Graduate Students
Welcome to Career Advising and Experiential Learning!
Career Advising and Experiential Learning (CAEL) provides graduate students with advising, information and contacts to help them make career decisions, as well as develop and implement an effective career plan.
Career advisors are available to meet with you individually to discuss your career goals and help you to implement an action plan. They can also help with:
- Pre-health advising
- Pre-Professional Advising
- Job Searches
- Career Exploration
There is a wealth of resources available to you beyond advising appointments, including assessment testing, a career library, and events throughout the academic year. Graduate students are also invited to attend the fall/winter career fairs. With a very strong campus and professional network in place, our CAEL staff is able to connect you with resources to suit your needs!
Please note that CAEL does not handle questions regarding immigration issues related to working in the United States. Those questions should be addressed to the International Offices.
Appointments
Students may request an appointment with a career advisor via Next Steps Caltech (students/postdocs should sign in via SSO using their Access credentials.) Once logged in click on "Career Advising Appointments" > "Request New Appointment".
Appointments are typically available Monday through Friday between 9:00am and 4:00pm PT.
We also have walk-in advising hours that are best suited for quick questions, such as resume and cover letter review.
Walk-In Hours*
Academic Year:
TBD
Summer:
TBD
* Walk-in hours have been temporarily suspended.
Resource Library
CAEL maintains a resource library with books on various topics such as: Career/Job/Internship Search, Resume/Cover Letter, Networking, Interviewing Strategies, Test Resources (e.g. GRE, MCAT), Grad Schools, Pre-Med Advice, and Personal Development. Students, postdocs and alumni may review these books during our business hours, or check them out for up to three days.
Interview Rooms
Students and postdocs may use one of our private rooms for phone/video job interviews. These rooms are available during our business hours.
Learn More About...
While networking is essential to an effective job search, it can be a challenge. In going outside of your comfort zone, it may help to think of networking not as a means of self-promotion, but as a way of establishing mutually beneficial connections. Any relationships you establish will be advantageous for both parties involved. Networking also plays a very important role in searching for a job; since the majority of openings are never listed publicly, the more people you know, the more likely you are to hear about and be recommended for unlisted jobs.
A good place to begin is by connecting with Caltech alumni via LinkedIn. There are currently about 4,700 members of the Caltech Alumni Association group on LinkedIn. It's a great place to start building your network.
Create an account, watch these videos to teach you best practices for LinkedIn, and then begin linking!
Here are some more tips from LinkedIn:
