Welcome to ChemIDP!

An individual development planning tool designed to help students and postdoctoral scholars in the chemical sciences plan and prepare for rewarding careers.

ChemIDP is your private space to consider career options, develop strategies to strengthen your skills, and map plans that reflect your background, experiences, and career dreams.

Set the stage for a satisfying career. Start your career planning now!

What is ChemIDP?

ChemIDP is an Individual Development Plan tool designed specifically for students and postdoctoral scholars in the chemical sciences. Through immersive, self-paced activities, users identify career goals, determine specific skills needed for success, and develop a plan to achieve their professional goals. ChemIDP helps you track your progress and provides tips and strategies for realizing your goals.

How does ChemIDP help me?

With ChemIDP, you can:

  • Assess Professional and Technical Skills
    Reflect on your values to determine what is important to you, both personally and professionally, and rate your technical and professional skills.  ChemIDP will provide tips to consider for those values you rate most highly along with a list of your top-rated skills to showcase on your resume and in interviews. It will also recommend careers that match your highest ranked skills.
  • Strengthen Professional and Technical Skills
    Determine how, where, and when you will implement strategies to strengthen desired skills. ChemIDP will help you track your progress.
  • Track Accomplishments
    Track your current and previous accomplishments. 
  • Develop and Prioritize Goals
    Articulate goals to focus efforts and increases the likelihood of achieving them. ChemIDP will compile your goals and send you reminders.
  • Explore Career Options
    Browse through a range of career areas and use filtering options to see sectors or roles and responsibilities of interest to you. ChemIDP allows you to save, print, and share selections.

Who should use ChemIDP?

Although the activities and resources are targeted for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the chemical sciences, ChemIDP can help guide undergraduate students and those already employed through the ongoing process of career planning.

When should I start using ChemIDP?

It is never too early for career planning.  Anything you do now will make your future job searches more effective and less stressful. 

Where do I start?

You can start in any section of ChemIDP based on:

  • what questions you have now;
  • what you are currently doing; and
  • what you are interested in doing (in the short and long term). 

How often should I use it?

Visit ChemIDP as much as you like!  Career planning tools are often used annually by those in the workforce.  More frequent visits may be helpful as you prepare for a job search.  If you use ChemIDP for setting and tracking short-term goals, you may want to visit it quarterly, monthly, or even weekly.