Why write articles about graduates, postdoctoral career development? (Viewpoint)
As a higher education professional with a background background in writing and speech, I construct career and professional development work in communication, such as helping trainees translate their skills into employers’ language, convey complex research to audiences outside their field, and forge the profession itself through the written and digital texts they generate. Through training, I often think about how texts can affect readers and the design choices made by the writer to engage these audiences.
When I faced great adversity in higher education, I found myself reflecting on the value of writing about career and professional development on venues such as “Watch Career”: Why do I write about postgraduate and postdoctoral careers and professional development? How does writing translate the influence of our work into different audiences? In this post, I outline what we do when we write about graduate and postdoctoral careers and professional development and why we should continue to write about this work.
Write letters to authorize graduates and postdoctoral scholars
As career and professional development leaders, we sometimes feel frustrated because the impact of our work seems to be limited to an institution or program. For example, we may be an office in one of our institutions and are concerned about the scalability of lower attendance for appointments or attending workshops. Writing best practices about career and professional development can expand our recommendations to online audiences around the world.
For example, the “Watch Career” writer has written more than 400 works involving key career exploration skills such as job search strategies, building a real personal brand and identifying transferable skills. In addition to strategies to equip graduates and postdoctoral trainees with landing work, we also provide important advice for navigation academia, such as how to communicate with teacher tutors, provide effective speeches and develop professional references.
These basic topics are still necessary and are relevant to a new generation of graduate and postdoctoral readers as they make hidden courses in the academic and working worlds visible. Our work provides learners with tools to confidently browse these spaces and complements the efforts of mentors, coaches and teaching workshops. Similarly, when we write about professional development, we intervene in the overall prosperity of graduate and postdoctoral scholars by responding to the cultural shocks of career transitions or the power of rest with topics such as job search mental health. We not only provide learners’ practical advice for the next step in their careers, but also foster virtual communities and belong to graduate and postdoctoral students who face common challenges and pursue similar goals.
Writing to support practitioners
As we write career and professional development, we place our own textile themes on old chestnut themes by leveraging our background, identity and experience. For example, recent works reconstruct professional networks as a form of evidence-based collection and scientific research, leveraging the author’s training in science. Putting your own spin on the standard theme of career transition and exploration can help us create a unique personal professional brand as practitioners: How do we integrate our own stories and the wisdom of others to support current graduates and postdoctoral students? We want to be known as graduate and postdoctoral career development leaders?
In addition to enriching personal career identities, as we write about graduate and postdoctoral careers and professional development, we also reflect on how our work with graduate and postdoctoral trainees can change and identify opportunities for innovation, from using generative AI tools for career-related activities to advice to support international job seekers. We also demonstrate innovative ways to implement career and professional development for graduate and postdoctoral learners, such as how experiential learning, alumni coaching, and badge programs tailored to these populations.
By thinking about our practices and how we adapt to challenges, this book becomes our form of professional development as it enriches the dynamic areas of graduate and postdoctoral career and professional development and expands our conversations from professional organizations and conferences to a wider community of virtual practitioners. For example, the recent “Carpenter Career” work highlights the post-administrative DOC and “Meta” postdoctoral roles, as an entrance to career development and related academic administration, defining new positions through the perspectives of those who hold these inaugural roles and shape job futures in our field. When we speak to practitioners as listeners, writing about career and professional development creates a virtual community of practice where we emphasize emerging trends and support each other’s professional growth.
Writing to attract stakeholders
Writing for graduates and postdoctoral career practitioners improves our work and provides support to stakeholders such as faculty and senior executives whose support is crucial to campus career and professional development programs. In places like “Carpenter Careers”, external accreditation can provide greater internal accreditation for our programs and offices. For example, when I wrote a “Carpenter Careers” post in a professional thank you letter for Thanksgiving Week 2024, the University of Pittsburgh’s News Society emphasized it in a newsletter, and the Vice Provost invited me to introduce “Thanks” at the faculty retreat.
Apart from campus, as we write articles on graduate and postdoctoral career development, we convey the value of our efforts to stakeholders outside of higher education, such as employers, policy makers, and the public. As Celia Whitchurch observed, graduate and postdoctoral career and professional development work occupies a third space in higher education in the context of academic, student affairs and administrative functions, and therefore it is often overlooked and understood compared to traditional academic or student life programs.
Write articles about our work and expand the experience of graduate and postdoctoral scholars in a wider ecosystem of higher education and workforce. This writing can educate stakeholders who are less familiar with career and professional development work, highlighting our contribution to the success of graduate and postdoctoral learners, thus helping us advocate for greater visibility and resources. As we write about graduate and postdoctoral career and professional development, we highlight the value of our work and its impact on trainees, higher education and the broader society.
Writing and writing with changes
Writing articles about graduate and postdoctoral careers and professional development makes us an agent of change, advocating for the overall success of trainees and envisioning what our field might be. In writing this article, we have room for brave conversation during difficult times, such as supporting learners through recent disruptions, reflecting activism as a form of professional development, and emphasizing the trainee’s entrepreneurial potential in the context of economic uncertainty. Whether we speak to learners, practitioners, or the wider stakeholders, when we write careers and professional development, we make ourselves dream of our own careers and the careers of trainees, not only advocating for change, but also modeling what change looks like through our advice, programmatic innovation, and our support, and supporting a wider range of higher education businesses.
In short, writing about graduate and postdoctoral careers and professional development is an affirmation of advanced degrees, higher education, and the work of practitioners that support these learners’ long-term professional thriving. This book may make sense because it expands the impact of our recommendations, enriches the professional community, and enhances the image of career and professional development work. It can be bold because it envisions and embodies positive changes in our practice areas. For “watch career” readers, why do you want to write a reading about graduate and postdoctoral career and professional development? When will you start for the “carpenter” readers who are considering writing?
