Helping your students build their geoscience workforce skills will be most effective when you have the knowledge you need. You likely already have much of that knowledge, but we synthesize some of it here as a reminder and or as a new resource for those who need it.

Get to know... the Geoscience workforce | Professional licensure | Agency requirements | Your students and alumni | More information

Get to know the geoscience workforce

Geoscientists can work in a wide variety of jobs across many industry sectors, but students are often unaware of geoscience job options (Viskupic et al., 2022). Understanding what jobs are available, and what skills and dispositions applicants for those jobs are expected to have, is an important step in preparing your students for the workforce.

Mosher and Keane (2021) reported skills needed by undergraduate geoscience students as identified by geoscience professionals from both industry and academia. Identified skills include transferable skills such as written and oral communication and working as part of a team, as well as discipline-specific skills such as temporal and spatial thinking and field skills (Mosher & Keane, 2021).

Shafer et al. (2023) analyzed over 3500 job advertisements (ads) for bachelor-level geoscientists that were collected from online job search engines during a 1-year period. The ads were categorized by industry sector, job title, and state. The industry sectors with the largest number of ads were the federal government (38%), environmental services (24%), state or local government (10%), and professional, scientific, and technical services (9%) (Shafer et al., 2023). Jobs in mining and in oil and gas industries, sectors that many commonly associate with a geoscience degree, made up 3% and 2% of the ads, respectively. The most common occupations represented in the ads were environmental scientist (25%), geoscientist (19%), geologist (15%), and soil and plant scientist (14%); some of those occupations, like geologist, are associated with many different industry sectors, while others are associated with only one (e.g., soil and plant scientists in the federal government; Shafer et al., 2023). The ads were coded for the presence of 35 workforce skills and 6 dispositions (personal qualities or characteristics such as professionalism, attention to detail, and desire to learn), and then coded for 22 more specific field skills and 3 more specific computer skills.

The skills that appeared in the most ads were written communication (67%), field skills (63%), planning (53%), driving (51%) data collection (48%), oral communication (44%), work as part of a team (39%), project management (37%), general communication (37%), time management (36%), computer skills (36%), customer or client relations (36%), data interpretation (34%), and data processing (33%) (Shafer et al., 2023).

Specific field skills most frequently requested were site assessment and evaluation, monitoring, soil or erosion sampling, documenting field conditions and activities, and environmental sampling (Shafer et al., 2023). The most frequently requested computer skills were basic skills such as using Microsoft Office programs (30% of ads); specialized software such as ArcGIS and MODFLOW were requested in 13% of ads, and coding skills such as Python and R were requested in 2% of ads (Shafer et al., 2023).

Nyarko and Petcovic (2022) conducted focus group interviews about teamwork skills with 12 employers working in hydrogeology and environmental geology. Using a framework for teamwork that describes transition processes (identifying goals and planning a path forward), action processes (working toward a goal through coordination and monitoring), and interpersonal processes (promoting team function through, for example, conflict management, motivation, leadership), the authors identified three categories of teamwork skills that align with the framework: 1) skills related to specifying goals, interpreting team resources, and planning (transition skills); 2) metacognition, coordination, and mentoring (action skills); and 3) organization, emotional intelligence, and proactive communication (interpersonal skills) (Nyarko & Petcovic, 2022). In addition, the authors identified a fourth category of skills related to ethics including trust, integrity, and humility (Nyarko & Petcovic, 2022).

These studies at the national or subdiscipline scale provide valuable information about the geoscience workforce, but considering the industry sectors and occupations prevalent in your region is also important. What jobs are available locally or regionally that your students are likely to pursue? What are employers in those industries seeking in recent graduates?  Knowledge of regional job opportunities can help you to focus your efforts to emphasize the skills and dispositions that are in highest-demand.

Get to know professional licensure

Working in some geoscience careers, such as consulting, requires a professional license. Not all states offer professional licensure for geoscientists, but most that do group all fields of geology, geophysics, soil science, hydrology, and hydrogeology under the single licensure term "Professional Geologist." The Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG) provides state licensing boards with standardized exams to measure competency related to the practices of the profession (see Tasks of a Professional Geologist). Information about state requirements for licensure are summarized on the ASBOG website (ASBOG, 2024), but you should review the requirements for your state directly from the state's professional licensing board. Some states require specific course work; most states require a minimum number of upper division credits from geoscience courses.

