Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I just graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a degree in Geography.
I've been searching for jobs in urban planning, economic development, or data analyst around eastern part of Texas in the entry level stage. It has not been successful in the last month or two. I've sent resumes to people I know that work in that particular field. They were NTCOG, Gunda Corp, Cushman & Wakefield Global Real Estate, and some others I can't remember right now. I've sent my resume and reference letter from internship at an economic development in Nacogdoches.
Indeed.com has been my friend lately but it is very hard to find jobs with little to no experience. There were several I've looked at and they were exactly what I wanted to do but you know what holds me back... no experience. It is a major blow.
Does anyone else have any ideas what companies I could look for or any leads that are involved with economic development, urban planning, or data analyst or any other related geography fields? I have some experience in GIS but I'd rather not do that type of stuff even though there are growing demands for that.
It is very frustrating for people like me with very little experience who is looking for a career. It starting to make me feel like I want to work at high school degree requirement places. I know I have to be persistence and have some patience.
WorkInTexas.com will be unavailable from 7:00 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 until approximately 11 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, August 21, 2012. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.
There was plenty of GIS listings. Gotta start somewhere, you'll be in management by end of next year.
Thanks y'all. I appreciate that a lot. Will check them out.
Quote:
Gotta start somewhere, you'll be in management by end of next year.
You really think that? That's good to hear. I know I got to start somewhere. That's what everyone tells me.
k_s, one of my professor recommend me to use the career service couple months ago, I don't know why I never think about it. Going to check that out also.
I am a fairly recent grad with a Geography degree and an Urban Planning emphasis too! I've been living and working in Tyler for the past year on a (very long) temporary assignment, because my company (which is based out of the Mid-Atlantic) landed a project here. I don't know how much help I'll be in giving you info specific to Texas, but I'll try to give you at least some useful advice.
Have you looked into oil/natural gas companies, like EOG Resources or East Texas Oil & Gas? They often hire people with Geography degrees, to do various tasks that are not necessarily related to GIS. A lot of them are ramping up their employee bases too, especially if they're involved in the booming shale industry.
You may also want to look into local government jobs (city and county-level) - they often hire planners, and their Public Safety departments frequently hire people with GIS/data backgrounds. Sent them your resume even if they're not hiring at the moment, so that they have it on file. The COGs are good too -I've done work for NCTCOG in the past.
I don't know how far out of East Texas you're willing to venture, but you will REALLY increase your options if you expand your job search to Dallas or Houston. I have a friend who is an urban planner for Parsons Brinckerhoff. They have offices in Houston, Dallas, and Austin.
As unpleasant as it is, there's a good chance you'll need to find a job in a field that may not be your first choice, and in a place that may not be your first choice, since you don't have any experience. I started out doing strictly GIS work for my current company (whom I've been with for a couple of years now), and after less than a year, I moved on to data analysis, report generation, research, etc., and I rarely even touch ArcMap anymore. The main thing is to get your foot in the door, work hard, and once they realize you're smart and capable of more than what they hired you for, they'll reward you by giving you more money and more responsibility. Or, if nothing else, it will be something to put on your resume as experience when you search for your next job.
