Professional Development
Welcome to the GSAB Professional Development Committee’s webpage. Our committee works to organize seminars, panel discussions, workshops and our popular “Coffee with Chemists” events. We aim to provide graduate students with networking opportunities as well as encourage the use of career development resources (which are available through the chemistry department, the graduate school and outside of Purdue… please see our compiled resources below).
If you are interested in joining our committee, please contact the current chair listed on the committees’ webpage. All chemistry graduate students are welcome to join!
See GSAB’s Calendar and Purdue Graduate School’s Calendar for all upcoming professional development events.
Purdue Resources:
Office of Professional Development
Purdue Career Center for Opportunities
Department of Chemistry’s Graduate Opportunities Page
ACS Resources:
(Requires an ACS Membership) Use this to schedule one-on-one appointments with certified ACS Career Consultants. This is a wonderful resource to learn about other ACS members’ career journeys in addition to having your resume reviewed, participate in mock interviews, and receive general career advice.
Careers in the Chemical Sciences (vignettes)
Use this resource to explore the different areas of chemistry and what you can do with a chemistry degree. With over 100 profiles of real-world chemists, learn about their career journey and receive advice to follow in their footsteps.
(Requires ACS Membership) Use this tool to see the median-based salary data for chemistry careers in a specific region of the USA. This is a great resource to use to help answer interviewer questions regarding your expected salary range.
Other Resources:
Jobscan (Resume scanning tool)
Use this tool to upload your resume on a job description and see how well it fits. It can provide you with suggestions on how to improve your resume to increase interview chances. First scan is free, then you have to pay for it. You can also upload your LinkedIn profile.
Use this to read reviews about a company, provided by current and former employees. Good tool to check on the working culture, salary, work-life balance, etc.
It is free to use.
Free for Purdue students, you can access a wide variety of courses to improve your skillset and boost your CV! Topics range from programming, machine learning, soft-skills, management and many more. You earn a certificate of completion that you can link to your LinkedIn account.