By Kat Procyk
Photography provided by the Office of Graduate Studies, School of Medicine
The 2025 Career Club cohort participating in a session.
I should really start thinking about what I’m doing with my life, Yvette Afriyie-Agyemang thought as she entered her last year of graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Though she was an accomplished student in Pitt’s Center for Neuroscience, she was torn on either becoming a postdoctoral researcher or pursuing the industry route for her career. Afriyie-Agyemang joined the Career Club, a series of eight workshops designed to help senior year students with their next steps, as part of its 2025 cohort. The program is part of the emphasis on career and professional development in the Office of Graduate Studies, School of Medicine.
The goal of the program is to give students the tools necessary to explore, find and pursue their next career steps with clarity and confidence, said Deepti Ramadoss, director, Office of Graduate Studies, who has run the program since 2021 after receiving a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
“We had the opportunity to fill out surveys beforehand that paired us with alumni in fields that interested us,” Afriyie-Agyemang explained. “Having the opportunity to meet them and ask them questions was extremely helpful. For example, I had heard of a medical science liaison”—a bridge between health care companies typically in biotechnology or pharmaceuticals and medical professionals—“ and I had seen a few sessions with them, but I had no idea what their day-to-day was. I also had the chance to learn about general consultants and hear from a teaching professor, which was eye-opening, and I realized there are roles that may be a better fit for me personally.”
The 2026 cohort is underway, and in the latest sessions, students had the opportunity to network with alumni and learn about best practices for materials such as CVs and resumes tailored to different job descriptions. As technology and coinciding communication skills continue to evolve, these best practices are still evolving within the workforce development community.
The following sessions will include resume and cover letter reviews and advice on how students can market their personal brands and present their professional selves.
They will develop elevator pitches based on their research, personal accomplishments and career interests. To help them get comfortable with networking and presenting themselves, they will practice their elevator pitches in pairs.
The final session in the program is designed to provide students with insights into ever-evolving best practices for using LinkedIn and an introduction to different interview types. By the time the students have finished all the sessions, they should be ready to launch into their job search with confidence, Ramadoss said.
Afriyie-Agyemang recently accepted a position as a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University and believes the Career Club’s emphasis on networking helped her secure the position. “It gave me the confidence to network at conferences,” Afriyie-Agyemang said. “Before, it felt kind of abstract, whereas I think Career Club really solidified the idea in my head and gave me the tools to be able to put myself out there.