1. you need to be ready and willing and able to use GIS or you might as well just get a restaurant job......it is the tool of the field period even in urban planning, economic development, and data analysis
what do you think all of the above fields use to manage their copious amounts of data......why GIS of course
TxState has one of the largest and most respected Geography departments in the USA
at that link:
User Name: geoguest
Password: geography
once you have entered the site above picture of the TxState campus you will see where it says "My Workspace" and "Geography Careers".......click on Geography Careers
once you are on the next page click on where it says resources to the left.......a bunch of links will come up and one of them will be current job and internship postings......check the box and click the link and read away
even if many of the listings are older and past today's date it will give you a very broad idea of the types of places you should be looking both in and out of Houston.....just because a particular type of company or agency listed in those links might not be in Houston remember that Houston probably has one of those companies or one of those types of government agencies
read over the job search tool kit and of course the two listings of past and other previous jobs and internships
3. things specific to Houston that you might not have considered....NASA.....SFA in particular has a huge program with NASA in the Authur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture
it is called the Columbia Regional Geospacial Service Center
waste management operations are huge users of geography
Oil and gas companies of course
Utility companies
4. I know you said no GIS, but the REALITY is if you want a job in Geography you need to either give up on the no GIS or you need to learn the Geography of a restaurant so you can serve food and drinks or the geography of a drive thru
similar to DETCOG in east Texas behind the pine curtain
5. it is pretty clear that SFA is dumping (or already has) dumped their geography department which is not surprising because the stand alone department was never well supported and it was not well supported when it was with poly sci and the College of Forestry was pretty much doing all the things in GIS and Geospacial once that field became hot.....in fact the department of geography and poly sci is no longer listed and it is now the department of government and GIS is listed as a major in Forestry......so if you do not know the forestry faculty that well or at all it would be my advice to start talking to them.....if you are going to be staying in Nac while you search for gainful employment it would be my advice to start taking some classes at the masters level through the college of forestry while you are there....usually in masters level courses that is where you will get to know professors on a more personal level (often not an issue even at the undergrad level at SFA) and more importantly it is where you will bump into industry and government people working in the industry to make yourself known and to get the inside scoop on positions and to have a reference...like an extended internship with a piece of paper at the end of you complete the courses and dissertation
6. if you have considered advanced education at all now is the time to do it....if you do not quite have your degree yet and have not graduated I would give you some more info towards that goal if you have already graduated that info will not help at this point
I would strongly suggest you do your graduate work in the SFA college of forestry or at TxState in San Marcos (one of the leading geography departments in the USA).....if you really have the top grades and you really do not want to work closely with GIS then I would suggest UT Austin's department of geography......you will 100% positively still be using GIS, but they are more a ecology, demographics, urban studies, migration type focus VS TxState of SFA Forestry.....and they are still a top program
Houston the city has little in the way of quality Geography advanced education options.....TSU flat sucks and should not be an option for anyone for anything.....the UH main campus actually does not have a geography department and in the UH System geography is taught at UH Clear Lake...and they do not have a masters in geography...UH Downtown has no geography department as well......HCC will have GIS classes I am sure, but that would just be building skills and you would be better served most likely doing that at SFA although HCC might luck out for you inn that you meet an industry professional picking up some spare change in their free time teaching at HCC and you get an in on a job or a good job reference......kind of a chance happening though...Rice Earth Sciences....hell if you can get in and have the cash or get a scholarship I would do it just to say I went to Rice!
so the point being if you get to Houston and decide that you want to advance your geography education you will either be moving from Houston, going to Rice, or you will be studying in a department outside of a true geography department like poly sci or urban planning or anthropology or something similar which will surely pull you further away from an actual geography job and that will probably pigeon hole you in the future for even fewer job prospects
7. you are on the right track with cushman, but don't forget about major restaurant chains and major retailers.....but yet again that will be GIS as they try and collect demographic and other info to locate stores and restaurants in fast growing areas like Houston
8. on the topic of restaurants never eat at a restaurant in NAC owned by partovie....they serve food off the floor and they are disgusting health hazards...I know Ritas is now gone (health hazard), but he might still own some others including the disgusting Mexican food restaurant in the old Hyder House at the southwest corner of main and starr......or possibly he ran that into the ground as well as better chain restaurants finally moved in....from google it looks like all of that is apartments now.....better for the health of the entire community
good luck.....you might have to expand outside of Houston and look at state government in Austin, but even then GIS will be a part of your geography life no two ways about it
Have you looked into oil/natural gas companies, like EOG Resources or East Texas Oil & Gas? They often hire people with Geography degrees, to do various tasks that are not necessarily related to GIS. A lot of them are ramping up their employee bases too, especially if they're involved in the booming shale industry.
