Welcome to this page of handouts and resources for the workshop “What Matters to You Most? Career Discernment for a Purposeful Career Path”: coming up on Thursday, September 17^th 3-5pm Eastern.

Thanks to Emory University’s LGS Office of Professional Development and Career Planning for hosting this workshop, which offers tools for ongoing career discernment.

Workshop Description

This workshop offers graduate students tools for ongoing career discernment—engaging in reflective processes of asking what, where, when, with whom, and why you’re called to the work that only you can do. Together, we’ll explore questions that are key to making meaningful, commitment-driven career choices. We’ll share strategies for aligning your career with the purpose, priorities, or motivations (i.e., commitments) that brought you to graduate education and that you’d like to take beyond your current studies.

This workshop is designed for graduate students across disciplines. The goals include learning to (1) identify your commitments and use commitments to guide career decisions; (2) build a range of discernment practices that can be used during and after graduate studies; and (3) consider how careers may allow for professional identity shifts over time. This session is led by Beth Godbee, Ph.D., an educator who left a tenured faculty position to pursue public writing and community education focused on everyday living for justice.

Handouts

Download these handouts (four career discernment exercises) to use during the interactive online workshop.

1. Handout — Writing a Commitment Statement
2. Handout — Strong Yes and Hell No
3. Handout — 10 Writing Prompts for Career Discernment
4. Handout — Mapping K-W-L

Additional Resources

What Is Career Discernment?
This blog post gives a definition and context for the workshop.

Resources for Academic Career Discernment:
This PDF document shares links to organizations, podcasts, readings, and other resources.

Beth’s Writing in Inside Higher Ed:
These articles share Beth’s career discernment process, addressing the following topics:

• Making decisions intuitively to follow your “strong yes”
• Saying no in order to say yes to what aligns with your commitments
• Identifying narratives and influences that have shaped your work journey
• Discerning what’s next for your career—both in the near and the far future
• Planning when and how to announce career changes
• Sifting through others’ responses to your career decisions
• Transitioning from faculty positions to alt-ac, non-ac, and post-ac careers
• Working with burnout and seasonal rhythms in higher education
• Recognizing and allowing for professional identify shifts over time.

Connect Beyond This Workshop

I’d love to stay connected beyond this workshop! Here are some ways:

1. Join my mailing list to receive regular updates.
   
   
2. Connect via social media. I’m on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
   
   
3. Become a subscriber via Patreon to receive monthly Q&A newsletters; sneak-peaks into upcoming projects; discounts on e-courses, webinars, and writing groups; and coaching.
   
   
4. If you’d like to connect through a processing group (like small-group coaching), consider joining one of the upcoming lunchtime groups: “Processing the Pandemic with Heart-Head-Hands.” Check out the schedule of upcoming questions. Feel free to drop in once or make it a habit.
   
   
5. Reach out with feedback or questions about this workshop.

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This post is written by Beth Godbee, Ph.D. for Heart-Head-Hands.com. If you’d like additional support for career discernment, check out the e-course, “Career Discernment for Academics: Aligning Career with Commitments.”