Coaching and advising PhDs with confidence.

Yet every day, career staff, coaches, and faculty are asked to guide highly trained, deeply invested scholars through complex career decisions, shaped by concerns related to identity, power, uncertainty, and constrained labor markets.

This training exists to close that gap—by equipping you with practical frameworks, shared language, and real-world practice for working effectively and specifically with PhDs in career exploration.

Many people who coach PhDs were never trained to do it.

Does this resonate?

You’ve noticed that PhDs can experience a range of barriers:

  • Limiting beliefs that they’ve wasted time, are too late, or aren’t qualified for anything else

  • Advisors ignorant of the harsh job market or unsupportive of diverse career exploration

  • Anxiety, perfectionism, over-analysis, challenges with a sense of uncertainty

  • Pressure to “make the investment worth it”

  • Real life constraints that can’t just be fixed through traditional career development advice

Without preparation, even skilled professionals end up:

  • Defaulting to personal anecdotes

  • Avoiding direct guidance when it’s needed

  • Over-directing when coaching would be more effective

  • Under-informing when educating may be necessary

  • Leaving sessions unsure whether they helped

This program helps you move to responding with intention & boosting your effectiveness in 1:1s.

This live, cohort-based training takes place virtually over two half-days of training, in a safe and affirming space, with options for continued additional support from your instructors after the training is over.

READY TO JOIN THE NEXT COHORT ON APRIL 30?

Who is this program for?

If this describes you:

Career development professional who are new to advising PhDs
Seasoned career advisors ready to adapt your expertise to serve the specific needs, mindsets, and experiences of doctoral students. 

People with PhDs who are new to career advising
Ready to move beyond surface-level advising, lean more into collaborative coaching, and approach complex cases with nuance and confidence.

Anyone seeking greater insight into approaches tailored to PhDs
Comfortable working with a range of clients but wanting fresh approaches to the doctoral student or postdoc facing increasing uncertainty and new technologies

We want you to have frameworks and confidence — not just your intuition.

What you’ll get

Live, interactive sessions

You will get to learn and practice with a cohort of peers working in similar roles and contexts discussions and practice

Practical, expert guidance

Learn a variety of tools, understand when and why they work, what PhD personas are likely to find the tools helpful, and practice using them with peers during and between sessions. 

Case-based learning

Get familiar with typical PhD client personas and practice techniques that work best in 1:1 settings.

Resource mastery

Learn when to use tools like ImaginePhD, IDPs, InterSECT, and Meaningful Work Kit to broaden career insights and pathways for your clients.

Certificate of completion for PhD career exploration 

Optional personalized feedback

Get individual observation, coaching, and feedback from instructors on your sessions

How you’ll grow

By the end of the course, you’ll:

  • Navigate 1:1 sessions with intention so you can establish credibility, manage timing, clarify goals, and respond thoughtfully to clients.

  • Know how to recognize different mindsets, hidden needs, and signs of resistance, and which tools work most effectively in response.

  • Expand clients’ imagination about career pathways through evidence-backed tools.

  • Support PhD career development holistically by examining someone’s situation and resources through multiple lenses (socioemotional, financial, interpersonal).

How we’ll get there

Over two sessions you will learn a foundation for what career development with PhDs looks like from exploration to application.

Here’s a high-level agenda describing how we will spend our time together. (Note: Sequence of content can change before and between sessions, depending upon the needs of each cohort.)

The Difference

Train with intention. Train with community.

who’s running this show

Work with the creators of tools used nationwide in PhD career exploration.

Annie Maxfield | Meet Annie | LinkedIn

Thi Nguyen | Meet Thi | LinkedIn

Urmila Venkatesh | Meet Urmila | LinkedIn

what’s the investment

$500 for the virtual two-session training, introductory pricing (discounted from $750 regular pricing)

$300 per 1:1 session (optional add-on)

when it’s happening

Thursdays, April 30 and May 14, 2026

8AM-1PM PST / 11AM-4PM EST

Online (Zoom)

Our Services

Explore our range of services designed to help you move forward with confidence.

  • This live, cohort-based training takes place virtually over 2x half-days of training, in a safe and affirming space, with options for continued additional support from your instructors after the training is over.

  • Flexible, expert advice when you need it. Book hourly support across a range of topics. This focused consultation will help turn session recordings into personalized feedback to refine your advising and coaching skills.

  • Departmental or office-wide training for faculty and career staff with frameworks for effective career conversations, reflective questioning, and student-centered guidance. Participants develop skills to support PhD trainees in navigating career decisions with clarity and confidence. Programs can be tailored for career offices, graduate schools, or department-level faculty development initiatives.

Work With Us

Want updates?

Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!