Professional & Career Development
Unspoken rules govern access to professional and academic opportunities. A faculty mentor who has successfully navigated the academy has knowledge and access to networks to help guide a graduate student mentee in their professional and career development.
Topics for discussion include how and where to seek publication, funding, and networking opportunities, how to create a brand as an academic, what to expect from the academic job market, and where to get support for career exploration and preparation beyond the academy. To remain mentee-centered, other areas of conversation include asking about a mentee’s goals, aspirations, and areas for growth.
Mentor Commitments
As a mentor, I will …
- demonstrate interest in, explore, and support my mentee’s professional and career aspirations and goals.
- support my mentee in their engagement in professional development and career exploration opportunities (e.g., exploring different career pathways within and beyond the academy, develop, implementing, and assessing inclusive teaching strategies).
- contribute to my mentee’s development of their identity as a scholar and professional.
- champion my mentee for professional development and career opportunities aligned with their interests.
- utilize my network to help my mentee establish professional connections and relationships.
- provide my mentee with insights on the elements and timing of the academic job search process.
- be transparent about what roles I can and cannot play within their career exploration and job application process based on my knowledge and experience.
- encourage my mentee to utilize career exploration and preparation resources such as those from the Graduate School.
Mentee Commitments
As a mentee, I will …
- share with my mentor my professional and academic goals and aspirations.
- seek out and ask my mentor for support as I identify professional and academic opportunities to further my goals.
- engage in professional development and career exploration opportunities (e.g., exploring different career pathways within and beyond the academy, develop, implementing, and assessing inclusive teaching strategies).
- proactively ask my mentor to advocate for me, the direction of my research, and my career aspirations within their professional networks.
- engage with my constellation of mentors and university offices to access advice and resources to develop my transferable skills and explore and prepare for various career pathways.
- seek guidance from my mentor as I develop and learn to communicate my scholarship and career aspirations.
- seek input from my mentor and others on the unwritten rules of searches in various sectors and higher education institutional types.
Additional Resources
- Future Faculty & Academic Careers
- Careers Beyond Academia
- Cornell Career Development Toolkit
- Cornell Center for Teaching Innovation
- NCFDD Mentor Map
- de Janasz, S. C., & Sullivan, S. E. (2004). Multiple mentoring in academe: Developing the professional network. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64, 263–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2002.07.001
- Villanueva Alarcon, I. (2022). Practical strategies to mentor around hidden curriculum pathways in engineering. 2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE). https://doi.org/10.1109/fie56618.2022.9962679