The OPTIONS Program

"I have a graduate degree - now what?"

The OPTIONS Program supports engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows explore diverse career options.

It consists of the Cohort Program and complementary events.

MEng applications are open for the fall 2022 Cohort Program!

The OPTIONS rograms

Cohort Program

The Cohort Program is an opportunity to take a deep dive into career management with a supportive community of like-minded graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Facilitated by faculty and professional development experts, the program provides an opportunity to clarity your interests and aspirations, develop job application materials, and explore career pathways. We offer three different Cohort Programs to address the specific needs of the U of T Engineering community.

PhD and Postdoctoral Fellow

Explore your options to make decisions with confidence and clarity.

This program provides a dedicated time and structured experience to explore careers in industry with a supportive community of peers. You will launch your career plan, develop confidence and clarity in your next steps, and gain tools and resources to facilitate a transition from graduate school to the workforce.

You will:

Create a Career Exploration Plan that is grounded in your skills, strengths, and goals as well as labour market data
Develop job application materials
Discover networking tools to advance your career exploration.

This program is for PhD students (post qualifying and/or comprehensive exams) and postdoctoral fellows who intend to work in industry or are curious, yet maybe undecided, about pursuing industry opportunities.

If you are interested in an academic position, check out the Prospective Professors in Training (PPIT) Program.

The program provides:

Nine, two-hour, online, live sessions
A short instructional video on resumes and cover letters for viewing on your own time
Two career management tools to develop an individualized, career exploration plan
A one-on-one, 30 min meeting with a career coach (optional)
Personalized feedback on your resume and cover letter
A mock interview, personalized feedback on your interview skills, and access to an interview preparation toolkit
An informational interview with an alumni and a database of informational interview questions
A Peer Success Team to support your career exploration

Next Offering: Winter 2023

MEng

Accelerate your career planning for industry options.

This program is designed for MEng students getting ready to launch their industry career. It equips you with personal and professional skills to navigate your career exploration while complementing your technical expertise.

You will:

Create a Career Exploration Plan to achieve your goals
Develop job application materials
Utilize networking tools to explore your career options
Join a dynamic cohort of MEng students from different departments with diverse career aspirations.

The program provides:

Eight, two-hour, online, live sessions
A short instructional video on resumes and cover letters for viewing on your own time
Two career management tools to develop an individualized, career exploration plan
A one-on-one, 30 min meeting with a career coach (optional)
Personalized feedback on your resume and cover letter
A mock interview, personalized feedback on your interview skills, and access to an interview preparation toolkit
An informational interview with an alumni and a database of informational interview questions
A Peer Success Team to support your career exploration

Next Offering: Fall 2022

MEng Cohort Program is currently accepting applications!

MASc

Take stock of your options in industry.

This program is an opportunity to make time to reflect and take stock of your options to set you up for success after graduate school.

You will:

Assess where you currently are, where you want to go next, and the steps you need to take to get there
Create a Career Exploration Plan to achieve your goals
Develop job application materials
Use networking tools to explore your goals.

This program is for MASc students who intend to work in the industry or are curious, yet maybe undecided, about pursuing industry opportunities.

The program provides:

Five, two-hour, online, live sessions
A short instructional video on resumes and cover letters for viewing on your own time
A short instructional video on personal value propositions for viewing on your own time
Two career management tools to develop an individualized, career exploration plan
A one-on-one, 30 min meeting with a career coach (optional)
Personalized feedback on your resume and cover letter
A mock interview, personalized feedback on your interview skills, and access to an interview preparation toolkit
An informational interview with an alumnus and a database of informational interview questions

Next Offering: TBA

Complementary Events

The Complementary Events are open to all engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. These events provide an introduction to the school-to-work transition, tools to develop skills critical to the success of a professional, and a venue to network with engineering alumni.

Event	Day	Time (ET)	Location
TBA	Thurs Sept 29	12:00 - 1:00 pm	In-person
Jobs in Sustainability: Career Stories from Engineering Graduate Students Tackling Climate Change	Fri Oct 14	12:00 - 1:30 pm	Online
Job Search Strategies for International Students: Explore the Labour Market and Network to Find Opportunities	Tues Oct	11:30 - 1:00 pm	In-person
I Have a Masters in Engineering! Now What?	Thurs Nov 17	6:00 - 8:00 pm	Online

Jobs in Sustainability: Career Stories from Engineering Graduate Students Tackling Climate Change

Fri Oct 14 | 12:00 - 1:30 pm | Online

Join us for a live studio taping of the Career Buzz radio show and podcast! Career Buzz is Canada’s unique podcast that empowers lives, enriches careers, and energizes organizations.

Four U of T engineering alumni working in sustainability will sit down for an in-depth conversation with host Mark Franklin, engineer turned career coach, to discuss their work and essential tips for conducting a job search in sustainability. You will learn how alumni prepared to transition from graduate school to the workplace, and the specific strategies alumni employed to land a job.

