01
Connect
Connect your goals to a strategy.
A professional development community for studentsCreate experience.
Create experience.
Build your brand. Launch your future.
Pick what you need to work on and move it forward in recurring, one-hour working sessions with people doing the same.
Start with whatever is holding you back:
- Figure out where to even start
- Build a professional presence employers can find
- Build experience without an internship
- Build better interview stories from work I've already done
- Build proof employers can verify
- Find people who can vouch for my work
No payment is required during beta.Build experience, credibility, relationships, and career momentum all year. The free tools stay free.
Career Services: Help students build experience, proof, relationships, and visibility between appointments, workshops, and recruiting cycles.
You're not starting from zero
Classes, capstones, research, volunteering, jobs, clubs, certificates, side projects, and the people who already know your work all count. Start by seeing what you already have.
Takes about 3 minutes. No account required.
Why this matters now
Your degree still matters. Now you also need to show what you can do.
AI and employers have raised the bar for entry-level workers. The students who stand out have project proof, soft skill evidence, and a professional presence employers can actually find.
Service hours log time. Well-designed projects help launch your future.
Service hours
“I needed 15 service hours by the end of the semester. I helped at events, worked check-in tables, and supported the people running the program. My hours were approved, and the organization got the help it needed.”
Intentionally designed project
“I used those same 15 hours to help the program solve a specific problem. I documented the results, showcased the work, and built relationships with people who could speak to what I accomplished.”
Don't just build a personal brand. Build experiences worth talking about.
A degree helps you learn. GradPlanHQ helps you practice, apply, document, and communicate what you're learning.
Turn classes, projects, organizations, volunteer work, jobs, and everyday experiences into evidence, visibility, and relationships employers can recognize.
The goal isn't to replace college. The goal is to help you get more value from it.
What runs it
The Growth Cycle, and the tools you run it with
Four moves you repeat every semester. Membership gets you the meetups, launchers, and community app that make each one easier to actually do.
02
Build
Create meaningful experiences.
03
Grow
Turn experience into evidence and visibility.
04
Repeat
Compound your advantage.
The Practice Field Guide
A low-stakes way to practice the skills you'll eventually need when the stakes are higher.
Most students wait until an internship, interview, networking event, or first job to discover which professional skills they haven't practiced yet.
The Practice Field Guide helps you build experience, confidence, and professional habits before those moments arrive.
Inside you'll find the Growth Cycle, Action & Momentum Meetups, the Community App, Project Launchers, and your first four moves.
Read the Practice Field Guide →An intentionally designed community
A lot of jobs students are stuck on. One community designed to help.
Students don't get stuck because they lack potential.
They get stuck because they don't know what to do next.
Whether you're trying to build experience, strengthen your network, tell your story, earn proof of your skills, or simply figure out what to do next, you're not the only one working through it.
Pick one challenge and move it forward with people working on similar goals.
What students say they're stuck on
Build the Foundation for Your Authentic Personal Brand
→ A brand people can find
Your values and story, your profile, and the reps that grow your network.
- Figure out what to say about myself and build my profile
- Learn what to share and how to share it
- Start building a professional network
- Build credibility with people beyond my friends
- Introduce myself without rehearsing for an hour
- Join conversations without going quiet
- Know what to say when I reach out to someone new
- Find people to start something with
Build Experience That Strengthens Your Brand
→ Experience on your resume
Projects, class work, roles, collaborations, credentials, volunteer work, or work you already have underway.
- Figure out where to even start
- Figure out what kind of project would fit my goals
- Build experience if I don't land an internship
- Find and approach an organization I could help
- Actually finish what I start
- Make progress without starting a project right now
- Cover a resume gap that's growing after graduation
- Find a credible way to back up the skills I claim
- Use what I know to help someone else succeed
- Close a bigger gap this semester
Practice Telling Your Story and Increasing Your Visibility
→ Evidence of professional skills
Resume lines, interview stories, references, and proof people can see.
