9 Fellowships for Mid-Career Professionals

Last updated January 24, 2023

Mid-career is an ideal time to pursue a professional fellowship, whether to gain new skills, work abroad, enhance your professional network or enter public service. Fellowships that seek “mid-career” applicants typically are recruiting professionals with at least 10 years of work experience. Check out these incredible fellowship opportunities for outstanding professionals globally.

Eisenhower USA Fellowship

Eisenhower Fellowships identify, empower and link outstanding leaders from around the world, helping them to achieve consequential outcomes across sectors and borders. The USA program provides overseas exposure of 4-5 weeks designed to enhance Fellows’ professional and personal growth, develop new contacts, and promote the exchange of ideas and international understanding. Fellows have meetings with leaders in their field, as well as cultural site visits and hospitality by local citizens. Fellows become an engaged member of an exclusive network of more than 1,900 international leaders. Candidates are U.S. citizens approximately 32-45 years old. Also see the Eisenhower International Fellowship for non-U.S. citizens. Read fellowship application tips by Eisenhower Fellow Bernadette Vester.

Fulbright Specialist Program

The Fulbright Specialist Program (FSP) promotes linkages between U.S. academics and professionals and their counterparts at host institutions overseas. Grants are awarded in select disciplines to engage in short-term collaborative 2 to 6 week projects at host institutions in over 100 countries worldwide. International travel costs and a stipend are funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating host institutions cover grantee in-country expenses or provide in-kind services. U.S. faculty and professionals apply to join a Roster of Specialists for a 5 year term.

White House Fellowship

The White House Fellows program is one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. White House Fellowships offer exceptional young men and women first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the federal government. Fellows typically spend a year working as a full-time, paid Fellow to senior White House Staff, Cabinet Secretaries and other top-ranking government officials. Fellows also participate in an education program consisting of roundtable discussions with renowned leaders from the private and public sectors, and trips to study U.S. policy in action both domestically and internationally. Read insights on the White House Fellows program by Bethany Rubin-Henderson.

Yale World Fellows Program

This 4-month residential program offers a cutting-edge global issues curriculum, individualized skill-building and access to prominent thinkers and practitioners. Applications to the Yale World Fellows Program are accepted from across sectors and around the world. Each class of Fellows is a unique group, geographically balanced, and representative of a wide range of professions, talents, and perspectives. To be eligible, applicants must be in the mid-career stage (5-20 years work experience), fluent in English and be a citizen of and reside in a country other than the U.S.

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships

The Fellowships are awarded to men and women who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. Approximately 220 Fellowships are awarded through two annual competitions: one open to citizens and permanent residents of the United States and Canada, and the other open to citizens and permanent residents of Latin America and the Caribbean. Guggenheim Fellowships are for 6-12 months. No special conditions attach to them, and Fellows may spend their grant funds in any manner they deem necessary to their work.

Henry Crown Fellowship

The Henry Crown Fellowship Program, established in 1997, seeks to develop the next generation of community-spirited leaders, providing them with the tools necessary to meet the challenges of business and civic leadership in the 21st century. Each class of Fellows is chosen from a wide pool of accomplished entrepreneurial leaders (between the ages of 30 and 45). The two-year program is comprised of a structured series of four seminars (approximately 24 days in total) under the guidance of skilled senior moderators of the Aspen Institute along with a required leadership Venture of each Fellow’s own design and choosing. Individuals cannot apply for the Henry Crown Fellowship Program; they must be nominated by recognized leaders.

Mira Fellowship

Each year the Mira Fellowship accepts a small cohort from across the globe to create compassionate actionable visions for our future. Mid-career professionals are given the opportunity to rethink the world’s most pressing issues and develop actionable plans for change. Fellows receive four onsite summits, coaching, cohort collaboration, a research travel stipend of $5,000 and access to experts in the fellow’s field of study.

Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program

The fellowship provides a year of professional enrichment in the United States for experienced professionals from designated countries undergoing development or political transition. Humphrey Fellowships are awarded competitively to candidates who are mid-career professionals in many fields. Applicants are required to have an undergraduate degree, a minimum of five years of substantial, full-time, professional experience, limited or no prior experience in the United States, demonstrated leadership qualities, a record of public service in the community, and strong English skills. Read application tips by Humphrey Fellow Özlem Durmuş.

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