Jumping on the Employment Express - How to be Part of the Geosciences Employment Boom, Even as it Slows

Jumping  on  the  Employment  
           Express  
How  to  be  Part  of  the  Geosciences  Employment  
              Boom,  Even  as  it  Slows

              Christopher M. Keane
          American Geosciences Institute

                        31 March 2015
                                        copyright Shutterstock.com/Sergey Nivens

Contradictory  Rhetoric
— The Myth of the Science and Engineering Shortage,
   The Atlantic, 3/9/14
— It’s Brookings’ Turn to Measure the STEM Workforce,
   Roll Call, 7/1/14
— Short on STEM Talent, US News and World Report,
   9/15/14
— Study Shows there May Not be a Shortage of STEM
   Graduates After All, Washington Post, 4/24/14

Dealing  with  this  Rhetoric
— For STEM there are plenty of Degree Holders
— For Geoscience, there are not enough degree holders

— For STEM and Geo, there are not enough:
           QUALIFIED INDIVIDUALS

What  is  a  Skilled  Worker?

                      copyright Shutterstock.com/Sergey Nivens

Solvers  not  Problem  Definers
—Energy Development
—Minerals Development
—Facilitate Infrastructure Development
—Design effective environmental/hazard mitigation

Today, most geoscience research just points out the
problems…

US Geoscience Employment Projections, 2022

— 297,000 geoscience jobs exist today (BLS)

— 143,000 geoscientists expected to retire by 2022 (AGI)

— 43,000 geoscience job growth by 2022 (BLS)

— 16,000 new MS/PhD + 35,000 BS/BA graduates (AGI)

— 51,000 total new graduates (with BS, MS and PhD)

— Net deficit of over 135,000 geoscientists by 2022

What happens with unfilled jobs?
— Economic activity slows down
   — This is well noted in the VC world of energy
   — Considered an emerging factor in the slow recovery
— Substitution
   — Different fields fill the positions
     —   Engineering
     —   Accounting!
   — Innovation.

What  does  the  US  Supply  
    Side  look  like?

                     copyright Shutterstock.com/Sergey Nivens

Historical US Geo Enrollments

US Historical Geo Degrees

What  are  students  doing  in  
           school?

                       copyright Shutterstock.com/Sergey Nivens

Not much in advance math

Field access is now a problem

The shift in doctorates is clear

And is now reflected in the journals

Things change, but not that much

And  on  to  the  jobs

                           copyright Shutterstock.com/Sergey Nivens

The retirement wave is breaking

Market forces solve problems…

The  challenge  of  an  academic  
         career  today

                        copyright Shutterstock.com/Sergey Nivens

Tenured faculty dominate, growth is in non-
        tenure track and emeritus

Research funding’s decline

The  FIRST  Act
— Cuts NSF GEO funding by ~30%
— Seals NSF GEO from any future NSF funding increases
— Bi-partisan support

The Faculty Gene Pool is not that Diverse

Where are grads looking for jobs?

Strategies for securing opportunities

The 2011 employment portfolio

The US is becoming an energy economy

Sectorial growth

Emerging Opportunities
— National Security-related positions
   — Paucity of US native born Ph.D.s
— Government regulatory areas
— Raw materials in Europe
   — ERA-MIN, etc €4 billion effort
— Environmental/Engineering consulting
   — Water
   — Fluid dynamics

Surviving  the  Sine  Curve
— Every industry/field has booms and busts
— $45 oil and cheap metals is slowing down hiring
— Explorationists – laid off
— Operations folks – still working
— Multi-talented are being retained

Imaging  the  possibilities
    Name some geoscience occupations?

                                 copyright Shutterstock.com/Sergey Nivens

Think  
Outside  
the  Box!

What  Employers  Look  for
— Demonstrated teamwork-science
— Strong core science/geoscience
— Advanced mathematics – future is in fluids
— Excellent communications skills
— Programming skills
— Foreign language proficiency
— Sense of economics/business dynamics

Work-­‐‑Life  Balance
— Have you asked yourself how your field and your life
 plans interact?
 It needs to be an objective, third person discussion
                    with yourself.

Jobs  are  Unevenly  Located

Source: AGI 2014 Exit Survey

Geoscience Talent Flows

   Exporting geoscience talent

   Has domestic demand but exports talent

   Largely is pr             nt talent domestically

Fate  of  your  Birthday

For some, it meant war,
For others, sluggish hiring.

Robust  Paths  Forward
— Reframe your experiences and skills
— Manage your expectations
— Be “poor” for a while – most everyone else did
— Life-long learning
— Be inventive – entrepreneurship is the future.

Thanks!
           Want more information?

    www.americangeosciences.org/workforce
     workforce@americangeosciences.org