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Thinking about Your Geoscience Career Path?

The AGI Student Exit Survey Can Help You

Make Informed Decisions

Tahlia Bear, GSA Diversity and Careers Officer degrees were environmental services and the federal government.
For students with a master’s degree, it was oil and gas and the
Making choices about career pathways is an important decision federal government. Ph.D. students were being hired more often
point for many students. Struggling with questions around whether by four-year universities and research institutes.
to attend graduate school, which job sectors are hiring, what skills
are sought by employers, and what starting salary should be 4. Consider Starting Salaries
expected is common. A resource that can help students make Data on salaries provide direction on what one might expect
informed decisions about these topics is the American Geosciences upon graduation and help determine starting points in salary
Institute’s (AGI) webinar, “Update on AGI’s Geosciences Student negotiations. For the majority of students graduating with a
Exit Survey Results” (30 Nov. 2018). A recording of this webinar is bachelor’s degree, the salary is between US$30,000 and
online at www.americangeosciences.org/workforce/webinars/ US$40,000 a year. Those graduating with a master’s degree
update-agis-geoscience-student-exit-survey-results. make between US$40,000 and US$110,000, with the majority
Started in 2013, the annual student exit survey analyzes in the US$50,000 and US$60,000 range. Higher salary levels
responses from undergraduate and graduate students who are are mainly due to positions taken in the oil and gas sector. For
completing their degrees in the geosciences. The webinar focused students graduating with Ph.D.s, the majority of salaries range
on data spanning the past five years and offered some general between US$40,000 and US$50,000.
advice to students, faculty, and practitioners interested in the
geoscience workforce outlook. 5. Build Professional Skills
Employers are looking at hiring individuals who not only
1. Build a Stronger Quantitative Skill Set have strong technical expertise and research and internship
Employers seek students who have a foundation in higher- experience, but who excel in communication, writing, and time
level quantitative mathematics courses. Taking classes such as and project management as well. Having one or more internships
linear algebra, differential equations, computational methods, will help develop these necessary skills.
and statistics will help students better analyze work in a profes-
sional environment. Based on the exit survey, students at the The best decision making comes from those who are the most
master’s and Ph.D. levels are more likely than undergraduate informed, and the workforce data gathered by AGI can help.
students to take these classes. Making choices about a career path does not need to be daunting,
and the more data and information you have, the better. To learn
2. Seek Internship Experiences more about career planning and exploration, attend one of GSA’s
Internships are critical to building skills that will be used GeoCareers workshops, which are offered at each GSA Section
throughout one’s career and to gaining understanding of the Meeting (see www.geosociety.org/Sections).
day-to-day jobs of geoscientists. They also potentially provide
an open door to a job after graduation. Surprisingly, more Resources
than 60% of undergraduate students do not have internship • Full recording of the AGI webinar: www.americangeosciences
experience. In many instances, students are not even applying .org/workforce/webinars/update-agis-geoscience-student
for these opportunities. At the graduate degree levels, most -exit-survey-results
master’s students have had at least one internship, while most • AGI Workforce Currents: www.americangeosciences.org/
Ph.D. students have not had any. For all students and at all workforce/currents
levels, having one or more internships is advisable. • Tips for finding internships/employment: www.geosociety.org/
documents/gsa/careers/Tips_Internship_Employment.pdf
3. Know Which Job Sectors Are Hiring • Suggested coursework, degree requirements, and/or experience:
The geoscience job market fluctuates, and being aware of these www.geosociety.org/documents/gsa/careers/Coursework_
changes and where students are finding jobs after graduation can Requirements.pdf
help determine where to begin the job search. According to the • Interviewing tips or strategies to help students get hired:
AGI survey, the average time it took for a student to find a job www.geosociety.org/documents/gsa/careers/Interviewing_
was 2.3 months. The top job sectors hiring those with bachelor’s Tips.pdf

16 GSA Today | March-April 2019