I haven't looked at EOG Resources or East Texas Oil & Gas. I'll check it out, should have thought about that awhile ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tExPatriot
You may also want to look into local government jobs (city and county-level) - they often hire planners, and their Public Safety departments frequently hire people with GIS/data backgrounds. Sent them your resume even if they're not hiring at the moment, so that they have it on file. The COGs are good too -I've done work for NCTCOG in the past.
I know a good friend from NCTCOG and I sent him a resume so he could send it to appropriate people but no response from anyone yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tExPatriot
I don't know how far out of East Texas you're willing to venture, but you will REALLY increase your options if you expand your job search to Dallas or Houston. I have a friend who is an urban planner for Parsons Brinckerhoff. They have offices in Houston, Dallas, and Austin.
Oh man, I would absolutely love to work in Houston and Dallas so my options are pretty much opened. I'm going to send my resume to Parsons Brinckerhoff, would be great to work for a private sector company. Also, I have a very good identity in Houston because pretty much everyone know this well-known icon guy who is in my family in Houston. A huge plus in the interview.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tExPatriot
As unpleasant as it is, there's a good chance you'll need to find a job in a field that may not be your first choice, and in a place that may not be your first choice, since you don't have any experience. I started out doing strictly GIS work for my current company (whom I've been with for a couple of years now), and after less than a year, I moved on to data analysis, report generation, research, etc., and I rarely even touch ArcMap anymore. The main thing is to get your foot in the door, work hard, and once they realize you're smart and capable of more than what they hired you for, they'll reward you by giving you more money and more responsibility. Or, if nothing else, it will be something to put on your resume as experience when you search for your next job.
I know there is a good chance that I may not be my first but I sure hope it is something I can work my way and don't have to start from scratch again. I might as will do GIS if they can train me, I'll be fine with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tExPatriot
Best of luck!
Thank you so much for your help as well as others too!
1. you need to be ready and willing and able to use GIS or you might as well just get a restaurant job......it is the tool of the field period even in urban planning, economic development, and data analysis
I can do GIS ok, I just hope they could train me at least at some job. Not to the extent where it is heavy.
TxState has one of the largest and most respected Geography departments in the USA
at that link:
User Name: geoguest
Password: geography
once you have entered the site above picture of the TxState campus you will see where it says "My Workspace" and "Geography Careers".......click on Geography Careers
once you are on the next page click on where it says resources to the left.......a bunch of links will come up and one of them will be current job and internship postings......check the box and click the link and read away
even if many of the listings are older and past today's date it will give you a very broad idea of the types of places you should be looking both in and out of Houston.....just because a particular type of company or agency listed in those links might not be in Houston remember that Houston probably has one of those companies or one of those types of government agencies
read over the job search tool kit and of course the two listings of past and other previous jobs and internships
Will do! That helps a lot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
3. things specific to Houston that you might not have considered....NASA.....SFA in particular has a huge program with NASA in the Authur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture
it is called the Columbia Regional Geospacial Service Center
waste management operations are huge users of geography
Oil and gas companies of course
I'm definitely going to check that out.
Utility companies
I didn't realize there are more options for that. Pretty cool.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
1. you need to be ready and willing and able to use GIS or you might as well just get a restaurant job......it is the tool of the field period even in urban planning, economic development, and data analysis
I can do GIS ok, I just hope they could train me at least at some job. Not to the extent where it is heavy.
