What the…What is Dante Alighieri doing on GradLife’s Blog???

Dear Graduate Students, maybe this is going to be your last year at McGill, maybe not. Maybe you are graduating and thinking about what you can do after having gone through the Hell of your thesis and finally got outside of it, on the peaceful and lightened sand of Dante’s Purgatory. If that is the case, then you may find this post interesting. Before writing it, I was thinking about what to publish, then I told myself: “Hey, you are an international student and you took one of the most important decision of your life, let’s talk about how you choose where to go and what to do!”. Here it is then, a few words about people and things that may help you in choosing which path you want to take to climb the mountain of the Purgatory.

No worries, McGill won’t leave you alone. As McGill Career Planning Service website  explains, CaPs “assists students in their career development and search for permanent, part-time, and summer jobs, as well as internships, by providing workshops, individual advising, a comprehensive job posting service, and an extensive Career Resource Centre.” In other words, are you looking for help to get by in Montréal or find out what job you may achieve in the future? This is the website for you. CaPS offers many events where you can learn how to prepare an interview, write a CV, improve your business skills and discover how you can have a career in your field. Then, if you follow the link to the job portal MyFuture, you will see job posts both internal and external to McGill. Finding a job, either inside or outside academia, is very difficult. Then, let’s get some help from people that know a lot about it! (A personal suggestion: if you know any association or group or institution related to your field that may become your next employer (or make you get in touch with it), subscribe to their newsletter or find a way to keep in touch with them!!!)

Then, if you are looking for something different that may taste of Italian red wine, German beer or hot Spanish Paella (and no, it is not your hanger that make you read words about food here, but a metonymy), then you may want to have a look at this portal, where you can have a worldwide view of academic programs. There you can find a lot of different programs: Masters, PhDs, Bachelors, Online Courses, Short Courses, Preparation Courses and so on. This portal has a kind of personal value to me. It is actually where I realized how many opportunities to study abroad I had, and you have. It was really useful and a first guide in the process that led me to my PhD in Montréal. Think that when I started my quest I was working in London and I found this portal thanks to a Polish roommate! Yes, I was lucky at the end, but remember that at McGill there are many people ready to help you on your path.

In conclusion, this was a short post, a quick shot, but a long path is waiting for you, up to the Eden!