It is never too early to begin envisioning and preparing for your future career. Talking with your advisor about your hopes and fears is a great first step! Find below a list of other resources for all stages of job preparation and application, including Harvard services and more.

Start Planning

• Planning and Timelines, Office of Career Services (OCS)
• "What You Can Be with a Harvard PhD," OCS Online Booklet
• "Going On the Academic Job Market," YouTube video,  c. 2017 (a little dated), OCS
• Open an account in Crimson Careers, the centralized hub for OCS advising & programming and Harvard-exclusive job listings

Talk with Your Advisor

• "Talking to Your Advisor about Your Career," Harvard GSAS article
  • Contains tips for students on how to get the most out of faculty mentorship
  • Where do you see yourself going, and how can you get there?
• "Build Your Academic Support System," Harvard Academic Resource Center
  • Advice on how to build your own networks of support
• Managing Your Advisor, UNC-Chapel Hill Writing Center
  • This resource provides tips for all stages of the dissertation process, including advice on how to best communicate with your advisor(s) and align your priorities and interests with your advisor's expectations, which is critical for navigating career preparation and placement.

Prepare Application Materials

• Teach within your subfield and in courses outside your focus area to broaden your abilities and appeal to a wide range of hiring committees
  • Can you teach in your subfield? Could you teach an "Introduction to World Religions" course? A theories and methods course? Could you teach in interdisciplinary and general education programs?
• Consult with the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning
  • Teaching and Your Career
    • Series of webpages introducing the basic elements of teaching statements and portfolios
  • Schedule a consultation with Bok professionals to workshop job market materials
  • "Teaching Related Questions for Academic Interviews," Google Doc
    • This list of questions can help you prepare for job talks and campus visits.
• Use writing resources to help you craft strong written materials like cover letters and teaching statements
  • Tips & Tools, UNC-Chapel Hill Writing Center
  • GSAS Fellowships and Writing Center
  • Resumes, CVs, and Cover Letters, GSAS Office of Career Services
• Attend job talks during faculty searches and practice job talks held by students in upper G-years
  • Prepare for your own job talks and campus visits through CSR events and Bok Center trainings

Acquire Marketable Skills

• My Skills Tracker, OCS
  • A tool to document the skills you are acquiring and identify gaps
• Think about what kinds of campus jobs and opportunities might help you build digital, writing, research, library, artistic, and other skills that are valuable on the academic and non-academic job markets 
  • E.g., Pforzheimer Fellowship with Harvard Libraries
• Use free career visioning tools to think beyond academe 
  • ImaginePhD
  • Versatile PhD

Networking

• Attend conferences in your focus area and subfields 
• Stay connected to professors and students in your previous graduate and undergraduate programs
• Attend networking events hosted by the Office of Career Services

Seek Resources and Support

• Office of Career Services
  • One-on-one advising: 15 minute & 30 minute appointments
  • Events tailored to PhD students in the humanities and social sciences
• Harvard Academic Resource Center (ARC)
• Take care of yourself. You are more than your job.
  • Harvard Counseling and Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
  • "How to Deal with Job Search Depression," New York Times (May 27, 2019) 

Navigate Job Lists and Search Engines

• The CSR Grad Newsletter, circulated by email on Wednesdays, often contains fellowship announcements and job postings
• Chronicle of Higher Education
• American Academy of Religion and SBL Employment Listings
• HigherEdJobs
• OCS Job & Internship Search
• Field-specific listservs