Geography Careers

Interested in studying Geography at university or maybe a career related to Geography? Then you may find some of the information on this page very useful...

I'm a Geographer...

"Amid all the changes occurring in UK universities, one thing is abundantly clear – geography remains one of the best subjects to study. Whether measured in terms of students’ enjoyment of their course, rates of completion, or employment rates and career paths following graduation, geography ranks in the very top group." Dr Rita Gardner, CBE Director, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

The link below should open a PDF document called 'I'm a Geography' containing lots of examples of Geography related careers and some compelling arguments about why you should study Geography - as if you needed convincing anyway.

http://www.geographical.co.uk/Magazine/Education_supplement.html

The Russell Group

The Russell Group which represents the leading 24 universities in the UK has published a guide to post-16 subject choices called 'Informed Choices'. It is aimed at all students considering A-level and equivalent options. It includes advice on the best subject combinations for a wide range of university courses as well as advice on the best choices if you don’t know what you want to study after school and need to keep your options open.

Within the guide, Geography is named as one of the 'facilitating' or 'hard' subjects alongside the Sciences, Maths, English, History and Languages. It's worth having a look at before you make any choices...

http://russellgroup.ac.uk/informed-choices/

There is also a video to accompany the report...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54kKLOkoFxk&noredirect=1

What makes Geography graduates employable?

In 2010, a study found that 8.9% of all students who graduated in 2009 were still unemployed after 6 months of looking for work. Geography students however, appeared to be amongst the most employable as only 7.4% of Geography graduates were still unemployed. But why?

Studying geography arms graduates with a mix of skills employers want to see: Geography students generally do well in terms of their relatively low unemployment rates. You could attribute this to the fact that the degree helps develop a whole range of employability skills including numeracy, teamwork through regular field trips, analytical skills in the lab and a certain technical savviness through using various specialist computing applications. Also, the subject area in itself cultivates a world view and a certain cultural sensitivity. These all potentially help a geographer to stand out in the labour market. (from http://careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog/experts-view-why-are-certain-grads-less-likely-to-be-unemployed)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11652845 contains a full list of unemployment statistics by subject - there are a few surprises!