The Career Field Resource pages describe the more common fields that employ scientists with advanced training, with a short list of websites which will help you understand the field. Each section has:
- at least one or two articles to provide an overview of the field or career paths;
- resources specific to Berkeley (access to opportunities you can pursue while a student or postdoc);
- more general sources of information including professional associations, sites with industry news and career advice, and fellowship/job listings.
Higher Education
Opportunities include faculty positions at research or teaching focused institutions, or roles in academic administration. A small sampling of non-faculty roles include: working in institutional research, grants administration, student affairs, research administration, tech transfer.
Jump to section:
- Berkeley Resources
- Faculty Careers in Higher Education
- Careers Outside the United States
- Careers at Teaching-focused Institutions (or teaching-focused roles)
- Careers in Higher Education Administration
Berkeley Resources
- Graduate Division’s GradPro(opens in a new tab), GSI Teaching & Resource Center(opens in a new tab) and Graduate Diversity(opens in a new tab); including the “Path to the Professoriate(opens in a new tab)” program
- Berkeley Sponsored Projects – list of Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Biological Sciences(opens in a new tab)
- Visiting Scholar and Postdoc Affairs (VSPA)(opens in a new tab)
- Career Center – offers workshops in the fall semester each year on the faculty job search. See Handshake(opens in a new tab) for details.
- QB3-Berkeley’s interview with Professional in Residence Elise Kikis, PhD, “Balancing Teaching and Research at a Liberal Arts College”
Faculty Careers in Higher Education
- ASCB articles – “What your PI forgot to tell you: why you actually might want a job running a research lab(opens in a new tab)” and “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Career as an Academic Scientist(opens in a new tab)”
- NRMN (opens in a new tab)– National Research Mentoring Network supports trainees and faculty with the aim to strengthen diversity in the biomedical research workforce
- National Postdoc Association(opens in a new tab) – resource library(opens in a new tab) includes “Tips for Applying & Interviewing for Postdoc Positions” and much more.
- HERC – Higher Education Recruitment Consortium(opens in a new tab) – resource especially useful for both faculty and administrative job postings, dual careers and other issues of identity, work-life balance. Look for job application guides/webinars, for example “Writing Your Diversity Statement in 4 Steps(opens in a new tab)“
- Preparing Future Faculty(opens in a new tab) – see the resources(opens in a new tab) pages in particular
- National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity(opens in a new tab)
- Insights from a survey based analysis of the academic job market bioRxiv preprint(opens in a new tab) (Dec 2019)
- NIH OITE presentation (webinar) on preparing your job package(opens in a new tab) (June 2020)
- UCSF’s Academic Career Readiness Assessment (ACRA)(opens in a new tab)
- UC Berkeley’s Rubric for Assessing (opens in a new tab)Candidate Contributions to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging(opens in a new tab)
- The Academic Job Search Handbook(opens in a new tab)
- Article with advice from HHMI faculty – “Making the jump: Expert guidance on transitioning to academic independence(opens in a new tab)”
- MBOC article, “How to Design a Chalk Talk – the Million Dollar Sales Pitch(opens in a new tab)“
- AAUP(opens in a new tab) Faculty Compensation Surveys – accessible, searchable databases from Inside Higher Ed(opens in a new tab) and Chronicle of Higher Ed (opens in a new tab) help you search data by type of job (assistant professor tenure track vs. adjunct, for example) or discipline, or by institution.
- HigherEd Jobs(opens in a new tab) and Inside Higher Ed(opens in a new tab) – job postings, job search advice, and current information about trends, news and events in the field.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education(opens in a new tab) – job postings and resources in the Vitae(opens in a new tab) section
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund(opens in a new tab) – BWF’s goals include helping early career scientists develop as independent investigators (see resources in the Career Tools(opens in a new tab) sections including Lab Management Guides) and funding: Career Award at the Scientific Interface(opens in a new tab) (CASI)
- “Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty(opens in a new tab), Second Edition (HHMI)
- Resources for research fellowships: Institute for Broadening Participation(opens in a new tab) (Pathways to Science Grad(opens in a new tab) and Postdoc(opens in a new tab) portals); NIH Project Reporter(opens in a new tab)
Careers Outside the United States
- EURAXESS(opens in a new tab)
- The Association of Commonwealth Universities(opens in a new tab)
- Times Higher Education(opens in a new tab)
- German Academic International Network(opens in a new tab) (GAIN)
- Global Academy Jobs(opens in a new tab)
- Academicpositions.com(opens in a new tab) lists opportunities by discipline, primarily in Western Europe, also has a “by country(opens in a new tab)” feature
Careers at Teaching-focused Institutions (or teaching-focused roles)
- California Community Colleges Registry(opens in a new tab) – information about annual job fairs, one for Southern CA and the other for Northern CA, as well as other resources
- National Institutes of Scientific Teaching(opens in a new tab)– summer professional development activities nationally
- UC Teaching Professor(opens in a new tab) initiative
- Council on Undergraduate Research(opens in a new tab)
- List of Bay Area colleges and universities(opens in a new tab)
- American Association of Community Colleges(opens in a new tab)
- Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities(opens in a new tab)
- POD(opens in a new tab) – The Professional and Organizational Development(opens in a new tab) Network in Higher Education is “devoted to improving teaching and learning in higher education.”
