The scope of preparation for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars is evolving to keep pace with the dynamic shifts in academia and society. Professional development (PD) plays a crucial role in this evolution, equipping students with a broad range of essential competencies for their future careers. Engage in PD to build confidence and develop into a versatile professional positioned to thrive in academia and beyond.

IDP Benefits

The Individual Development Plan (IDP) helps you reflect, plan, and report working toward achieving your academic and professional goals.

 Mobilize toward your goals

Create a map of where you want to go and how you plan to get there

 Enhance the mastery of your disciplinary skills

Acquire insights, experience, and understanding of your desired industry

 Career evaluation

Explore and evaluate your career choices, taking into account your skills, interests and values

 Career preparation

Identify your strengths, areas for development, and areas of focus required for your chosen career path

 

 Facilitate conversation

Facilitate conversations with your supervisor, committee, and mentors around your development and career progression

 Guide networking

Direct where you want to build industry connections and networks to facilitate achieving goals

 Plan activities

Prioritize day-to-day activities, coursework, projects, extracurricular activities, and professional development opportunities based on their relevance and alignment with your goals

Download the Grad Student IDP Template

Get Postdoc Scholar IDP Info

Career Progression Skills

Discover PD designed to enhance your expertise in six pivotal competency areas tailored to empower you with the skills necessary to excel in today’s fast-paced academic and professional landscapes.

  • Professional Communication
  • Intercultural Engagement
  • Project Management
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Ideation & Entrepreneurial Thinking
  • Leadership

Graduate faculty, ask us about integrating ProSkills into your graduate curriculum with premade and easy-to-use modules in these core competency areas.  

Visit CGPS' PAWS channel (must be signed in to PAWS using your NSID and password) to download and incorporate professional skills content.

Career Exploration

In an innovative approach to preparing graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to adapt to the job market, the College of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies has partnered with Beyond the Professoriate providing free access to the Beyond the Professoriate (BtP) career-exploration platform.

Leaving academia can feel like a big, mysterious step into the unknown. After years of being successful in academia, it can be daunting and overwhelming to launch a professional job search. The BtPjob market and professional careers online exploration and planning tool offers 2 programs of study to help students learn successful job search strategies: 

  1. the Academic Careers Pathway program
  2. the Professional Careers Pathway program

All USask BtP users have access to a one-of-a-kind video library where students can watch interviews with PhDs working in all sectors: academia, government, higher education administration, industry, and non-profits as well as all access to Beyond the Professoriate events and platform support. 

Get Started.

Seamlessly integrated with USask's Learning Management System, our LevelUP dashboard offers you a diverse selection of professional development (PD) options. Choose from a variety of self-directed or face-to-face offerings tailored to your needs. Sign up!

Featured Events

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USask secures 2 spots in the Falling Walls regional finals.

The Falling Walls Lab is a world-class pitch competition where participants showcase their groundbreaking ideas. This global platform connects a diverse mix of students and early-career professionals, encouraging innovation, enhancing communication skills and creating a space for our impactful and sustainable community to thrive.

Winners from regional events earn a spot at the Berlin global finale each year. They also receive a ticket to the Falling Walls Science Summit and are invited to participate in an exclusive extended programme during their stay.

Finals | 2024 Sept 20
In-person at the University of Alberta 
Watch the live stream starting at 5 PM CST

Representing USask

Dr. Albin Joseph
Breaking the Walls of Unsustainable Ventilation
Postdoctoral Scholar, Mechanical Engineering

 

Priyanka Tirumareddy
Breaking the Wall of Fossil Fuel Dependence
PhD Student, Chemical & Biological Engineering
2023 3MT Finalist (USask)