By Ali Tahir Sair, PhD candidate in Food Science and Fulbright Scholar

Remember how Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) named his daughter after Murphy’s law in Nolan’s Interstellar? We can call this the LAW OF POSSIBILITIES (whatever can happen will happen). I see life as a series of possibilities that can be explored and added to our life story. However, looking into multiple potential paths can be an intimidating task, and many PhD students end up ignoring this all together. Moreover, not all possibilities are desirable, nor their possible outcomes. So, the question becomes how do we make sure of certain possible outcomes and start to close the unappealing options? This is something that haunts every student as they try to imagine post-graduate life, and I think we can all relate to this.

Every semester, PhD candidates reach out to Susi Varvayanis, executive director of Careers Beyond Academia in Cornell’s Graduate School. Susi’s expertise lies in empowering students to investigate different non-academic career paths.

It’s very common for PhD graduates to suffer from imposter syndrome, that niggling sense that you’re not as talented, or as competent, as others perceive. “Previously, I struggled to determine my fit in the job market and feared that I lacked the necessary qualifications for many positions,” says Yuhan Hu, a mechanical engineer whose research focuses on robotics-human interactions. “Job searching can be a stressful experience… and I felt exhausted after several months of fruitless searching.” Yuhan was one of the students in GRAD 9110 Professional Career Foundations, led by Varvayanis. Her job search experience turned from a struggle to a fruitful process as she worked on it together with others in class. She remembers “… being part of a community where we could share our thoughts and progress weekly and offer each other support relieved my mental distress. The class created a sense of togetherness where we can learn from one another and provide mutual support. I no longer feel alone in this process.”

As we progress through graduate school, we are continuously trained in an academic environment where we are highly focused on specific outcomes. This mindset does not work particularly well as we try to explore other potential careers. GRAD 9110 creates a very suitable environment for graduate students to push toward their potential career options. It also helps them to reflect on the value of their ideas by pitching their work to other graduate students. The interactive sessions train them in effective communication and allow them to distinguish their strengths and values.

“Imagine you have to explain your research work to a venture capitalist, or people who may not listen to you for more than 30 seconds,” Susi asked the cohort of PhD students who were enrolled in her graduate course. “Do you think you would describe your research in a conventional intro-methods-results kind of way, or would you re-evaluate your research impact, be very specific with a few words, and explain your work in a way to make them understand and become interested at the same time?”

One of the tasks graduate students are generally most reluctant to commit to is to reach out to other professionals or Cornell alumni for information regarding a certain position or or guidance about a company. One class objective is to push students to conduct informational interviews with professionals; it boosts their confidence and helps them articulate what kind of questions to ask and determine their values and interests for their future careers.

“I think Susi’s ‘just do it’ attitude, her problem-solving skills, and the friendly environment she created throughout the course gave me the space to challenge myself in a judgment free space. That was important because I was able to try out different ways of pitching my work, explaining my values to others, and connect with other grads in the course in a meaningful, supportive way”, mentions Nathan Scinto-Madonich, a PhD candidate in the field of plant biology. Nathan conducted several informational interviews with professionals, and this helped him better understand the work description. “The broad take-away from all my interviews is that people were very open to speaking with me about their career paths and did so quite candidly. There were a few people I spoke with whose jobs sounded great to me but when they spoke about the amount of travel and isolated work their position required, I knew that I wouldn’t be happy in that position. These sorts of small details will allow me to better understand these positions going forward and interpret future job postings so I can spend my time in places where I will ultimately be content.”

“I liked the idea to not just explore careers based on our skill sets, but on our values as well. This really changed my perspective as I had never thought of job search this way. It provided me the power to be selective in the potential positions that I wanted to look into,” recalls a doctoral student from molecular biology.

Careers Beyond Academia assists PhD students and postdocs from all disciplines make the most informed decisions possible about their career paths after Cornell. I believe our ambitions are valid and worth a try, and any assistance regarding this should be granted, because as the law of possibilities says, anything that can happen will happen.

Learn more about Careers Beyond Academia and feel free to reach out to Susi Varvayanis at gradcareers@cornell.edu.

As we draw closer to the conclusion of another semester, I want to reflect on a course that made a significant impact on my professional outlook – GRAD 9110 Professional Career Foundations. Guided by Susi Varvayanis, the Executive Director of Careers Beyond Academia in Cornell University Graduate School’s Office of Career and Professional Development, this course was a beacon for many of us grad students in our career planning journey.

I came across this course through a department email. Entering my 5th year of my Ph.D., the looming prospect of graduation started to weigh on my mind, bringing with it a wave of career uncertainty. Thus, I enrolled in the class, hoping it might offer some clarity or guide me on where to begin my career search.

The course provided valuable career development resources from Cornell that I was previously unaware of. It also motivated me to create a LinkedIn profile and start networking. I have always considered networking as a very rigid, formal activity. However, Susi helped us be more confident by equipping us with potential questions, outlining general etiquette, and creating opportunities to practice within the group. Moreover, I gained a better understanding of cultural differences in job interviews and networking in the U.S. compared to Korea (where I grew up). Crucially, the course reshaped my perspective. Instead of being solely fixated on pinpointing a specific career path, I began to approach career conversations with genuine curiosity seeking to understand the responsibilities involved and the inherent pros and cons. Even in normal day-to-day conversations, I realized that asking others about their experiences and career journeys has brought invaluable insight to my own career aspirations.

