Ecology Careers Q&A: Career Options with a Doctorate

This blog series is derived from live question-and-answer interactions during our running webinar series on career exploration in ecology, hosted by Aaron Stoler and the Private & Public Sector Ecologists Section.

Q: I am working on land management and plant community ecology in graduate school. Is environmental consulting a viable path for a person who will soon graduate with a doctorate?

Aaron Stoler: Absolutely, but please remember that most consulting firms are not hiring for a specialty such as “land management and plant community ecology.” They will be hiring more generally for a “scientist.” Maybe they will specify that they want someone who is skilled in land management or in plant ecology, but you will have to dig into the job descriptions for that. Just sell yourself broadly and generally.

Aerin Jacob: Make sure that you can explain your “transferable skills” and translate your academic training and outputs into the practical terms that a consulting company employer understands. Good luck! This 2017 ESA blog post by consultant Dr. Andrea Morehouse might be useful: https://esa.org/earlycareer/2017/06/20/what-are-you-going-to-do-when-youre-done-creating-my-own-path/

Rese Cloyd: If you have any opportunities to take courses in public administration (or similar sounding departments), you can build your skills in things like budgeting, project planning, regulatory compliance, etc.

Q: I understand that having a PhD might prevent me from applying to jobs due to being overqualified. Does this happen a lot?

Pacifica Sommers: I think that also depends on the type of role you are ultimately interested in. For my role in R&D, most people have PhDs. For designing surveys for USFS, for example, I think that tends to be more PhD level work and I understand you can hit a career progression ceiling without a PhD. But if you want to be in the field doing the surveys others design, that might be where the overqualification concerns come into play.

Aaron Stoler: People worry about suggesting you’re overqualified for a position. Remember, resumes often go through a corporate recruiter before it hits the hiring manager’s desk. I would NOT recommend removing an advanced degree, or any degree from your resume. It will be during the salary negotiating phase where this would ultimately shake out. If your salary needs were higher than the position, that’s the factor, not whether you have a higher degree.