You are browsing the archive for Early Career Advice Archives - Page 2 of 8 - On the Job.
May 13, 2019
Finding Jobs in the Government
Useful Resources for Finding Jobs in the Federal Government While most geoscientists are employed in academia or industry, there are a significant number employed by the federal government. Employment with the federal government is in-between industry and academia in many ways – salary, benefits, academic freedom, and so on. Many people don’t know what the federal government does, and have no idea what employment opportunities there are. If you’re …
May 8, 2019
“Activist Engineering”
Career arc: Darshan Karwat loved rockets and space for as long as he can remember. After moving to the U.S. from India, Karwat earned both a BSE and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. While in school, he found himself asking questions about sustainability, social justice and the responsibilities of scientists and engineers in addressing big societal challenges like climate change. Some of those questions …
April 1, 2019
The Secret to Being Special
Recently, I was helping out in the Resume Clinic at the annual GSA Meeting in Seattle. I saw several incredible students, but no extraordinary resumes. The resumes weren’t bad. Most used the Resume4 template from MS Word; and a few used the Resume5 template. They contained the same list of courses, the same lists of skills, and the same lists of degrees and qualifications. Only the names had been changed …
March 11, 2019
Soft Skills
Getting Hard Data on Your Soft Skills When planning your career, one of the biggest parts is your skill set. What do you have to sell to a potential employer? What kinds of things are you able to do? Do you have specific examples of times you used those skills, and had a positive outcome? In school, you learned many technical skills, including things like cartography, remote sensing, demography, data …
February 21, 2019
6 Steps to Creating a Triumphant Resume
Do you find job searching to be time consuming, frustrating, and possibly even disappointing? When you are competing against so many other applicants for one job opening, it’s best to be prepared so you can apply quickly and with the least amount of stress. It is your responsibility to quickly demonstrate that you are a match for the job qualifications, and the organization. It is the employer’s job to figure …
February 11, 2019
Survey Says…
For the last five years, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) has collected data from graduates of geosciences programs about their education and career activities. Some of the most interesting results from the 2016-2017 academic year survey are summarized below. This year, 513 students (419 bachelor, 58 masters, and 36 doctoral) from 147 schools participated. The demographics have not changed significantly, with 40% or more females at all degree levels, and …
February 1, 2019
Volunteering and Experience Beyond Your Field
As an undergraduate student, you often hear the words “experience” and “internship” and feel the pressure of obtaining an internship or experience directly related to your major(s) and intended career path. While it is important to gain experience in your field where you can see the practical applications of the knowledge you have gained through your coursework, volunteering and other experiences outside of your major(s) can be equally beneficial. We’ve …
January 14, 2019
What do you value?
What do you value? When you start thinking about making a change in your career, whether to a new job or a whole new field, most scientists immediately focus on their technical skills. Some may think about their non-technical (also called soft or transferable) skills – communication, negotiation, leadership, and so on. Your skill set is crucial to your career success, and it is your expertise in these areas that …
December 28, 2018
Scientists who leave academia aren’t dropouts. They’re scientists.
I’m a researcher turned policy wonk turned scicommer turned communications trainer and storyteller. Even though I’ve changed trajectories many times throughout my (so far) short career, one thing has remained constant: I am a scientist. However, this hasn’t always been how I felt. It’s taken me a long time to accept that I made the right decision. But sometimes, something happens to make me feel guilt, uncertainty, other-ness… Recently, this …
October 15, 2018
Interning for the National Park Service through “Geoscientists-in-the-Parks”
What do saber-tooth tigers, sheep ranches, sagebrush, and supervolcanoes have in common? They’re all in eastern Oregon! A former “Geoscientist-in-the-Park” writes about her time as an interpretive intern at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument this past summer. The John Day Basin is dry, remote, and starkly beautiful. Over 50 million years of geology is recorded in the rugged mountains of the region, providing a glimpse into the …
On the Job is an AGU blog, that provides career advice and workforce guidance to geoscience students, early-career and established professionals who are interested in pursuing professional enrichment.