TxState has one of the largest and most respected Geography departments in the USA
at that link:
User Name: geoguest
Password: geography
once you have entered the site above picture of the TxState campus you will see where it says "My Workspace" and "Geography Careers".......click on Geography Careers
once you are on the next page click on where it says resources to the left.......a bunch of links will come up and one of them will be current job and internship postings......check the box and click the link and read away
even if many of the listings are older and past today's date it will give you a very broad idea of the types of places you should be looking both in and out of Houston.....just because a particular type of company or agency listed in those links might not be in Houston remember that Houston probably has one of those companies or one of those types of government agencies
read over the job search tool kit and of course the two listings of past and other previous jobs and internships
Will do! That helps a lot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
3. things specific to Houston that you might not have considered....NASA.....SFA in particular has a huge program with NASA in the Authur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture
it is called the Columbia Regional Geospacial Service Center
it was brought about because of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy
Yes, I've toured that department in the past because I've taken two GIS Classes at the Forestry building at SFA. Pretty interesting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
4. I know you said no GIS, but the REALITY is if you want a job in Geography you need to either give up on the no GIS or you need to learn the Geography of a restaurant so you can serve food and drinks or the geography of a drive thru
similar to DETCOG in east Texas behind the pine curtain
Geez, I feel kind of discouraged. I don't mean it personally. Some people tell me I don't have to use GIS with a geography degree. I don't know?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
5. it is pretty clear that SFA is dumping (or already has) dumped their geography department which is not surprising because the stand alone department was never well supported and it was not well supported when it was with poly sci and the College of Forestry was pretty much doing all the things in GIS and Geospacial once that field became hot.....in fact the department of geography and poly sci is no longer listed and it is now the department of government and GIS is listed as a major in Forestry......so if you do not know the forestry faculty that well or at all it would be my advice to start talking to them.....if you are going to be staying in Nac while you search for gainful employment it would be my advice to start taking some classes at the masters level through the college of forestry while you are there....usually in masters level courses that is where you will get to know professors on a more personal level (often not an issue even at the undergrad level at SFA) and more importantly it is where you will bump into industry and government people working in the industry to make yourself known and to get the inside scoop on positions and to have a reference...like an extended internship with a piece of paper at the end of you complete the courses and dissertation
That's interesting, had no idea about that. I won't be staying in Nac, I'm in Tyler at the moment and I'm willing work pretty much anywhere in Texas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
6. if you have considered advanced education at all now is the time to do it....if you do not quite have your degree yet and have not graduated I would give you some more info towards that goal if you have already graduated that info will not help at this point
I have a degree and did graduated two weeks ago. I have thought about doing masters but I don't know. If I can get a job somewhere (which of course I haven't), why not take it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
I would strongly suggest you do your graduate work in the SFA college of forestry or at TxState in San Marcos (one of the leading geography departments in the USA).....if you really have the top grades and you really do not want to work closely with GIS then I would suggest UT Austin's department of geography......you will 100% positively still be using GIS, but they are more a ecology, demographics, urban studies, migration type focus VS TxState of SFA Forestry.....and they are still a top program
They have a very good GIS program at SFA, I know two of the professors there only because I took GIS classes (as I said earlier).
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
so the point being if you get to Houston and decide that you want to advance your geography education you will either be moving from Houston, going to Rice, or you will be studying in a department outside of a true geography department like poly sci or urban planning or anthropology or something similar which will surely pull you further away from an actual geography job and that will probably pigeon hole you in the future for even fewer job prospects
Rice would be very nice to go. For sure hard to get in, ha.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
7. you are on the right track with cushman, but don't forget about major restaurant chains and major retailers.....but yet again that will be GIS as they try and collect demographic and other info to locate stores and restaurants in fast growing areas like Houston
I'll check into them. Someone mention like Wal-Mart for urban planning department or something. I'd love to live in Houston because I have a big family there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasVines
8. on the topic of restaurants never eat at a restaurant in NAC owned by partovie....they serve food off the floor and they are disgusting health hazards...I know Ritas is now gone (health hazard), but he might still own some others including the disgusting Mexican food restaurant in the old Hyder House at the southwest corner of main and starr......or possibly he ran that into the ground as well as better chain restaurants finally moved in....from google it looks like all of that is apartments now.....better for the health of the entire community
I've noticed I typed "eastern of part of Texas". I meant anywhere east of I-35 Corridor. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Definitely would work in Houston or Dallas.
Did you ever find employment?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been living and working in Tyler for the past year on a (very long) temporary assignment, because my company (which is based out of the Mid-Atlantic) landed a project here. I don't know how much help I'll be in giving you info specific to Texas, but I'll try to give you at least some useful advice.
