This paper focuses on strategies for enhancing the preparation of geographers moving into academic careers. Based on research and experience gained from the Geography Faculty Development Alliance and Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education in geography projects, several suggestions for improved practice are detailed. These move beyond self-help models and argue for a systematic, community-based approach to professional development. Reasons for change are disparities that sometimes exist between the implicit knowledge needed for career success and the topics addressed explicitly in graduate curricula. Although the focus is geography, the argument is set in the context of interdisciplinary debate about improving doctoral education. (Contains 1 figure and 3 notes.)