So I’ve got this degree thingy now and I can’t even find a minimum-wage job.
grumps
My husband’s bachelor’s degree is in Geology. It really is useless without a graduate degree, unfortunately.
Fortunately for us, my hubby minored in computer programming, and is terrific at it (and happened to graduate before all the jobs were schlepped overseas).
Redwolf
I was going to say, in answer to the question in the thread title:
Apply to grad school. Or for random jobs which are largely unrelated to your major.
I sympathise. My major is Religion. I plan to work in something I get paid very little doing but which I feel called to do and enjoy. If I wanted a high-paying job my major would be nursing or business or computer science…one of my friends is an Art major. We both plan to be relatively poor unless we go to grad school.
I’ve applied to the university of tennessee at my mother’s behest, but I haven’t heard back from them, and frankly I’m not holding my breath. I graduated with a 3.4 but apparently with grade inflation and whatnot, that’s actually a pretty mediocre GPA, or so I’ve been told. 
Honestly even if I do get in, I don’t anticipate getting out. Grad school would eat me alive, most likely. 
some of us at my university got into professional grad programs, but for those who weren’t headed in that direction, the head of our Biology department lined up a few job opportunities for field biologists. These were entry level positions, but at least something was offered to the few who made it to graduation. I would think that would be part of the Department Head’s job…
That was in Savannah.
Did your department in Athens not give you a few leads?
M
Apply to large (big) oil companies. 
If oil prices stay up, will Oklahoma’s economy recover?
CONGRATULATIONS SAM!
My thoughts were also along the ‘grad school’ lines, and it isn’t a bad idea. Grad school isn’t like undergrad at all.
But there are many companies out there looking for people who have a background in an environmentally related field. You have surveying skills, lab skills, mapping, math, computer…look towards DEP jobs, water testing, land use management.
Apply to museums for educational positions, parks and recreation departments (all right, so budgets ARE tight…it doesn’t hurt to apply), and possibly look to take a few more courses and teach (high school, grade school).
But aside from all that…I think its cool that Chiff and Fipple saw you all the way through college!
Tyg
Congrats Sam! And hang in there, it took me 7 months after graduating to get a job, but it did happen!
Well Done Sam! Getting a degree is something to be proud of.
The way they say it here (Yurp) is:
regardless of what your degree subject is, simply having a degree proves that you have a certain amount of intelligence, and a certain amount of application. So… apply that intelligence and application into choosing what you want to do next.
Round here, the careers people seem to provide general options of
a) Teaching
b) Computers
c) what ever the hell you want to do
d) get out of my office.
It’s not a wise thing to let others choose for you. I hope you will be happy and successful whatever you choose.
You might be able to get a job as a high school teacher for a while, until you find something that pays better.
Geology is a rough field to get a job in, man. Best o’ luck to ya!
A buddy of mine has a geology degree, and went back to school to pursue an English degree after almost a year of not being able to score a job (but he was to proud to “lower” his standards and teach HS or something. )
I have another friend who just graduated this year with a bachelors degree in philosophy. I like to give him a hard time about not being able to find a job; I like to tell him his degree qualifies him to think deep thoughts about being unemployed! 
Douglas, over in the UP forum, has a BS in geology. He works for one of the water districts here in Southern California.
I keep telling people at work (engineering) that I want an MFA in dance so I can interpret the physical space of my cube. 
yep - environmental companies all have geologists (or hydro-geologists) on the payroll. You might want to look at general contractors and even some state agencies - most building now-a-days has to have some type of pre-planning for ground types, bedrock levels, etc.
Congrats, Sam. I was thinking along the same lines as Missy. There are actually an amazing number of fields that require some knowledge of some area of geology. I was thinking of construction – before any digging, all sorts of analyses need to be done to make sure the structure will be on sound and stable footing, to make sure there won’t be too much pressure on the foundation from one direction, etc. Oil/coal/mining companies are probably the largest employers.
And as others have pointed out, if you’re not really attached to geology as a profession, you’ve picked up some valuable skills by studying it and just by going through college.
I could probably find something if I moved to Atlanta but unfortunatly I can’t really drive, especially not in city traffic. I think the big problem is that I live in an area with no economy. There’s a lot of retired folks and a bunch of hillbilly types living on the gov’t dole and a few logging/construction type jobs for the rest.
Well I’ve applied to the Subway down the street, not exactly posh but at least I won’t be sitting on my butt all summer. <.<
I’ll give Tennessee another couple months, they take ages to process those things after all. If not I guess I can try georgia state, their program kind of stinks but it’s better than nothing.
I have a BS (Bull ___) degree in Geology from Indiana University. I decided that I didn’t want to work for a large oil or mining company, so I ended up using the training in science in whatever job that I could find. I was a liaison officer (because I could communicate well) for a large scientific research organization, and I also was a testing laboratory supervisor (on the job training) for a aerospace manufacturing company, both of the aforementioned jobs I found listed in my local newspaper.
Sam, it sounds like you will have a hard time finding a job that will utilize your skills in the area where you now live. You may need to move closer to where the jobs are (metropolitan areas in your state, like Nashville). Also, it may take you several jobs before you finally find one that you really like, so keep trying. The process is frustrating but interesting, in my opinion.
My husband’s major was geology, with minors in computer science, poly sci and theater. He used to joke that his college education qualified him to write computer animated plays about the political structure of rocks.
Redwolf
If I remember correctly, Michael Jordan has a degree in geology. He seems to have done well. How are your basketball skills?
Sam, in Australia very few people get the kind of employment they want with just an undergraduate degree, even when they allowed themselves to be persuaded to do ‘sensible’ vocational courses like engineering. Since there is even less emphasis in the US on vocational undergraduate training than there is here, I suspect the situation would be even worse.
Most engineers here go into management eventually and never work as engineers. There was a time not so long ago when work was so scarce that many students couldn’t complete the job placement part of their degree because they couldn’t find work, even though they would be working for nothing. Since engineering is a high stress, fact-cramming kind of course, I really couldn’t work out why students chose to do it when their odds of getting a job in the area were minimal.