What careers could you have if you love Geography?

[MrsWicket]

DD2 has been taking her mocks and her favourite subject is Geography. She’s been told she’s on target for an A and she’s thrilled and shocked in equal measure She still has no idea what she wants to do career-wise but clearly Geography is one of her strengths. But WHAT can you do with that as a starting point. Can anyone give us a clue? Thanks, MW

A good friend did shipping

Town planning at a Council or consultancy, the Environment Agency

successatschool.org/advicedetails/241/Five-Awesome-Career-Choices-for-Geography-Students

What bits of geography does she enjoy most?
If physical, then geology, geo environmental science
If human, town planning, human behaviour, tourism
There's all sorts that you can with geography, it's a huge subject

I enjoyed geography can considered a degree in geology. There are oil related jobs following from that, although they are cyclical and may not last forever.

at the 30th anniversary meet up of my fellow geographers, the most common outcomes were
accountant
senior public sector manager
lecturer
teacher
in that order

Coastal geomorphologist

Thanks everyone for replying. She loves the environmental side of stuff - rainforests, conservation, that kind of thing. I’ll definitely get her to have a look at your suggestions. Thanks again

She should maybe look at environmental biology if that is what she is really keen on.

I know three- one is a geologist for a mining company travelling the world, another is a environmental manager, and another is a teacher

Planning or International development are the two that spring to mind.

Or anything else at all really There are so many things that are open to graduates of any degree.

Volcanologist
Seismologist
Geologist
Working for water/oil/mining company
Renewable energy
Research/lecturing/uni/college
Environmental activist
Charity worker
NGO worker
International development
Civil service
Work at the met office/weather presenter!
Emergency planner at council
Management
Social worker
Teacher
Writer esp travel
Publishing
Cartographer/with ordnance survey
Aerial photographer
Tv researcher
Surveyor
Tourism
Airline
Climate change researcher
Registrar
One growing consultant
Conservationist
Work for National trust
Work for national geographic
Armed forces
Merchant navy
Lorry driver
Entrepreneur

What is a one growing consultant?

Conservation lends itself to NGO and poor pay! What you like at 15 doesn’t always pay the bills at 35!

I did a geoscience degree and am an environmental scientist. For a long time I worked in consultancy but I now work in the planning dept of my local council. one of my current colleagues previously worked at an NGO. The pay was terrible.

Work in mapping and GIS/geographical information systems. I'm in awe of the cool young types who do this where I work.

Data analyst
Many people on my geography degree went into marketing

That must have been an auto correct. No idea now what I meant!

Hydrology is becoming more and more important. So things like river management, wetland management, flood defence.

I find it surreal that people assume that the degree you do determines your career.
The whole point of a good strong academic degree is that it gives you the analytical skills to do most things.

Actuaries do degrees in maths and physics and engineering
Accountants do degrees in all sorts
Management consultants do degrees in sciences and engineering

A degree opens doors, not closes them

DH has a Geography degree. He is a Environmental Engineer. Other options are GIS Analyst, Environmental scientist.

Companies to check out would be the environment agency, water companies, local council, and environmental consulting

Geographers are amongst the most employable graduates, because of the skill set involved.

Geographers tend to be able to be analytical, use quantitative and qualitative data, can balance arguments and use evidence to inform judgement. They're broad thinkers, and this makes for a good skill set in the big world.

Outside medicine/dentistry geographers have the best employment rate.

Many go into business/consultancy, insurance and financial services too.

It's not just jobs around the actual degree.

Though I teach it and it's fantastic

I graduated in geography a couple of years ago. I work in a youth organisation which includes spendings kids on projects in the UK and abroad.

Off the top of my head my friends work for:
The EA working with river management,
GIS map for casting for a huge supermarket,
Graduate roles in the NHS x2
Quantity surveyor x3
International development consultant,
Graduate transport planner X3
A lot of teachers,
Coastal flood manangement,
A lot have gone onto other graduate schemes,

A fair few of my colleagues at a similar level studied teaching/youth studies/management but I've been able to move up the chain of command quickly due to my research skills, the knowledge of different cultural differences (handy in the UK), I know ridiculous amount of UK, UN and EU policies, communication skills, analysis skills and the willingness to move around/travel abroad.

The phrase I heard a lot during my degree was 'Jack of all trades but master of none' which honestly I enjoyed having totally varied units of international relations to coastal management. I went for a few grand schemes (which I turned down as they weren't quite what I was looking for) and nobody really cares what the degree is in. I studied geography as it was a 'solid degree' but thinking about it I would have preferred to have studied childhood or American studies. Unless your DD is set what career she wants and needs a degree for that tell her to study what interests her the most.

Almost anything! I think people with geography degrees go on to do the broadest range of subjects, or at least when I did mine they did! You can choose to go more down the science and physical side, or the human more modern side.

I’m a Maths teacher, but my degree was half maths half geography.

Be a little bit careful regarding going down the Environmental Engineering route. You will be competing with Civil Engineering grads for jobs. In general, a degree is a stepping stone, not the end result. Very many traditional degrees are not vocational, eg English, History, Philosophy, Classics, etc. They open doors though and it’s what you make of it that counts.