Initial Publication Date: May 14, 2024

Build students' awareness of geoscience jobs and careers

Students who arrive at college are generally aware of a narrow range of subject areas and careers as influenced by their family, culture, and upbringing; their geographic setting; and their K-12 academic experiences. An important role that we play through our courses and degree programs is to broaden and deepen students' awareness of the ways they can contribute to society with their skills and knowledge. Most students discover or experience the geosciences for the first time as a mature learner in college, unaware of either educational pathways or career opportunities in the discipline. Building students' awareness of geoscience jobs and careers should start early, in introductory courses, to help them develop realistic conceptions of the variety of opportunities. Some specific strategies include:

Start early | Sharing career profiles | Asking everyone about their career paths | Helping students build their network

Start early

Overview

Introductory courses are a great opportunity to introduce students to potential jobs and careers in geoscience in order to attract students to the field and motivate their pursuit of a degree. Highlighting alumni of your degree program, or other scientists with whom your students may identify, can help students imagine possible futures for themselves, and can be incorporated into courses at all levels of the curriculum. In that way, by the time students are ready to graduate, they will have a strong sense of the jobs they are interested in and prepared for.

Why use this strategy

  • Introduces students to jobs and career paths they may not have been exposed to before.
  • Attracts students to pursue degrees in the geosciences.
  • Broadens students' perceptions of who can be a geoscientist from who they see in the faculty.

Tips for success

  • Highlight diverse people (e.g., gender, LGBTQIA+, race/ethnicity, differently abled) in diverse job settings (e.g., office, field, lab).
  • Focus on jobs that are attainable with a bachelors' degree. 
  • Focus on jobs that connect to issues of interest to your students.

Resources

Provide Career Information from the SAGE 2YC program

Share career profiles

Overview

Sharing career profiles with students is a way to help students learn about the variety of geoscience jobs and careers, the variety of people doing those jobs, and the variety of pathways people experience. Career profiles can be found in many places, such as the websites of professional organizations or agencies, YouTube videos, and science publications. Career profiles can be shared in many ways, such as posting articles in physical spaces frequently used by students, asking students to look at specific profiles of scientists whose work is related to your course, or asking students to find profiles of scientists with whom they identify.

Why use this strategy

  • Helps students learn about a variety of careers and the skills are needed for particular jobs
  • Helps students connect with relatable people they identify with
  • Raises students' awareness of rewarding, meaningful jobs or careers in geoscience that align with their interests
  • Can help faculty understand what students will encounter as employees compared to experiences they encounter on campus or in classes. 

Tips for success

  • Select a diverse group of people for the profiles (e.g., gender, LGBTQIA+, race/ethnicity, differently abled).
  • Choose individuals that are local to your region and/or earlier in their career to give students relatable examples of what they can do after graduation. 
  • Keep in touch with alumni and invite them to collaborate on creating a profile (e.g., a 15-minute Zoom interview). 
  • If creating career profiles, ask the professional about why their work is rewarding, how it impacts individuals, communities, industries or environments, and about their pathway.

Resources

Explore Geoscience Career Profiles from Geosciences Resources on Opportunities in the Workforce (GROW)

EOS career issues from the American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Career exploration page from the United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Scientist Spotlights from the Scientist Spotlights Initiative

Meet the Scientists from People of Earth Science (mostly Australian Earth scientists)

Schinske, J. N., Perkins, H., Snyder, A., & Wyer, M. (2016). Scientist spotlight homework assignments shift students' stereotypes of scientists and enhance science identity in a diverse introductory science class. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 15(3), ar47. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-01-0002

Ask everyone to talk about their career path

Overview

Asking everyone about their jobs and career paths provides opportunities for students to learn about diverse pathways, as each person has had a pathway to their current job that is unique and useful for students to hear. When inviting visiting speakers, for example, you can ask them to include a slide or two (or a few minutes) about their path to their current job, including detours, challenges, highlights, and key experiences or decisions, and schedule time for visiting speakers or local professionals to talk with students about their career pathway. You can also take advantage of construction projects on campus, or any event that brings professional geoscientists into the area, to share their career paths with students.

Why use this strategy

  • Takes advantage of things that are already in place, like a visiting speaker series or an alumni event.
  • Helps to make visible to students that there can be multiple pathways to the same types of jobs.
  • Normalizes talking about career pathways and may help students consider where they are with respect to future goals.
  • Exposes students to a wider range of identities and backgrounds than may be represented in the faculty.
  • Raises students awareness about professional licensure and other certifications. 

Tips for success

  • Ask people to describe their pathway not by listing their degrees, but by describing their thinking, interests, and decisions, and how they changed over time.
  • Prepare speakers ahead of time by letting them know that you would like to hear this information as part of their presentation. 
  • Encourage students to ask questions of speakers, alumni, etc., about how they got to where they are.
  • Strategize to bring in a group that is diverse in field, identity and background, and pathway.
  • Ask people about any licensure or certification that they have achieved beyond their degree, and how that has helped them in their job or career. 

Resources

Videos of live streamed speaker series at Central Washington University where visitors talk about their careers, particularly:

Help students build their network

Overview

Building a network involves making connections between people. Connecting students to people already in the field of the geosciences in a variety of sectors (academia, industry, state/federal government, etc.) and at different career levels (early, mid, and senior) can help them learn about job opportunities, find career mentors, and build their understanding of the variety of jobs and careers available to them. Providing structured low stakes environments where students can practice networking skills can help students gain confidence in their own skills. For example, establishing an active LinkedIn group for a department or program can connect current students to alumni and jobs. Alumni panels can be conducted in-person or on Zoom to broaden participation, with time for students to hear from each panelist and then ask questions and talk with people individually.

Why use this strategy

  • Creates a sense of pride and connection between students and alumni who have a shared experience in your department.
  • Helps students find jobs through personal connections.
  • Helps students find mentors whose interests and experiences are a good match for them. 
  • Helps you stay connected with your alumni and provide evidence for the value of your department.
  • Helps students see the range of professional certifications that can be pursued in addition to their degree. 

Tips for success

  • Create a department LinkedIn group and ask students to create profiles and join the group early in their program.
  • Keep track of your alumni and their employers. 
  • Invite alumni to annual department events like award ceremonies and add a networking component. 
  • Use your own network: connect students to people in your network based on their interests.
  • Encourage students to participate in mentoring and networking events at professional meetings to make connections beyond your department

Resources

Build a Network of Alums, Employers and Career Center Staff from Building Strong Departments

Networking advice for students from the American Geosciences Institute

Networking and Mentoring from the Geological Society of America