Careers in Higher Education Administration
- Chronicle of Higher Ed article, “From Doctoral Study to … Administration(opens in a new tab)”
- AUTM(opens in a new tab) – Association for professionals in the field of technology transfer (see the section on Science and the Law for more on this career path)
- AIR(opens in a new tab) – Association for Institutional Research and article, From Doctoral Study to … Institutional Research(opens in a new tab)
- GCC(opens in a new tab) – Graduate Career Consortium
- LADO(opens in a new tab) Liberal Arts Diversity Officers Consortium
- National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Ed(opens in a new tab)
- NADOHE(opens in a new tab) – National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education
- NAFA(opens in a new tab) – National Association of Fellowship Advisors
- NASPA(opens in a new tab) – Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education
- NACADA(opens in a new tab) – National Academic Advising Association
- NCURA(opens in a new tab) – National Council of University Research Administrators
- NORDP (opens in a new tab)– National Organization of Research Development Professionals
- SRA(opens in a new tab) – Society of Research Administrators
- Graduate Division’s GradPro, GSI Teaching & Resource Center and Graduate Diversity; including the “Path to the Professoriate” program
- Berkeley Sponsored Projects – list of Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Biological Sciences
- Visiting Scholar and Postdoc Affairs (VSPA)
- Career Center – offers workshops in the fall semester each year on the faculty job search. See Handshake for details.
- QB3-Berkeley’s interview with Professional in Residence Elise Kikis, PhD, “Balancing Teaching and Research at a Liberal Arts College”
- ASCB articles – “What your PI forgot to tell you: why you actually might want a job running a research lab” and “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Career as an Academic Scientist”
- NRMN – National Research Mentoring Network supports trainees and faculty with the aim to strengthen diversity in the biomedical research workforce
- National Postdoc Association – resource library includes “Tips for Applying & Interviewing for Postdoc Positions” and much more.
- HERC – Higher Education Recruitment Consortium – resource especially useful for both faculty and administrative job postings, dual careers and other issues of identity, work-life balance. Look for job application guides/webinars, for example “Writing Your Diversity Statement in 4 Steps“
- Preparing Future Faculty – see the resources pages in particular
- National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
- Insights from a survey based analysis of the academic job market bioRxiv preprint (Dec 2019)
- NIH OITE presentation (webinar) on preparing your job package (June 2020)
- UCSF’s Academic Career Readiness Assessment (ACRA)
- UC Berkeley’s Rubric for Assessing Candidate Contributions to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
- The Academic Job Search Handbook
- Article with advice from HHMI faculty – “Making the jump: Expert guidance on transitioning to academic independence”
- MBOC article, “How to Design a Chalk Talk – the Million Dollar Sales Pitch“
- AAUP Faculty Compensation Surveys – accessible, searchable databases from Inside Higher Ed and Chronicle of Higher Ed help you search data by type of job (assistant professor tenure track vs. adjunct, for example) or discipline, or by institution.
- HigherEd Jobs and Inside Higher Ed – job postings, job search advice, and current information about trends, news and events in the field.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education – job postings and resources in the Vitae section
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund – BWF’s goals include helping early career scientists develop as independent investigators (see resources in the Career Tools sections including Lab Management Guides) and funding: Career Award at the Scientific Interface (CASI)
- “Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty, Second Edition (HHMI)
- Resources for research fellowships: Institute for Broadening Participation (Pathways to Science Grad and Postdoc portals); NIH Project Reporter
- EURAXESS
- The Association of Commonwealth Universities
- Times Higher Education
- German Academic International Network (GAIN)
- Global Academy Jobs
- Academicpositions.com lists opportunities by discipline, primarily in Western Europe, also has a “by country” feature
- California Community Colleges Registry – information about annual job fairs, one for Southern CA and the other for Northern CA, as well as other resources
- National Institutes of Scientific Teaching– summer professional development activities nationally
- UC Teaching Professor initiative
- Council on Undergraduate Research
- List of Bay Area colleges and universities
- American Association of Community Colleges
- Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities
- POD – The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education is “devoted to improving teaching and learning in higher education.”
- Chronicle of Higher Ed article, “From Doctoral Study to … Administration”
- AUTM – Association for professionals in the field of technology transfer (see the section on Science and the Law for more on this career path)
- AIR – Association for Institutional Research and article, From Doctoral Study to … Institutional Research
- GCC – Graduate Career Consortium
- LADO Liberal Arts Diversity Officers Consortium
- National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Ed
- NADOHE – National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education
- NAFA – National Association of Fellowship Advisors
- NASPA – Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education
- NACADA – National Academic Advising Association
- NCURA – National Council of University Research Administrators
- NORDP – National Organization of Research Development Professionals
- SRA – Society of Research Administrators