MS/PhD Career Resources – Career Center

Looking for resources and guides for your career development? Explore our curated set of career resources for Master’s and PhD students.

Resumes & CVs

Resumes and CVs are essential documents to showcase your experiences, skills, and achievements. As a graduate student, you may use both or one of them based on your career interests and goals.

See our CV vs. Resume Guide to learn about the differences between resumes and CVs and tips to develop strong CVs and/or resumes.

Use MS/PhD Resume Checklist to transform your CV into a resume or update your resume for your career advancement.

Review our Resume Guide for the tips or see sample resume templates below.

Resume Templates

You can download these to use as templates by clicking the titles below. As some of these sample resumes belong to Georgia Tech graduate alumni and current students, certain details may have been altered to safeguard the identities of these individuals.

These sample resumes serve as templates, containing elements that may need to be adapted according to specific requirements. Please refrain from using them as-is or directly copying their content.

Cover Letters

By crafting a personalized cover letter for each job application, you can significantly enhance your chances of standing out and securing the career opportunity you desire. View our comprehensive Cover Letter Guide below for MS/PhD sample cover letters and the key differences between cover letters and resumes.

Also, check our cover letter tips and cover letter outline for Master’s and PhD students below.

Cover Letter Outline

1. A cover letter complements your resume.

Instead of simply repeating the experiences and skills mentioned in your resume, a cover letter offers context and highlights key aspects of your experiences that are particularly relevant to the job you’re seeking. In other words, a cover letter lets you personalize your application as it provides a more narrative representation of your qualifications. Ensure your cover letter addresses the three core questions:

Who are you, and what position are you applying for?
What are your most relevant qualifications for this specific role?
What value can you offer to the organization?

2. Customize Your Cover Letter for Each Application

The format, content, and purpose of a cover letter should be highly individualized to suit each application. Follow these tips to create a compelling cover letter:

Adhere to basic professional writing standards and consider any specific requirements for online applications.
Choose a font that is easy to read, such as Arial, Helvetica, Century Gothic, or Times New Roman (make sure it matches the font used in your resume for consistency).
Avoid using generic examples in your cover letter as employers can recognize when a cover letter is not customized for their position.

3. Tailor the tone and language of your letter to suit your audience.
Conveying your research in simple language enhances the clarity and impact of your application.

When applying for a job where the hiring managers share a similar background to yours (e.g., a national research lab or an industry research position), it is generally acceptable to use relevant technical jargon when necessary.
If you are applying for positions that may not require an advanced degree (e.g., Master’s, PhD), or are unsure whether your readers are familiar with your research, it’s best to explain your work using layman’s terms. This ensures that your potential employers can easily recognize the relevance of your work and the valuable contributions you can bring to their organization.

Career Planning and Exploration

Meaningful Work Kit: A self-assessment tool, created by Stanford Career Education, helping identify what matters most to you (e.g., core values, work culture, skills) when considering potential career paths.

InterSECT Job Simulations: An online self-guided career exploration platform offers graduate students a realistic experience of various job scenarios through true-to-life job simulation exercises.

SteppingBlocks: An online career planning and exploration platform for all Georgia Tech graduate students.

List of All Federal Departments & Agencies to explore/develop your target government agencies.

Vault| Firsthand: A career management research tool to explore careers through industry career guides, and various career articles.

Individual development plan (IDP): GT Center for Teaching and Learning offers IDP materials to develop mutually agreed upon academic and career goals with your adviser(s)

SMART Career Search/Transition Goal Worksheet: Defining your career goals is critical for your career exploration or career transition process. Use our worksheet to define your career goals and tangible action items.

The following resources are designed for PhD students but open to all.

MyIDP: A career-planning and assessment tool designed for PhD students in the sciences.
ChemIDP: A career-planning tool designed for PhD students in chemical sciences.
ImaginePhD: A career exploration and planning tool developed for humanities and social science PhD students in mind but open to all.

Networking

Networking is the activity of establishing and nurturing professional relationships with others to gather and share career-related information and advice. It’s an essential skill for exploring careers and gaining industry insights during your time at Georgia Tech and beyond.

Explore the following resources available for Georgia Tech students:

LinkedIn: Use the Georgia Institute of Technology alumni search tool to identify Georgia Tech alumni.
Georgia Tech Connect: Make connections with alumni who will share their professional experience, knowledge, and insights with Georgia Tech students
Networking Tracker: Download this template to help you get organized to create and maintain your network during your GT experience and beyond.
Creating Your Pitch Worksheet: Use this worksheet to make a lasting and positive first impression when responding to the question, “Tell me about yourself.”

Career and Professional Development Roadmaps

Via collaboration with the Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, the Career and Professional Development roadmaps are developed to help Master’s and PhD students successfully navigate the GT graduate training journey toward graduation and a successful career. Please download it based on your graduate training.

Click HERE to learn more about various resources available for career and professional development at Georgia Tech’s Office of Graduate Education

Career Development Workshop Recordings

Career Workshop Recordings: Our graduate career development team offers virtual career development workshops tailored to Master’s and PhD students. Find our previous workshop webinars here.

Job Offer Negotiation

Use the following resources to prepare for your job offer negotiation:

GT Job Offer Priorities Table: Identifying your key priorities that will help= you evaluate whether the job offer you received aligns with your needs.
Read a Times Higher Education article, Enhancing Negotiation Skills: a Step-By-Step Guide for Graduate Students, written by the GT Grad Team.
Review our GT Career Center’s Evaluating Offers & Negotiating Salary site to learn more about how to effectively negotiate your offer(s)!
Glassdoor: Utilize it to calculate and explore salaries. You can also compare with individuals holding similar job titles within the same company or city to uncover your market value.
Cost of Living Index: Conduct city-to-city comparisons using a cost of living calculator.

Resources for International Graduate Students

Interstride is specifically designed for international students and international opportunities at Georgia Institute of Technology. Discover US jobs and internships from the top 500+ employers who have sponsored H1B as well as global jobs. Connect with your international community. Find resources to level up your global career.

H-1B Employer Data Hub is a database containing information about employers petitioning for H-1B employees, allowing you to search for H-1B sponsors. Complete data for each fiscal year is available to download.

GoingGlobal (GT Login required) is a great resource as it offers Top OPT Employers with job listings and an H1B Plus database where you can identify U.S. employers who have sponsored H1B to international talents.

Other Career Tools & Additional Resources

Georgia Tech LinkedIn Learning: All current graduate students have unlimited access to an online library of high-quality instructional videos on the latest software tools and various professional development skills.

Graduate Fellowships: Pre-Graduate & Pre-Professional Advising offers a list of prestigious fellowships opportunities for graduate students.

Online Career Tools: GT Career Center offers a variety of online career tools to support your professional and career development such as job postings, career assessments, and GT alumni database via LinkedIn. Click here to learn more!

Do you need professional attire for upcoming networking events or interviews? You can use GT Campus Closet to rent one!