Most states have a two-stage examination process for professional licensure. Both exams are administered by ASBOG. The Fundamentals of Geology (FG) exam can be taken at the end of an undergraduate degree program (during the final semester or shortly after graduation), and the Practice of Geology (PG) exam is taken after passing the FG exam and acquiring the necessary level of work experience as required by State. The exams are focused on disciplinary content, and ASBOG provides several resources to help students prepare to take the FG exam including the FG Test Blueprint and Study Material. The Professional Geologists Examinee Candidate Handbook contains an overview of the knowledge domains covered on the FG exam: general and field geology (17%); geomorphology, surficial processes, and quaternary geology (14%); hydrogeology (13%); mineralogy, petrology, and geochemistry (12%); engineering geology (12%); structure, tectonics, and seismology (12%); sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleontology (11%); and economic geology and energy resources (9%) (ASBOG, 2023).

Being aware of the professional licensure requirements in your state is important so that you can ensure students are aware of licensure as a potential part of their future, and guide students to take appropriate courses to prepare for the FG exam.

Get to know agency requirements

There are many jobs and careers for geoscientists in government agencies, and some agencies post information about the training expectations for different job titles. For example, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has a Careers in BLM page that gives short descriptions of what employees in different positions (geologist, geospatial information specialist, hydrologist, paleontology) do, and what degree and course requirements are needed to be hired into those positions (BLM, 2024). Similarly, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) provides Basic Qualification Requirements including degree and course requirements for research geographer, geologist, hydrologist, research geophysicist, and research soil scientist positions (USGS, 2024).

Get to know your students and alumni

It is important to know the goals of your students with respect to jobs and careers. Where are your students from? Where do they hope to live in the future? What kinds of jobs do they find interesting? The answers to these questions should impact how you approach student training. Students may not know what types of jobs are available or what kind of jobs best match their interests, values, and abilities (Viskupic et al., 2022). Learning about your alumni is one strategy for understanding the types of jobs your current students may seek. Your institution's alumni office and career center can be useful sources of information. LinkedIn is also a great way to find and connect with alumni to learn more about their current positions and their career paths; these are people with whom your current students are likely to identify (e.g., if someone who graduated from this program has that job, then so can I).

Find more information

State Labor Offices: Use the Department of Labor website for your own and neighboring states to learn more about your regional job market.

ONET*Online from the U.S. Department of Labor: occupation profiles include tasks, skills, credentials, wages, and job openings

CareerOneStop from the U.S. Department of Labor: career profile videos, information about wages

Occupational Outlook Handbook from the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics: expected job growth, comparisons of similar jobs, median pay, duties

 

References

ASBOG (2024). Association of State Boards of Geology website. https://asbog.org/index.html Accessed May 13, 2024.

ASBOG (2023). Professional Geologists Examinee Candidate Handbook. https://asbog.org/candidates/ASBOG-Candidate%20Handbook-09062023.pdf Accessed May 13, 2024.

BLM (2024). Bureau of Land Management Careers in BLM. https://www.blm.gov/careers/careers-in-blm Accessed May 13, 2024.

Mosher, S., & Keane, C. (2021). Vision and Change in the Geosciences: The Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education. Alexandria, VA, American Geosciences Institute, p. 1-176.

Nyarko, S.C., & Petcovic, H.L. (2023). Essential teamwork skills: Perspectives of environmental geoscience employers. Journal of Geoscience Education, 71(1), 20–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2044665 

Shafer, G.W., Viskupic, K., & Egger, A.E. (2023). Critical workforce skills for bachelor-level geoscientists: An analysis of geoscience job advertisements. Geosphere, 19(2), 628-644. https://doi.org/10.1130/ges02581.1

USGS (2024). United States Geological Survey Basic Qualification Requirements. https://www.usgs.gov/centers/mendenhall-research-fellowship-program/basic-qualification-requirements-0 Accessed May 13, 2024.

Viskupic, K., Wenner, J.A., Harrigan, C.O., Shafer, G. (2022) A mixed methods study of the challenges for geoscience majors in identifying potential careers and the benefits of a career awareness and planning course, Journal of Geoscience Education, DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2147383