Geography graduates are considered highly employable for the wealth of transferable skills they acquire as part of their degree, including numeracy, teamwork, analytical and IT skills.
The Target Jobs website identifies that, “Geography students tend to be open-minded and interested in the world around them, qualities which are attractive to employers and may be a particular advantage if you are working for an international organisation.”
What do geography graduates do?
Recent University of Birmingham graduates have found employment in a wide range of fields; six months after graduation many students were engaged in work or study related to the discipline, with others choosing career paths in areas outside of the subject where the transferable skills gained on the programme have proven invaluable.
Jobs related directly to their degree subject include nature conservation, environmental consultancy, tourism development, and town planning. A proportion of geography graduates also go on to pursue careers in teaching. Graduates get jobs in the public services, the commercial sector and industry, including financial and professional services, personnel management, retail, and local government. Around a quarter of graduates go on to further study before entering employment including PGCEs for teaching, one-year taught Masters courses in areas such as town planning, or doctoral research programmes.
To explore the range of careers undertaken by human geography graduates nationally see Prospects’ ‘What can I do with my degree?’
Where to start?
Not all students know what they want to do when they graduate – many may be uncertain whether they wish to pursue a career related to their degree discipline, or something in a different field entirely, which makes use of some of the transferable skills they developed whilst studying.
Some students may elect to undertake a postgraduate qualification after they complete their undergraduate studies as a means of putting-off making a decision about what they want to do. This can be counter-productive so it pays to research all your options and where they may lead before making a decision.
Careers Network Intranet
Careers Network provide many helpful tools on our Intranet pages which are designed to help you develop an awareness of your values, strengths and skills and to use this knowledge to plan your Career Journey. You can also book a face to face appointment with a Careers Adviser to discuss your options, using our Careers Connect database.
Networking
If you’ve already started to identify what motivates you and the types of activities that you may enjoy in a work environment, you’re ready to investigate the types of career that may suit you best. This means finding out more about what they involve.
Many recent graduates use LinkedIn as a means of connecting with employers and others in their industry sectors. Networking is an invaluable means of finding out what other recent graduates have done and how they achieved those outcomes, as well as putting you in touch with potential employers who may work in the industry sectors in which you are interested.
Use the LinkedIn Alumni Tool to find out what all UoB graduates with LinkedIn profiles are doing (over 164,000 as of February 2020). You can filter by degree discipline and year of attendance. Careers Network run workshops to help you get started with LinkedIn – find out when they take place via our events page.
Professional bodies, societies and organisations for GEES Students
There are many professional associations and bodies of potential interest to Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) students.
This list is not comprehensive and does not promote membership of one organisation over another. There are many other organisations you may consider joining, and you may find it helpful to discuss the benefits with your personal tutor before subscribing.
Potential benefits of joining a professional body
- Access to new funding streams
- Networking opportunities
- Opportunities for research and potential employment
- Provides insight into current research, new approaches and developments related to your discipline
- Looks good on your CV
Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment
The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) is promoted as the largest professional membership body for the environment with over 14,000 members working across all industry sectors.
Benefits of IEMA membership include:
- networking opportunities to expand your network and influence
- access to training and skills as well as events and webinars
- Transform - a regular members-only publication
- up-to-date news and resources include skills maps and guidance about developing your environmental career.
Student IEMA membership costs £25 p/a.
Society of Environmental Engineers
Society of Environmental Engineers (SEE) is a professional society which exists to promote awareness of the discipline of environmental engineering, and to provide members of the society with information, training and representation within this field. Environmental engineering is concerned with the measurement, modelling, control and simulation of all types of environment. It is an interdisciplinary subject, bringing together aspects of mechanical, electrical, electronic, aeronautical, civil, energy and chemical engineering. It also draws from the fields of physics, acoustics, metallurgy, microbiology, pharmacy and many other technical and scientific disciplines.
Membership benefits include mentoring, publications and networking opportunities. There are no bursaries available.
Student membership is available for £10 p/a.
International Society of Sustainability Professionals
International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is a non-profit, member-driven association for professionals who are committed to making sustainability standard practice. Members share resources and best practices, and develop themselves professionally. Special reports, salary surveys and the knowledge competency study are just some of benefits offered to members. This ISSP membership also allows students to receive the member rate for our ISSP Sustainability Professional Certification - a valuable asset to those starting their professional journey.
ISSP student membership is available for $75(US) p/a.
Institution of Environmental Sciences
Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) believes that a scientific approach deepens our understanding of the natural environment and sustainable development. The IES seeks to lead debate, dissemination and promotion of environmental science and sustainability, promoting an evidence-based approach to decision and policy making and is devoted to championing the crucial role of environmental science in ensuring the well-being of humanity now, and in the future. The society upholds the standards and importance of the profession, acting as an advocate for environmental science.
Student membership for University of Birmingham students engaged on the following courses is free:
- Environmental Science BSc (Hons)
- Environmental Science with Professional Placement Abroad BSc (Hons)
- Air Pollution Management & Control MSc
- Environmental Science MSci
The British Ecological Society
The British Ecological Society (BES) is the world’s oldest ecological society with 6,400 members internationally. Membership benefits include: reduced price registration for all BES-run and sponsored meetings (BES Student members are entitled to further discounts); member-only ring-fenced grants; free access to all BES journal content on the Wiley Online Library, including open access journal Ecology and Evolution; free copies of Bulletin, the society’s quarterly newsletter.
Student membership is free for your first year and £21 p/a thereafter.
The Royal Geographical Society
The
Royal Geographical Society (RGS) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers, supporting research, education, expeditions and fieldwork, and promoting public engagement. It is a well-regarded source of careers information for Geography students, opportunities to network and can help with future funding. The
RGS Ambassadors programme is a voluntary scheme recruiting, training and supporting geographers to act as Ambassadors for the subject in schools. It also offers
teacher training scholarships.
Note that this list is not comprehensive; many of these are UK-based but there are many other international bodies. Also be aware that some organisations offer free sources of information, whilst others require payment of a membership fee.
Staff from the School of Earth Sciences emphasise that, in addition to considering becoming a Junior Associate of bodies such as The Geological Society of London, students may also wish to consider joining regional groups, to help them obtain experience during vacations. Examples provided include the Geologists Association local group and the Black Country Geological Society.
Choosing a career path
You may be a keen physical geographer, a dedicated human geographer, or have an interest in both areas. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to distinguish yourself based upon this separation. Whilst some careers may be specialised and require applicants with a grounding in certain processes, (for example most hydrologists will need to have a competent knowledge of the physical side of their discipline), many other careers do not have this requirement; indeed, approximately 66% of all graduate vacancies on Careers Connect do not require applicants to have completed a specific discipline.
A career in logistics for example requires the following skills, which you will have had the opportunity to develop in both human and physical modules:
- work logically and good time management
- problem-solving skills
- think laterally and offer creative solutions
- commercial awareness and numeracy
- IT literacy and confidence with data
- flexibility and adaptability
- strong interpersonal and team-working skills
- excellent communication skills
- negotiation and analytical skills
- positive attitude to continued learning
Although you may feel that you don’t have necessarily commercial awareness of a particular industry (whether it may be logistics or teaching) that is something which you can gain through targeted research. You can be confident however that you will have developed key skills both within your degree and also in the activities you have undertaken outside of it.
Further Information