- Translate my skills and experience into stronger resume content
- Build better interview stories from work I've already done
- Build trust and credibility through my online presence
- Figure out how to document and share my work so people can see it
How we help you handle them
- Project Launchers
A starting framework so you're not inventing a project from scratch. You still shape it to fit your goals, your major, and the host you're helping. They're designed to grow with you as you do.
- Action & Momentum Meetups
You choose the meetup that supports your goal and make progress alongside other members working on similar challenges. Ice breakers first, then protected work time so you're working, not watching.
- The Community App
Between meetups it keeps going. Work the feed, trade shoutouts, and find project ideas, resources, and partners if you need them.
The Practice Field Guide
See what you get →A step-by-step guide that connects everything together.
Use it to understand the Growth Cycle, choose where to start, and turn the system into actions you can begin this semester.
Read the Practice Field Guide →Your degree is the foundation. These four build on it.
Experience
Real work you finished, described in a line a hiring manager understands.
Proof
Work you can show: what you practiced, produced, and contributed.
Relationships
People who can verify, recommend, endorse, or refer you.
Visibility
A profile and a presence that hold up when someone looks you up.
Together they compound into Career Momentum. However you like to work, we make these four easier — wherever you are, and however many people you already know.
The evidence you collect in the Growth Cycle becomes Proof people can see.
See it in action
Three ways students use GradPlanHQ
Every member gets the same Practice Field: the Growth Cycle, Action & Momentum Meetups, the Community App, and access to all four Project Launchers. What changes is how long you participate, how quickly you move, and whether a Project Launcher is part of your plan. See what you get.
Come monthly, work steadily, or sprint. You choose the pace and the work.
BonnieFreshman
Builds her brand during the school year and runs a hometown project over the summer.
Membership: Annual
- FallAdds her high-school project to her Story Bank and defines what she wants her work to communicate.
- SpringBuilds her LinkedIn presence and practices sharing useful, authentic content.
- SummerRuns a Project Launcher back home and collects proof, references, and shoutouts.
Outcome: Turns one high-school experience into the beginning of a professional story, then adds another experience over the summer.
MayaJunior
No internship lined up, so she creates internship-level experience and strengthens her leadership proof.
Membership: One semester
- FirstUses Design Your Own Internship to develop a meaningful project with a partner organization.
- NextCaptures the work as proof, develops STAR stories, and adds relevant credentialing where useful.
Outcome: Enters recruiting season with a completed project, stronger stories, and people who can validate the work.
EthanSenior
Missed the internship cycle and joins mid-semester instead of waiting.
Membership: Month to month
- Start nowChooses a Project Launcher that fits his goals and begins building useful experience immediately.
- Keep movingAttends meetups, uses the community app, and continues adding proof and relationships after graduation.
Outcome: Replaces a growing résumé gap with current work and a clear answer to “What have you been doing?”
What students say after a few weeks
Real outcomes from turning class projects into real experience.
"I did not stop at the grade. I turned it into real experience I could put on my resume."
"I didn't want to make up a fake company for my capstone, so I found a real client and turned it into proof I could share."
"I couldn't find an internship, so I turned a project into a leadership credential and real experience."
60-second quiz
Not sure where to start?
Answer five questions to find your suggested starting point in the Growth Cycle, plus a personalized guide generated on your device. No email, no account.
The quiz helps you decide where to begin. Membership is where you get the meetups, community app, accountability, feedback, and people who help you move the work forward.
Free guide
The Practice Field Guide
Practice before it counts.
A low-stakes way to practice the skills you'll eventually need when the stakes are higher.
Inside you'll find:
- The Growth Cycle
- Reflect, Capture, and Amplify
- The three goals
- The nine repeating processes
- Action & Momentum Meetups
- The Community App
- Project Launchers
- Your first four moves
13 pages. No email required.
Membership
Professional development you can actually act on.
