Stay Active, Be Hopeful, & Get Hired: A Career Services Webinar on Navigating the Tough 2026 Job Market as an Advanced Degree Recipient

The 2026 job market is complex, competitive, and often exhausting—especially for candidates with advanced degrees. Between navigating “ghost jobs,” evading sophisticated scams, and cracking new AI screening algorithms, it is easy to lose momentum.

Stay Active, Be Hopeful, & Get Hired is a tactical workshop in a webinar format designed to help graduate students, postdocs, and alumni regain control of their career search hosted by University of Rochester. The presenter will strip away the noise and focus on high-impact strategies that can work in the current economic and job market landscape.

In this session, they will cover:

• Market Realities: Understanding the 2026 landscape using current data from National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE), Graduate Career Consortium (GCC), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and more – information will include impacts related to the rise of AI in hiring and how to spot “fake” or scam listings.
• The Advanced Degree Advantage: How to position your PhD or Master’s as a critical asset rather than being labeled “overqualified.” Discussion will also center around translating your knowledge, expertise & skillset to industries & professions that may be outside of your academic discipline or specialty domain area.
• Action Over Algorithm: Proven networking and application strategies that bypass digital gatekeepers.
• Resilience Tactics: Practical ways to manage rejection fatigue and maintain a hopeful, active mindset throughout the process.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Analyze the 2026 Hiring Landscape: Understand how current AI-driven recruitment tools and algorithms screen candidates, and learn specific formatting and keyword strategies to ensure your application gets seen by a human.
2. Translate Academic Value to Industry Impact: Effectively articulate the transferable skills gained from your advanced degree (such as project management, data analysis, and critical thinking) to counter “overqualification” bias and prove your worth to non-academic employers.
3. Identify and Evade Job Scams: Recognize the specific red flags of modern employment scams and “ghost jobs” to protect your personal information and focus your energy on legitimate opportunities.
4. Sustain Search Resilience: Acquire practical techniques to manage rejection fatigue and maintain a “hopeful” mindset, creating a sustainable daily routine that balances job hunting with mental well-being.
5. Bypass the Digital Queue: Learn high-impact networking strategies that allow you to move beyond the online application portal and connect directly with decision-makers.

Stop sending applications into the void. Join University of Rochester to build a strategy that protects your well-being and gets you closer to being hired. Graduate students, Postdocs & recent alumni from all disciplines are welcome.

Click here to register and to attend.