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The purpose of this study is to identify what skills gained during PhD study are linked with preparation and differences between industry and academic positions.

Using student-level data from nearly 2,400 early career PhD alumni from 50 US PhD granting institutions, this study uses a generalized ordered logit model with partial proportional odds to test the main and conditional effects of 14 areas of skill development on perceptions of career preparation.

This study contributes empirical evidence to show that research skills and communicating with non-technical audiences are positively linked with job preparation.

The combination of sophisticated research and noncognitive skills promotes the idea of a well-rounded PhD – a highly skilled and versatile researcher that can interact in both academic and industry settings – as a goal of doctoral education. The knowledge gained from this study will assist scholars and graduate educators, including faculty advisors, program directors, graduate deans, graduate education professionals and career development professionals to reconceptualize professional preparation for work in industry.

For-profit businesses, particularly start-up companies, are vital for economic development and many require PhD-level employees across research and management roles. Developing PhDs with the appropriate skills for industry will better align higher education and economic interests.

The wide scope of doctoral institutions allows for a quantitative approach not appropriate for single-institution case studies of doctoral career pathways research.

College support and career development are two significant challenges international students encountered during the pandemic, and these two factors have an enormous impact on the internationalization of higher education. The data for this study came from the 2020 to 2021 administrations of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) that includes over 500 international students enrolled at over 120 four-year colleges and universities in the United States. These students specifically responded to an open-ended item asking them what they think institutions should do better to assist their academic achievement and career goals. This study takes an in-depth look at international students’ qualitative responses about ways that institutions could better support their preparation for future careers. Using theories of cultural wealth and ecological systems to understand the unique experiences of international students during the pandemic offers an opportunity to help students not just in times of crisis but more holistically as they continue to pursue their higher education experiences in the United States. Ultimately, the authors provide recommendations for higher education professionals working with international students to better support their students’ career development and overall college experience.

To gather insight into how graduating business students are preparing for the workplace and their future careers and how this has been impacted by COVID-19.

In total, 144 business students at an Australian university who had recently completed an internship and were nearing graduation took part in the study. Group A was surveyed before COVID-19 had emerged and Group B undertook their internships during a COVID-19 lockdown when the related economic downturn had become apparent. The responses were analysed using career construction theory (CCT).

This study concludes that graduating students do not generally place greater emphasis on career planning in times of economic downturn. However, they do devote more effort to job search and networking activities. They also display more career decisiveness and are less willing to seek out information about potential careers or their suitability for them. Their confidence in embarking on a career was not impacted.

This enables us to form a more complete picture of how graduating students perceive their work-readiness and the action they feel is important in order to improve their employability.

This has implications for career practitioners and employers of graduates as it adds to the knowledge of employability and the decision-making process in times of economic crisis and is particularly important for the tertiary education sector as it seeks to better target initiatives to aid employability in graduates.

The results increase the understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on early career development and argue that early-career decision-making is a specific area requiring investigation.

The purpose of this study is to examine how doctoral students navigate preparing for an academic career, particularly through instructional professional development, in the context of the entire doctoral program. For doctoral students pursuing an academic position, the dissertation process provides one avenue for developing their skills and identities as independent researchers. Yet, research shows a need to provide support for student’ instructional professional development and to understand how they are shaped into educators and researchers.

A multiple case study methodology was designed to capture the perceptions and experiences of 21 alumni of an academic career preparation program at a large, public university. In this exploratory, qualitative study, semi-structured interviews and final reports from program coursework were analyzed using a modified analytic induction methodology.

This study employs elements of self-determination theory and transition theory to interpret doctoral students’ transitions into and through the instructional professional development program under study. The participants sought competence in their teaching by participating in this voluntary and supplemental program. These students exercised autonomy in the pursuit of this professional development and in overcoming challenges to relatedness in the form of non-supportive program structures, including curriculum and faculty.

This study contributes to the graduate education literature on the experiences of doctoral students as they prepare for and transition into their future academic careers.

