Jobs and careers eventually become the focus for many our our students. I have let slip every now and then that GIS could be thought of as a “Guaranteed Income Source”. So, I usually scan the GIS job boards, listerservs, etc. every now and then to get a sense of what industry and organizations are seeking in terms of “GIS” skills and experience. Some of what I find is listed on our “cool jobs” page. What constitute’s a “cool job”? At this point, it seems to be positions that are either unique, in a special part of the world, or do good work. Of course, they also are positions that I probably wouldn’t mind doing as well. Time to list my job in the “cool jobs” category…
At some point, I would like to refine and distill my searching into more tangible teaching strategies to help our students succeed in landing these jobs. Fortunately, many (most?) of our students who initially choose to pursue employment (instead of grad school) do not need much help in securing employment. Nonetheless, it is a difficult economy and many of our students don’t fit the mold for which employers seek to fill. Future thoughts to come on how do recent graduates from a liberal arts college distinguish themselves to begin a GIS career.