PREPARING OUR WORKFORCE (POW): THINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT GEOSCIENCE CAREERS

AGI’s most recent publication “Status of the Geoscience Workforce 2014” illuminates today’s challenges of meeting increased workforce demand with too few qualified geoscientists to fill available positions. Producing enough graduates to meet this demand is a major challenge due to most geoscience departments and programs being at capacity. Though there is a high demand for geoscientists, the competition is fierce and graduates are often having trouble busting into the job market as often their expections, preparation, and positioning of their skills is not tightly aligned to employer needs.

AGI’s “Preparing our Workforce (POW) Initiative” is a program dedicated to supporting students and recent graduates during their transition into geoscience careers. This talk will highlight some traditional and non-traditional geoscience occupations to help students start thinking differently about the job search. It will also emphasize the importance of integrating other interests and skills along with their geoscience training to build a meaningful career. In addition, this talk will address the importance of practicing networking and provide anecdotes and advice from non-academic geoscientists. The talk will be mostly discussion-based and introduce students to the tools they need to successfully find that first job after graduation.