Navigating this course helped me gain more clarity on two major areas of development: career progress and research direction. Participating in elevator pitch exercises and summarizing my research project for diverse groups—much like those I will encounter in job interviews—helped me see the bigger picture of my work, which is often overlooked when I am in lab doing experiments, focusing on specific details. After thought and reflection, I realized that in the larger context of my research, I am both genuinely humbled and extremely excited to be a part of a leading field of scientists responsible for discovering ways to push science forward. This was a key moment for me, especially when I felt like I was losing sight of the purpose and significance of my research, due to the constant pressure from grad school.

Most importantly this course prompted my personal growth to deeply think about what I want in a career and what would bring me happiness. Since the earliest I can recall, my career choices were mapped out for me by my parents. My parents, with good intentions, always believed there were two prestigious career routes: become a medical doctor or a professor. In my eagerness to please, I chose the path of academia, which led me to a Ph.D. program studying viruses at Cornell University. Reflecting on my journey, I realized that I rarely paused to ask myself what I truly desired, what I excelled at, and what would bring me joy in my professional life. If I am being honest, I’m still on this journey of discovery. However, by asking people around me about my strengths and weaknesses and venturing into new opportunities that I don’t usually consider, I’m taking small steps to learn more about myself.

Another highlight of this class was the chance to connect with grad students from diverse fields. Often, we don’t get many opportunities to interact with peers outside our specific area of study. This class provided a platform to engage with individuals from varied backgrounds. Through these interactions, I gained insights into how career options differ across fields, understood the unique challenges faced by others, and found comfort in knowing I wasn’t alone in navigating uncertainties about my future. Here are some reflections from my classmates about their experience in the class:

Donald Long, a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in Genetics, Genomics, and Development, shared, “This class was transformative for me. I have not only met many amazing graduate students but also acquired numerous practical skills, including how to enhance my LinkedIn profile.”

Oluwafemi Adu, a 4th year Ph.D candidate from Microbiology and Immunology, added, ” The course pushed me to think about new ways to describe my science to diverse audiences.”

Jason Wu, a 3rd year Ph.D candidate from Chemistry and Chemical biology, commented, “This class motivated me to take time to reflect personally on what I truly aspired to pursue. I also felt more secure, learning that there are more job opportunities beyond academia and industry.”

Overall, I highly recommend Cornell graduate students to take this class, no matter what stage they are in. It is never too early to think about career development and never too late to start paving a path towards your desired future. This course does more than just present career resources; it equips students with invaluable professional skills, hones public speaking techniques, and promotes deep personal growth—elements every graduate student stands to benefit from.

By: Alivia Moore and Jian Chen

Careers Beyond Academia has held another semester of its Professional Career Foundations course which focuses on aiding PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in defining and executing their career plans after Cornell.

The course, GRAD 9110, is a 7-week long lesson plan that empowers participants to practice their interview and network skills while providing resources to help them define their individual job interests and paths.

One student who took the course during the Spring 2025 semester states that it has been helpful in determining his career direction and has provided job exposure within his field.

“I took this course to hopefully gain more career exposure and learn more about paths after school. I wanted to better identify some organizations that I would like to apply to and I think this course has really helped me parse down what skills I am good at and how they apply to open positions,” says Kevin Kennedy, a 3rd-year PhD candidate in food science.

Many PhD students may be uncertain about how to transfer their research interests into a recognizable career. The Cornell Graduate School has addressed this issue through establishing the Office of Career and Professional Development, that includes Careers Beyond Academia.

In addition to offerings such as workshops, individual consultations, panel discussions, and job simulations to test different career options, GRAD 9110 is one of the many resources to help doctoral and postdoctoral scholars learn transferable skills and how to set themselves apart for career opportunities.

To prepare, GRAD 9110 students first take a career interest survey and assess their career strengths and weaknesses to discover job sectors that may be a good fit. Building on this base, students then research organizations related to their areas of interests, create and practice elevator pitches, tailor their resume and promotional materials such as their LinkedIn profiles, network through informational interviews with alumni, and are exposed to budgeting and negotiation tools. By the end of the course, students can make considerable progress toward their goals. One student states that his progress during the class has been integral to his looming graduation from his PhD program.

“I set a personal deadline to start evaluating job prospects and have an idea of what I need to do in my last year [before graduation] to prepare myself for those jobs. In doing both guided and entirely independent research motivated by the course, I feel I have a better idea of what I need to do before I start actively applying to jobs,” says Mathew Dew, a 4th- year PhD student in Physics.

Matthew goes on to share how the specific course techniques have developed his skillsets for the job market.

“[ I have learned] how to pitch myself significantly better to the average person, but more importantly to a person looking for my abilities as a data scientist. Specifically, I’ve learned how to emphasize what aspects of my research are relevant to the role. [For example], not starting with the fact that I am a PhD candidate, but rather I am a data scientist who is interested in this problem and uses these tools to solve that.”

Students like Matthew have been able to document their personalized skill and resource space due to GRAD 9110. Through assignments such as informational interviews with career professionals, graduates have learned to leverage platforms such as like GitHub and LinkedIn for their career.

“I definitely would recommend this course for those 1 to 2 years away from graduation. I think it is a very structured framework for learning and I think the Professor uses a lot of active learning techniques which makes the class so much more engaging than what a 2- hour lecture would be,” concludes Dew.

To learn more about how to get involved with the GRAD 9110 Professional Career Foundations class and Careers Beyond Academia, please visit their website at Careers Beyond Academia or contact Susi Varvayanis at sv27@cornell.edu.