An official website of the United States government
Understanding the skills bachelor-level geoscientists need to enter the workforce is critical to their success. The goal of this study was to identify the workforce skills that are most requested from a broad range of geoscience employers. We collected 3668 job advertisements for bachelor-level geoscientists and used a case-insensitive, code-matching function in Matlab to determine the skills geoscience employers seek. Written communication (67%), field skills (63%), planning (53%), and driving (51%) were most frequently requested. Field skills and data collection were frequently found together in the ads. Written communication skills were common regardless of occupation. Quantitative skills were requested less frequently (23%) but were usually mentioned several times in the ads that did request them, signaling their importance for certain jobs. Some geoscience-specific skills were rarely found, such as temporal understanding (5%) and systems thinking (0%). We also subdivided field skills into individual tasks and ranked them by employer demand. Site assessments and evaluations, unspecified field tasks, and monitoring were the most frequently requested field skills. This study presents the geoscience community with a picture of the skills sought by employers of bachelor-level geoscientists and provides departments and programs with data they can use to assess their curricula for workforce preparation.
more »
« less
Skills geoscience employers look for in bachelors-level geoscientists
Preparing graduates to enter the workforce is a common goal of undergraduate geoscience degree programs. Determining what skills are necessary for new graduates to succeed in the workforce requires knowledge of the skills sought by employers of bachelors-level geoscientists. To investigate skills desired by employers, we systematically analyzed job advertisements retrieved from 4 search engines between May and November 2020. We used 15 search words derived from the 2018 Status of the Geoscience Workforce (AGI) report to select job advertisements that required or preferred a geoscience-based bachelor's degree. Additionally, we categorized each advertisement by industry sector based on definitions in the 2018 AGI report. Each job advertisement (n=1214) was coded to identify skills sought by the employer. An initial set of codes was based on skills identified by the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education project and additional emergent codes were identified during the coding process. We generated a final set of 34 codes, with definitions and examples, through an iterative coding process, checking for inter-rater reliability. Advertisements were not coded for geoscience content knowledge. The most common skills sought by employers were the ability to conduct field work, teamwork, work with computers, collect, process and interpret data, and communicate effectively, however, the desirability of skills varied across industry sectors. For example, teamwork skills were sought in 60% of mining sector advertisements but only 22% of oil and gas sector advertisements. Our results provide insight into the expectations of potential employers for recent graduates seeking a career in geoscience. Additionally, our results provide geoscience degree programs with critical information required to prepare undergraduates with the necessary skills to be successful in the current job market.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1742215
- PAR ID:
- 10303837
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Earth Educators' Rendezvous
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
MacDonald, JH; Clary, RM; Archer, RS; Broadway, RL (Ed.)The skills needed for the geoscience workforce evolve as new technology and scientific knowledge are developed. However, there is a knowledge gap concerning what specific skill sets are necessary for recent graduates and what skills those graduates have acquired. To fill this knowledge gap specifically for the state of Hawai‘i, we surveyed local geoscience employers as well as alumni from the University of Hawai‘i School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). We received survey responses from 30 employers in the public and private sectors and 30 recent SOEST graduates at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels. Survey results indicated that, overall, Hawai‘i’s geoscience employers and SOEST alumni agree on which skills are important for geoscience employees to have. Top-rated technical skills included fieldwork/sampling, data management, and data analysis. Data visualization and geographic information system (GIS) skills/mapping were also considered important. Additionally, both groups agreed on the importance of many nontechnical skills, including technical report writing, time management, teamwork, problem-solving, interpersonal communication, and working independently. In both technical and nontechnical skills, any differences between employer and alumni responses were not statistically significant. We believe that having this clear understanding of the skill sets that are in high demand can help to broaden participation in geoscience careers in Hawai‘i.more » « less
-
Individuals with physical disabilities are largely underrepresented in the geoscience workforce. In this study, we analyzed over 2,500 job advertisements (ads) for entry-level geoscience positions across 19 industries to assess how inclusive the United States job market is for people with physical disabilities. We evaluated each ad’s Equal Opportunity Employer (EEO) and accommodation statements to create a measure of geoscience employers’ inclusive practices for people with disabilities. We coded each ad for instances where physical abilities (e.g., traversing rough terrain, driving a vehicle, lifting heavy objects) were listed as required or preferred qualifications and whether these abilities matched the core job function. A significant proportion of job ads (44%) did not include EEO statements, and of those that did, the language used was minimal or abbreviated. Additionally, only 18% of ads mentioned accommodations for people with disabilities. Of the ads that required physical abilities, only 19% requested physical abilities that matched the core job function. Students exploring their career options or applying for entry-level jobs may feel disadvantaged, restrict their applications, or dismiss geoscience careers if they have physical limitations, or if they perceive that the work environment is not inclusive. Overall, online geoscience ads could benefit from adding or modifying equal opportunity employment and accommodations statements to reflect a more inclusive workplace and could explicitly link requested physical abilities to the job description. These results could help employers consider possible modifications to their job advertisements and explore alternative strategies to promote a more inclusive geoscience workforce.more » « less
-
Abstract BackgroundEngineering curricula are built around faculty and accreditors' perceptions of what knowledge, skills, and abilities graduates will need in engineering careers. However, the people making these decisions may not be fully aware of what industry employers require for engineering graduates. Purpose/HypothesisThe purpose of this study is to determine how industry employer‐sought professional and technical skills vary among engineering disciplines and levels of education. Design/MethodUsing a large sample (n = 26,103) of mined job advertisements, we use the O*NET skills database to determine the frequencies of different professional and technical skills for biomedical, civil, chemical, electrical, environmental, and mechanical engineers with bachelor's, master's, and PhD degrees. ResultsThe most frequently sought professional skill is problem‐solving; the most frequently sought technical skills across disciplines are Microsoft Office software and computer‐aided design software. Although not the most frequently requested skills, job advertisements including the Python and MATLAB programming languages paid significantly higher salaries than those without. ConclusionsThe findings of this study have important implications for engineering program leaders and curriculum designers choosing which skills to teach students so that they are best prepared to get and excel in engineering jobs. The results also show which skills students can prioritize investing their time in so that they receive the largest financial return on their investment.more » « less
-
Yoshizawa, Go (Ed.)PurposeThe purpose of this article is to investigate particular aspects of the STEM job market in the US. In particular, we ask: could the possession of high performance computing (HPC) skills enhance the chances of a person getting a job and/or increase starting salaries for people receiving an undergraduate or graduate degree and entering the technical workforce (rather than academia)? We also estimate the value to the US economy of practical experience offered to US students through training about HPC and the opportunity to use HPC systems funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and accessible nationally. MethodsInterviews and surveys of employers of graduates in STEM fields were used to gauge demand for STEM graduates with practical HPC experience and the salary increase that can be associated with the possession of such skills. We used data from the XSEDE project to determine how many undergraduate and graduate students it enabled to acquire practical proficiency with HPC. ResultsPeople with such skills who had completed an undergraduate or graduate degree received an initial median hiring salary of approximately 7%–15% more than those with the same degrees who did not possess such skills. XSEDE added approximately $10 million or more per year to the US economy through the practical educational opportunities it offered. DiscussionPractical hands-on experience provided by the US federal government, as well as many universities and colleges in the US, holds value for students as they enter the workforce. ConclusionPractical training in HPC during the course of undergraduate and graduate programs has the potential to produce positive individual labor market outcomes (i.e., salary boosts, signing bonuses) as well as to help address the shortage of STEM workers in the private sector of the US.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- The DOI is not currently available.