An increasing number of doctoral graduates are seeking non-academic employment. While statistics have revealed multiple aspects regarding the non-academic employment they hold, there is insufficient documentation of what has led them to leave academia and to what extent they are prepared for non-academic positions. This paper aims to address this gap and reports on five Chinese doctoral graduates’ reflections on their change in career choices.

This study is exploratory and follows the approach of qualitative multi-case studies. The data includes in-depth interviews with five Chinese doctoral graduates and their responses to a survey. The paper applies a theoretical perspective drawing from protean career and boundaryless career theories, focusing on the participants’ agency in managing career choices and their meaning making of career decision-making.

The study has found that, besides the factors mentioned in the literature, such as lack of academic positions, pressure related to academic work and lack of career planning, some participants were directed by their intrinsic values, and agency plays an important role in their career preparation.

The study makes recommendations on university career guidance for doctoral students.

This paper documents why and how doctoral students change their career choices, which have not been sufficiently documented in the literature. As well, the theoretical perspective used provides an innovative way to interpret doctoral students' career decision-making.

Discussions of the nature and purpose of postdoctoral contract research positions is an area where assumptions and stereotypes tend to predominate. This is due to (a) recent changes in the higher education sector that have impacted on postdoctoral positions in a way that conflicts with traditional expectations, and (b) a relative lack of data and publications on postdoctoral positions, which creates a climate in which stereotypes can continue relatively unchallenged. This is unfortunate, because it limits the ability of supervisors to provide sound career advice to their postdocs as well as the ability of postdocs to make informed career decisions. Based on an extensive study of PDRs in Australia, this paper challenges four commonly held assumptions: 1. that postdoctoral researchers want an academic career; 2. that postdoctoral research positions provide a stepping stone to academic careers; 3. that postdoctoral research positions provide an opportunity for novice researchers to become increasingly independent; and 4. that postdoctoral research positions provide an opportunity for the incumbents to concentrate solely on research.

Relatively few comparative studies have examined how perceptions across cultures might converge or diverge regarding careers in general and new venture careers in particular. Our research addresses this gap by providing a comparative study of career perceptions among undergraduate business students in three countries with different levels of experience with capitalism: Ukraine, South Korea, and the United States. Results suggest both surprising differences and interesting similarities between undergraduate students in the three countries with regard to how they perceive characteristics associated with entrepreneurial careers. Findings are discussed in the context of distinct differences and commonalities across cultures and implications for future research provided.

Responding to the relatively poor employment outcomes of university graduates, Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia has embarked on a strategy of investment in career development for all students. One part of this strategy is to implement a career development subject as an elective for all students. The subject was developed in the School of Management with significant input from staff in the Student Career Development Unit. It is designed to extend job search skills, self‐awareness, and strategies for the achievement of employment goals. Students evaluated the subject in June and in October of 2002 – the first year of its delivery. The results showed that students perceived the subject to be extremely valuable to their career prospects.

Within the next decade, countries like the U.S. will face a daunting challenge to increase the preparation of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to meet expected workforce demands for nearly 2.2 million more trained professionals in these fields (National Science Board, 2004, pp. 3–7). The U.S. also needs to ensure that its STEM workforce also represents women and students from African American, Chicano and Latino origins – individuals who historically have been underrepresented in the sciences but who now comprise a growing percent of the K-12 pipeline and of the diverse population who will use STEM knowledge and applications in the future.

Much has been written about the theory and practice of work experience, but mostly in academic terms and aimed specifically at the “world of education”. What follows is presented in practical terms, and is intended to be of help to industrial colleagues. It has been written by an experienced practitioner who has worked at both the chalk‐face and Local Education Authority (LEA) level providing work experience for thousands of students. Basically, work experience is examined briefly in terms of its origins in the 1960s. The mechanics of its delivery are looked at and an indication of the current picture and the anticipated future expectations is given: a practical approach therefore to a very important curricular development area.