OPTIONS Program

Opportunities for Professional Careers: Transitions, Industry Options, Networking, and Skills

About

"I have a degree - what now?"

The OPTIONS Program supports engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in exploring diverse career options. It consists of the Cohort Program and monthly workshops.

Cohort Program

The Cohort Program is an opportunity to take a deep dive into career management with a supportive community of like-minded graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Facilitated by faculty and professional development experts, the program provides an opportunity to clarify your interests and aspirations, develop job application materials, and explore career pathways. We offer three different Cohort Programs to address the specific needs of the U of T Engineering community.

Launch Your Career Plan is recommended prior to applying to the cohort programs. However, applicants are welcome to still apply if they haven't completed Launch Your Career Plan.

2025 PhD & PDF OPTIONS Cohort - Applications Closed

Explore your options to make decisions with confidence and clarity.

This program provides a dedicated time and structured experience to explore careers in industry with a supportive community of peers. You will launch your career plan, develop confidence and clarity in your next steps, and gain tools and resources to facilitate a transition from graduate school to the workforce.

You will:

Create a Career Exploration Plan that is grounded in your skills, strengths, and goals as well as labour market data
Develop job application materials
Discover networking tools to advance your career exploration.

This program is for PhD students (post qualifying and/or comprehensive exams) and postdoctoral fellows who intend to work in industry or are curious, yet maybe undecided, about pursuing industry opportunities.

If you are interested in an academic position, check out the Prospective Professors in Training (PPIT) Program.

The program provides:

Eight, two-hour, online, live sessions
A short instructional video on resumes and cover letters for viewing on your own time
Two career management tools to develop an individualized, career exploration plan
A one-on-one, 30 min meeting with a career coach (optional)
Personalized feedback on your resume and cover letter
A mock interview, personalized feedback on your interview skills, and access to an interview preparation toolkit
An informational interview with an alumni and a database of informational interview questions
A Peer Success Team to support your career exploration

Applications for the Fall 2025 PhD & PDF OPTIONS cohort are now closed.

2025 MASc OPTIONS Cohort - Applications Closed

Take stock of your options in industry.

This program is an opportunity to make time to reflect and take stock of your options to set you up for success after graduate school.

You will:

Assess where you currently are, where you want to go next, and the steps you need to take to get there
Create a Career Exploration Plan to achieve your goals
Develop job application materials
Use networking tools to explore your goals.

This program is for MASc students who intend to work in the industry or are curious, yet maybe undecided, about pursuing industry opportunities.

The program provides:

Eight, two-hour sessions
A short instructional video on resumes and cover letters for viewing on your own time
Two career management tools to develop an individualized, career exploration plan
A one-on-one, 30 min meeting with a career coach (optional)
Personalized feedback on your resume and cover letter
A mock interview, personalized feedback on your interview skills, and access to an interview preparation toolkit
An informational interview with an alumnus and a database of informational interview questions

Applications for the Fall 2025 MASc OPTIONS Cohort have been extended until September 21 at 11:59PM EDT.

MEng - Applications Closed

Accelerate your career planning for industry options.

This program is designed for MEng students getting ready to launch their industry career. It equips you with personal and professional skills to navigate your career exploration while complementing your technical expertise.

You will:

Create a Career Exploration Plan to achieve your goals
Develop job application materials
Utilize networking tools to explore your career options
Join a dynamic cohort of MEng students from different departments with diverse career aspirations.

The program provides:

Eight, two-hour sessions
A short instructional video on resumes and cover letters for viewing on your own time
Two career management tools to develop an individualized, career exploration plan
A two-on-one, 45 min meeting with a career coach (optional)
Personalized feedback on your resume and cover letter
A peer-based mock interview, personalized feedback on your interview skills, and access to an interview preparation toolkit
An informational interview with an alumni and a database of informational interview questions
A Peer Success Team to support your career exploration

Applications for the Winter 2026 MEng OPTIONS Cohort will open late-November.

Monthly Workshops

Monthly Workshops are open to all U of T engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. These events provide an introduction to the school-to-work transition, tools to develop skills critical to the success of a professional, and a venue to network with engineering alumni and peers.

Event	Date	Time (EDT)	Location	Registration
National Postdoc Appreciation Week: Postdoc Coffee Hour	Tues, Sept 16	1:30 – 2:30 PM	Myhal Terrace	uofteng.ca/npaw-coffee
Best Practices for a Successful Supervisory Relationship	Fri, Sept 26	12:00 – 1:30 PM	GB202 (Galbraith Building)	uofteng.ca/cgms
Résumé and Cover Letter for Industry	Fri, Oct 31	12:00 – 2:00 PM	GB202 (Galbraith Building)	uofteng.ca/rcl

Recordings of some past events can be found here

National Postdoc Appreciation Week: Postdoc Coffee Hour

Tues, Sept 16 I 1:30 – 2:30 PM I Myhal Terrace

Celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week!
Meet fellow PDF peers and learn more about how the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice supports you!

Come to the 8th Floor Myhal Terrace Terrace. We’ll have coffee, tea, and treats available from 1:30 – 2:30 PM for you to enjoy while meeting fellow PDF peers. This is a drop-in-style event, so feel free to come when you’re free and stay as long as you’d like.

Best Practices for a Successful Supervisory Relationship

Fri, Sept 26 I 12:00 – 1:30 PM I GB202

The SGS Supervision Guidelines is a document that will help you as a graduate student understand best practices in graduate supervision. Join us for this overview of the Supervision Guidelines including an overview of the roles and responsibilities of students, supervisors, and committee members. We will reflect on different supervisory styles, provide a summary of the SGS regulations for making satisfactory progress and maintaining good academic standing, and discuss steps for what to do if you need academic accommodations. Participants will be provided with scenarios for discussion and problem-solving.

Résumé and Cover Letter for Industry

Fri, Oct 31 I 12:00 – 2:00 PM I GB202

Looking to tune up your résumé and cover letter for industry roles? Join us for a session with Career Exploration & Education to learn strategies and tips to build and refresh your industry job application material.

We will discuss:

Creating application materials targeted to industry roles
How to analyze industry job descriptions so you can successfully tailor your résumé
Strategies to create a more effective and captivating résumé including writing strong accomplishment statements and organizing résumé sections effectively
Approaches to drafting tailored cover letters in an efficient and compelling manner

Bonus Activity: Participate in a résumé review for personalized feedback! You will need to bring a digital copy of your working résumé (does not need to be finalized) and be ready to share it with your peers.

"The OPTIONS Program provided a how-to guide on exploring next steps. I am more confident to reach out to individuals in different positions to learn about their career paths. I left the program with a better understanding and ability to market my skills and strengths gained throughout my education."

(PhD, BME)

"The OPTIONS Program helped me understand my skills from childhood to adulthood by realizing common patterns. It aided me to widen my career possibilities as opposed to the classic ‘industry vs academia’ approach."

(PhD, ECE)

"The OPTIONS program gave me the tools to reflect on my career story from different marketable perspectives. The course helped me to define, schedule, and practice clear and concise actions to create job opportunities aligned with my core values. The introspection was guided by instructors with different fields of expertise. This exposed me to more job possibilities and a better understanding of the path to follow as I transitioned from academia to industry."

(Postdoctoral Fellow, CHE)

"I was in the middle of my career exploration when I joined The OPTIONS Program. For me the program highlighted the possibilities outside of the more “well traveled” career paths and I felt empowered to explore these. Through the program I was able to recognize my skills and how they are of great value for my chosen direction in life."

(Postdoctoral Fellow, AER)

Program Contact

grad.experience@engineering.utoronto.ca