Join the first 100 students building what comes next.
Most students don't need more advice. They need a place to practice. GradPlanHQ is a professional development community and practice field where you learn by doing — creating experience, building proof, strengthening your professional presence, and developing relationships before opportunities depend on those skills.
The beta is designed around student schedules and goals. You get recurring practice, accountability, community, and momentum — not a promise that one conversation will solve everything.
Every member gets the full GradPlanHQ Practice Field: the Growth Cycle, Action & Momentum Meetups, the Community App, and access to all four Project Launchers. Choose a Project Launcher when you need a structured project. Or use the meetups and app to strengthen LinkedIn, practice networking and interviews, earn credentials, improve visibility, advance classwork or a capstone, or move work already underway. You choose what to work on and how quickly to move.
Parents: here's what your student actually gets out of it.
What membership includes
Practice together
- Intro strategy sessionStart with a clear plan.
- Action & Momentum MeetupsReal work on real tasks, on a recurring schedule.
- Feedback and regular check-insYou're never stuck on your own.
In the apps
- Private Community AppMember directory, project groups, and direct messages.
- Calendar appEvery meetup, in one place.
Guides and tools
- Guides, templates, and promptsWhat to do next, ready when you are.
- Growth Cycle toolsConnect. Build. Grow. Repeat.
Create experience. Build your brand. Launch your future.
Founding 100 Beta Cohort
19 of 100 claimed · 81 left
Founding Beta Members receive access to the GradPlanHQ community during the beta period at no cost while we refine the experience, gather feedback, and document student outcomes.
What beta members receive
- The GradPlanHQ Growth Cycle
- Action & Momentum Meetups
- Community App and Calendar App access
- All four Project Launchers
- Tools, templates, and resources
- Opportunities to build experience, proof, relationships, and visibility
What GradPlanHQ asks in return
- Participate when possible
- Provide honest feedback
- Help test meetups, tools, and community features
- Share suggestions for improving the member experience
- Allow us to request — but never require — testimonials or permission to share selected outcomes
No payment is required during beta.
Join the Founding 100 Beta Cohort →Founding Beta Members
Founding Beta Members Help Build What Comes Next
Founding Beta Members won't just use GradPlanHQ. They'll have opportunities to help shape it.
As the community grows, founding members may be invited to test new Launchers, provide feedback on meetup formats, participate in pilots, and help improve the Community App, Calendar App, resources, and member experience.
For students who choose to participate, those contributions can become valuable examples of initiative, collaboration, continuous improvement, problem solving, community building, and leadership.
You're not joining a finished product. You're helping build a professional development community designed to help students get more value from the education they're already investing in.
FAQ
Questions? Start Here.
Getting StartedWhat is the Practice Field Guide?
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The Practice Field Guide is the operating manual for GradPlanHQ.
It explains the Growth Cycle, the three goals, the nine repeating processes, Action & Momentum Meetups, the Community App, and Project Launchers.
Whether you become a member or not, it is the fastest way to understand how the system works and how to start your first Growth Cycle.
MembershipWhat does membership actually get me?
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Action & Momentum Meetups, projects you can jump into, LinkedIn and resume help, the Community App, and a clear strategy for building experience and connections.
Experience & ProjectsWhat if I don't get an internship?
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An internship is one way to build experience, not the only one. Projects, volunteer work, credentials, leadership, and networking all give you proof.
Growth CycleWhat is the GradPlanHQ Growth Cycle?
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Connect, Build, Grow, Repeat. Connect your goals to a strategy, build meaningful experiences, turn them into evidence and visibility, and repeat to compound your advantage. Same four moves every semester, so it stacks.
MembershipIs the Founding 100 Beta Cohort free?
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Yes. No payment is required during beta. GradPlanHQ expects to introduce paid membership after the beta period as part of the January 2027 public launch. Founding Beta Members will receive advance notice before paid membership begins.