 3:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session IV

GRADUCon 2019

The 10th annual GRADUCon took place on April 5th, 2019. Please find details for the panels and schedule below.

8:30AM: Registration Opens

9:00 – 10:20AM: Panel Discussions, Session I

10:30AM – 11:50AM: Panel Discussions, Session II

12:00 – 12:50PM: Lunch & Keynote

1:00 – 2:20PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

2:30 – 3:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session IV

4:00 – 5:00PM: Reception

GRADUCon 2018

The 9th annual GRADUCon took place on April 6th, 2018. Please find details for the panels and schedule below.

9:00AM: Registration Opens

10:00 – 11:20AM: Panel Discussions, Session I

11:30AM – 12:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session II

1:00 – 1:50PM: Lunch & Keynote

2:00 – 3:20PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

3:30 – 4:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session IV

5:00 – 6:30PM: Reception

GRADUCon 2017

The 8th annual GRADUCon took place on April 7th, 2017. Please find details for the panels and schedule below.

9:00AM: Registration Opens

10:00 – 11:20AM: Panel Discussions, Session I

  • Big Data in the Tech Industry
  • Careers in Think Tanks
  • Careers in Museums
  • LinkedIn Best Practices Workshop

11:30AM – 12:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session II

  • What is Data Science?
  • Working at Liberal Arts Colleges
  • Science Communication Careers
  • Careers in Nonprofits
  • Negotiation Best Practices Workshop

12:50 – 1:50PM: Lunch

2:00 – 3:20PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

  • Careers in Financial Services
  • Careers in Entrepreneurship
  • Industry Research Careers for Scientists
  • Where Else Can I Teach?
  • Careers in Local Government

3:30 – 4:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session IV

  • Careers in Consulting
  • First Year as Faculty (Humanities/Social Sciences)
  • First Year as Faculty (STEM)

5:00 – 6:30PM: Reception

GRADUCon 2016

UChicagoGRAD’s 7th Annual GRADUCon took place on Friday April 8th, 2016, and saw 360 student/postdoctoral attendees from just about every graduate school and division on campus.

By the numbers:

  • 360 Student and Postdoc Attendees

  • 85 Alumni, Staff, and Faculty speakers and interviewers

  • 225 one-on-one conversations between alumni and current trainees

Panel Topics included:

  • Careers in Data Science

  • Industry Research Careers for Scientists

  • Opportunities in Healthcare

  • Academic Careers: First Year As Faculty

  • Academic Careers: Teaching at Liberal Arts Colleges

  • Careers in Communications

  • Careers in Libraries

  • Careers in Nonprofits

  • Careers in Tech

  • Careers in User Experience Research

  • Careers in the Federal Government

  • Careers in the Financial Services Industry

  • Consulting Careers

  • Smarter Cities: Leveraging Graduate Student Skills

GRADUCon 2015

UChicagoGRAD’s 6th Annual GRADUCon took place on Friday April 9th, 2015.

By the numbers:

  • 350 Student and Postdoc Attendees
  • 75 Alumni, Staff, and Faculty speakers and interviewers

Schedule for the day:

9:30 AM: Registration

10:00AM – Workshops

  • Resume Workshop

  • The Academic Job Market Cover Letter

  • Mock Interviews

NOON – 1:00PM – Lunch

1:00 – 2:15PM: Panel Discussions, Session I

  • Secondary Education

  • Skills for Nonprofits

  • Careers in Data Science

  • Women in STEM Careers

  • Academic Hybrid Careers

2:30 – 3:45PM: Panel Discussions, Session II

  • Government Research Careers for Scientists

  • Careers in Finance

  • Social Enterprise

  • Careers in International Relations

  • Digital Pedagogies

4:00 – 5:15PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

  • Year One as Faculty

  • Careers in Consulting

  • LinkedIn

5:15 – 7:00PM: Networking Reception

GRADUCon 2014

UChicagoGRAD’s 5th Annual GRADUCon took place on Friday April 10th, 2014.

By the numbers:

  • 280 Student and Postdoc Attendees

  • 50 Alumni Attendees

Schedule for the day:

10:00AM: Registration

10:30AM: Workshops

  • Resume Best Practices

  • Academic Mock-Interview

NOON – 1:30PM – LUNCH WITH ALUMNI

1:30 – 2:30PM: Panel Discussions, Session I

  • Women in the Sciences: Addressing Common Challenges

  • The Digital Humanities: What Students Need (and don’t need) to Know

  • Using LinkedIn (an Introduction and Refresher)

  • Faculty of Color Panel: Career Paths and Navigating Tenure

2:45 – 3:45PM: Panel Discussions, Session II

  • Research Jobs in the Sciences

  • Making an Impact with Innovation

  • Careers in Art Museums

  • Careers in K-12 Education

4:00 – 4:45PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

  • Careers in Community Colleges

  • Careers in Libraries

  • Working Abroad: Finding and Pursuing Opportunities

  • Financial Services Recruiter Panel

5:00 – 7:00PM: Networking Reception with Alumni