Using your subject: Geography
Learn how to use a degree in Geography to enhance your career prospects
A degree in Geography equips you with a wide range of skills and knowledge that are applicable across a wide range of sectors. These skills, along with other factors of career choice – what you like doing (your interests), what’s important to you (your values) and your personality type – will help you make informed career decisions. Remember that your career may be based on the skills you’ve gained over the course of your degree studies, and may not necessarily look like a geographical career on first inspection, in terms of the knowledge you have gained.
Career options
Some of the main career options with a Geography degree are:
- Cartographer
- Commercial/residential surveyor
- Environmental consultant
- Geographical information systems officer
- Planning and development surveyor
- Secondary school teacher
You can find out more about these on Prospects what can I do with a geography degree? as well as the wide variety of jobs where your skills and knowledge are applicable.
Resources to help with your career research
- The Royal Geographic Society have a range of Geography specific careers resources including videos.
- Use geography: careers in charities, advocacy and the third sector
- Use geography: careers in mapping, GI and data science
- Use geography: careers in planning and housing
- Use geography: careers in finance and management consultancy
- Use geography: careers in international development
- Use geography: careers in transport, utilities and infrastructure
- Use geography: careers in teaching and education
- Use geography: careers in research – starting a PhD and further study
- Use geography: careers in environmental consultancy
- Use geography: careers in government
- Use geography: careers in risk management and insurance
The icloud website also has a full range of careers information interviews and case studies of over 52 different geography related roles.
To help you explore the wide range of career options open to you have a look at Prospects what can I do with my degree? and take the Prospects Career Planner Quiz.
Volunteering
If you are interested in gaining some voluntary experience locally you may find the following websites helpful
- Volunteer Scotland | Help Make a Difference through Volunteering – search for Dundee and there will be current vacancies come up
- Dundee Volunteer and Voluntary Action
- Tayside Biodiversity are working on a range of project
- Zooniverse have a range of remote Citizen Science Research projects
- CountrysideJobs have a section dedicated to volunteering from home
- EnvironmentJobs have a section on environmental volunteering
- Missing Maps: GIS volunteering
- Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team: GIS volunteering
Internships, work experience and graduate jobs
- Royal Geographical Society Advice on internships in the public sector
- Royal Geographical Society Undergraduate Work placements
- GoinGlobal | University of Dundee – international internships and job options
- University of Dundee JobShop
- Prospects
- TARGETjobs
- myjobscotland – jobs in local authorities in Scotland
Find a graduate job
Environment & Sustainability
- Acre – comprehensive range of jobs in the energy, environment and sustainability sector, mostly in the UK and Europe
- ConservationJobs – for conservation careers in the UK and worldwide
- CountrysideJobs – UK-based positions in countryside management and conservation
- ENDS job search – jobs in environmental, ecology, conservation, wind energy and sustainability, mainly in the UK
- EnvironmentJob – a range of environmentally related vacancies in the UK and abroad
- Env.Careers – advice on building an environmental career as well as global job listings
- GreenJobs – a listing of ‘green jobs’ in the UK ranging from environmental consultants to natural resource management, including specific sites for Renewable Energy Jobs, Solar Jobs, Water Jobs and Wind Jobs
- Guardian Jobs – Environment – a selection of environmentally related positions in the UK
- Careers – Lantra
- environment jobs – a wide range of ‘green jobs’ in the UK and abroad
Geographical Techniques, Physical Systems and Settlement
- Earthworks Jobs – mainly physical geography and geomorphology jobs across sectors, in the UK and abroad
- GIS Jobs – a variety of GIS jobs in different sectors, mostly in the UK
- Planning Jobs – positions in town planning throughout the UK
- Transport Planning Society – vacancies in transport including planning, modelling and management, mainly in the UK
Development , Global issues , Society & Business
- Association of American Geographers – mostly academic positions in the USA, with some jobs based elsewhere and in other sectors
- CharityJob – jobs in organisations across the third sector, mostly in UK-based charities
- Civil Service – jobs at governmental organisations or departments such as the Department for International Development, Department of Energy and Climate Change, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Discover Risk – information about careers in the risk and insurance industry, plus jobs, graduate and apprenticeship schemes based in the UK
- InsuranceJobs – positions including risk and catastrophe modelling and analysis in the UK insurance industry
- jobs.ac.uk – jobs in academic, science, research and administrative employment in the UK and abroad
- environment jobs - Communication jobs in the Environmental sector
- TES Connect – teaching positions in geography in the UK and abroad
- United Nations – international positions at the UN, including internships and volunteering opportunities
General job searching sites for graduates – all disciplines
The following websites may be helpful to search the wider job market, where your transferable geographical skills can be applied.
- University of Dundee JobShop
- Prospects
- TARGETjobs
- Gradcracker – Careers for STEM Students
- Milkround
- GradJobs
- Bright Green Business
Graduate schemes
Many leading UK employers across all industries run graduate training programmes, to discover the benefits of these schemes and how you apply the links below will help: