Employment Opportunities
One great aspect of being a Geology Graduate student is the post-graduation job opportunities in our discipline! Geoscience-related job advertisements are frequently received and posted in the hall near the student study room and on the TV screen as you enter the Geology Department in College West. Below, we have listed some opportunities to prepare for your post-graduation job hunt.
Note that international students may have limitations on employment placed on them due to their visa status.
Government jobs
Federal government jobs
Canadian Federal government jobs in geoscience (e.g., jobs with the Geological Survey of Canada) are advertised on the Natural Resources Canada website.
Environment and Climate Change Canada may have jobs of interest to some of our students as well.
Saskatchewan Geological Survey
The Saskatchewan Geological Survey (SGS) presents an annual summer job session in our Department. Look for information posted on the departmental announcement boards about this program in early January each year, and/or speak to the Departmental Advisors for more information. For more information on the SGS and summer jobs with the SGS check out their website.
Other provincial surveys are also worth checking out for job postings if your area of specialization falls within their scope; visit their websites for more information.
Industry jobs
Exploration and other companies often hire our graduate students when they are near completion or have completed their degrees. Networking is a really important skill to help you with the transition from being a student to working in industry.
Here are a few suggestions for building your network:
- It is helpful to create profile on a networking website such as LinkedIn to help you to build your network and maintain connections with other U of R graduates – yourcolleagues can be a helpful network for leads on job opportunities! It doesn’t hurt to also have some old-fashioned business cards on hand for those who don’t use networking websites.
- Watch out for information posted on the departmental announcement boards, and speak to the Departmental Advisors, they sometimes here directly from company recruiters. Professors sometimes also hear from companies who are looking for students near graduation.
- Companies sometimes advertise positions on their webpages, and sites such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and other job ad and networking sites can be helpful for searching for job opportunities.
- Industry meetings and conferences are great for practicing your networking skills and expanding your network. Many conferences have reduced rates for student attendees. The (free!) Saskatchewan Geological Open House in late November/early December each year is a great place to connect with both exploration and environmental consulting company representatives about opportunities that may come up in the future. Events such as the PDAC in Toronto and Cordilleran Roundup in Vancouver are also great places to network for jobs in exploration or environmental consulting. Geoconvention is a useful conference for those studying topics relating to petroleum geology and environmental geoscience.
Academic jobs
Some of our graduate students choose to go on to study for additional degrees (PhD, MBA, etc) or postdoctoral studies after they complete their programs, and/or apply for faculty of technical positions. These positions are often advertised in society newsletters (e.g., the AGU EOS magazine) but networking is also a good approach to search for additional opportunities particularly for PhD and postdoctoral studies. Attending academic conferences is also a great way to learn about these kinds of research opportunities and network.
Here are a few useful websites for academic positions and jobs:
Other jobs
Information about job opportunities, career fairs, and career development support can also be found at the University’s Career Centre.