About Career Buzz radio show and podcast

Since 2006, Career Buzz has broadcast unrehearsed conversations featuring extraordinary career stories of ordinary people, and insights from thought leaders including National Geographic explorer-in-residence Wade Davis, Canada’s career guru Barbara Moses, and engineering-specific career stories of engineer-turned-artist Andrew Wang and Mike Klassen's quick advance in Engineers Without Borders. The podcast is hosted by Mark Franklin, Practice Leader at CareerCycles.com and instructor for TEP1030: Engineering Careers - Theories and Strategies to Manage your Career for the Future.

Learn more about Career Buzz Podcast and subscribe on your favourite podcast app. Listen live Wednesdays 11am-noon 89.5fm or ciut.fm.

Job Search Strategies for International Students: Explore the Labour Market and Network to Find Opportunities

Tues Oct 25 | 11:30 - 1:00 pm | In-person

The search for work is a complex process especially in a unfamiliar labour market. In this workshop, we will discuss strategies for conducting a job search in Canada using labour market data and networking tools.

Specifically, you will learn how to

Conduct a job search using labour market resources
Apply networking strategies to explore job opportunities and learn about workplace culture in Canada
Translate international work experience in your job application material
Learn about negotiating a job offer

The session will primarily focus on the job search in Canada. We will briefly discuss how to apply the job search strategies discussed in this session to international labour markets.

I Have a Masters in Engineering! Now What?

Thus Nov 17 | 6:00 - 8:00 pm | Online

Come discover potential career pathways and meet an amazing line-up of alumni from a variety of sectors!

In small groups, you will have a conversation with alumni about their career:

What they did at school to prepare for a job
How they made the transition from school to the workplace
What they do in their current job

Over the course of the event, you will meet multiple alumni! Between these conversations, there will be short plenary discussions where alumni will share essential strategies and tips on planning for your future career.

Signature Complementary Events

The Signature Complementary Events are open to all engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. These highly popular events require a longer time commitment (i.e., full-day), and are sometimes offered a couple times a year.

Launch Your Career Plan

Launch Your Career Plan is a new initiative by the Vice Dean, Graduate Studies to support research-based graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to launch their career planning early in their studies.

This event will guide you to critically reflect on career opportunities including further graduate studies, academia, and industry, and equip you with strategies and tools to explore your unique career aspirations. You will leave this event with tailored resources to dive deeper into the specific career pathways that interest you.

At this event, you will:

Learn about parallel planning for further graduate studies, academia, and industry careers
Use labour market data and networking tools to discover diverse academic and industry opportunities
Listen to a panel of alumni who have completed further graduate studies, are working in industry, or obtained a professorship
Create a plan to explore your specific career aspirations

This event is open to all MASc students, PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows. We welcome participants who have a clear idea of their career trajectory as well as those who are deciding between continuing in academia or finding an industry position. It is highly recommended that all research-based graduate students and postdoctoral fellows attend this event near the beginning of their studies.

This event should be completed before the OPTIONS Cohort Program or Prospective Professors in Training (PPIT).

Next Offering: TBA

Career Planning for International Students

Job Search Strategies for International Students: Explore the Labour Market and Network to Find Opportunities

Specifically, you will learn how to

Conduct a job search using labour market resources
Apply networking strategies to explore job opportunities and learn about workplace culture in Canada
Translate international work experience in your job application material
Learn about negotiating a job offer

The session will primarily focus on the job search in Canada. We will briefly discuss how to apply the job search strategies discussed in this session to international labour markets.

Testimonials

"The OPTIONS Program provided a how-to guide on exploring next steps. I am more confident to reach out to individuals in different positions to learn about their career paths. I left the program with a better understanding and ability to market my skills and strengths gained throughout my education."

PhD, BME)

"The OPTIONS Program helped me understand my skills from childhood to adulthood by realizing common patterns. It aided me to widen my career possibilities as opposed to the classic ‘industry vs academia’ approach."

(PhD, ECE)

"The OPTIONS program gave me the tools to reflect on my career story from different marketable perspectives. The course helped me to define, schedule, and practice clear and concise actions to create job opportunities aligned with my core values. The introspection was guided by instructors with different fields of expertise. This exposed me to more job possibilities and a better understanding of the path to follow as I transitioned from academia to industry."

(Postdoctoral Fellow, CHE)

"I was in the middle of my career exploration when I joined The OPTIONS Program. For me the program highlighted the possibilities outside of the more “well traveled” career paths and I felt empowered to explore these. Through the program I was able to recognize my skills and how they are of great value for my chosen direction in life."

(Postdoctoral Fellow, AER)

Contact

Teresa Didiano (t.didiano@utoronto.ca)
Graduate Professional Development Coordinator
Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering