To be successful both in graduate school and beyond, it is important to: define your priorities; identify resources and areas of development; develop goals and a timeline; follow through with your plan; reflect on your achievements and growth; and reevaluate your plan periodically to make adjustments as your interests, skills, and goals evolve. Cornell has a range of resources to help you with every step in this process—such as personal assessments or a goal-setting tool called an individual development plan (IDP)—which are listed in more detail below.

Cornell Resources to Help You Create Your Plan

Self-Assessments

All graduate students are encouraged to meet with a Cornell career advisor to take an assessment to understand their personality, interests, values, and career goals. Postdocs may discuss their interests, values, and career goals with Christine Holmes (ch18@cornell.edu), director of the Office of Postdoctoral Studies.

• Find assessments available to all graduate students.
• Find free online assessments available to all students and postdocs.
• Ask yourself reflection questions to identify your career goals, interests, and skills.

External Resources

Individual Development Plan (IDP)

The IDP is an excellent tool for self-assessment and developing goals for yourself during your academic years and beyond. Although you can create your IDP by yourself, graduate students and postdocs often find that co-developing their IDP with their faculty mentor is a good way to ensure there is awareness and support of their career plans.

IDPs for humanities and social science fields:

• Imagine Ph.D. (all fields in the humanities and social sciences)
• University of Wisconsin-Madison (all fields)
• American Psychological Association
• University of Southern California Postdoctoral Office (for postdocs in all fields but could be used for graduate students)

IDPs for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields:

• ScienceCareers myIDP (all STEM fields)  
• University of Wisconsin-Madison (all fields)
• University of Southern California Postdoctoral Office (for postdocs in all fields but could be used for graduate students)
• American Chemical Society (for chemical scientists)
• Stanford University Biosciences (for bioscience fields)

Books, References

• Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career For You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul Tieger (available in 103 Barnes Hall and Cornell Library System)
• So What Are You Going To Do With That? A Guide to Career-Changing for M.A.s and Ph.D.s by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius (available in 103 Barnes Hall and Cornell Library System)
• Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals: A Guide to Successful Evaluations by James Neal, Jr. (available in Cornell Library System)