I remember it. Enthusiastically I enrolled in my first paleontology class in college, and I remember coming up to the professor after the first day of class all proud and excited.

“I wanted to be a paleontologist. “

I remember his depressing reply.

“Kid, don’t you know there are no jobs in paleontology?”

I shrugged my shoulders, and just said “I don’t care. I love fossils. I love science. Please let me stay.”

There has been a lot of discussion about whether academia fails students.  Is it worthwhile to even go to college? What happens to you when you reach the end of that long golden road to acquiring that PhD? Is it all for nothing? Is there a job wanting for you after all those years of studying?

Paleontology, the study of fossils, often comes with a warning label in academia. “No Jobs.”

But I’m here to stay that this is not really true, there are many jobs in paleontology.

However, the jobs in paleontology are likely not in places that you would tend to think.

Museums continue to struggle to find money to do basic research in paleontology. This is the case in many cities which have fought hard to support scientific staff and find funding for paleontology. Recently museums have focused solely on dinosaurs, in part because they sell museum tickets and are easier to obtain donor funds for research. Museum jobs are also focused on the care of their collections. There are jobs to be had, but not as many as in the past.

Universities have also reduced the number of paleontology courses, which means that there are reductions in the number of paleontology instructors.  Utah State University, where I work is in fact expanding the number of classes in paleontology, but the average geology department in the United States has a single paleontologist on staff. And if you are like me, interested in vertebrate paleontology, then there are only about 198 teaching jobs (already filled) at universities in the United States, including adjuncts.

However, as museums and universities scale back the number of paleontologists they hire, there are a growing number of paleontology jobs needing to be filled.

Industry jobs are expanding, particularly in the field of environmental consulting. Countries, including the United States have passed more restrictive laws for the collection and preservation of fossils. This means that industrial infrastructure, such as highways, gas and oil pipelines, electric and phone lines, as well as oil and natural gas drilling need paleontologists to survey and salvage fossils collected during construction projects on federal, state and tribal lands. These jobs typically fall to environmental companies, which actively seek out and hire people trained in the collection and preparation of fossils.  Typical a Masters degree in Geology or Biology, with field experience in paleontology is required for these jobs.

Medical and Dental Universities are expanding the hiring of vertebrate paleontologists. This may sound odd. When you need see a paleontologist when you get sick? But as biology becomes a field focused more and more on the molecular and genetic information at the cellular level, the knowledge of anatomical dissection has fallen on those professionals that know anatomy best of all. Vertebrate paleontologists and physical anthropologists deal with fragmentary fossil remains, and have trained years in studying anatomy to identify and study those bones. Many medical and dental programs have taken on vertebrate paleontologists as instructors of anatomy. And in fact many of the dentists and doctors you have visited in the United States have likely taken a course from a paleontologist or physical anthropologist when they were in school.

Science Journalism holds jobs for those professional paleontologists interested in writing and covering recent discoveries. Freelance work, as well as writing books and articles about paleontology holds many opportunities. I am always amazed at the amount of interest paleontology generates. People love fossils, and have a keen interest in understanding them. There is a market for it! Fossils represent a remarkable record of the ancient history of our planet, and open windows into strange worlds that we would never be aware of. Having the skill to communicate this knowledge is always in demand. Readers are everyone, especially in this digital age. Summarizing discoveries and telling good stories about paleontology and the history of our planet have a clear advantage in making a career as a journalist.

Artists and Special Effects workers are in demand, as entertainment has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Creating life-like creatures using computer graphics and have them move on the big screen is key to making a successful movie. Paleontologists are frequently consulted on movies, and are often trained in functional morphology, the study of the relationship between function and form. For example, how big does Smaug’s wings need to be for the new Hobbit movie? Trained as an artist, and with the scientific background of a paleontologist is likely a unique skill set that would allow a successful career.

Governmental Jobs in paleontology are also growing, although slowly. These jobs are fondly referred as “Paleocrat” jobs, instead of bureaucrat. Jobs working for the Bureau of Land Management, the National Forest, or the National Park and Monuments in the United States have opened up careers in the management of paleontological resources on federal lands. These jobs require expert knowledge of paleontology, as well as geology and fieldwork. They also require people who are very organized and interested in promoting stewardship of public resources, such as fossils.

None of these jobs are the stereotypical Indiana Jones job that we likely imagined as a child. Most are outside of academia. However, all of them lead to rewarding and fun-filled job that require knowledge of paleontology. As you start your path toward your own career in paleontology remember to be flexible and learn as much as you can. Use your personal strengths and passion for the subject. And remember this:

 “There are jobs in paleontology!”

Amended

After sharing the previous post on paleontology jobs, and seeing the response and comments people shared on Social Media, I realized that I should make a few amendments to the previous post to address comments people brought up.

1) Aren’t there paleontology jobs in oil and natural gas exploration?

Paleontology is a critical skill set for a career in petroleum exploration. Principles such as graphic correlation, biostratigraphic zonation, and depositional environment reconstruction, plus ichnology in detection in sequence boundaries are needed. But this type of expertise is not on the rise. This is in part because of advances in seismic imaging of the subsurface, reservoir modeling and chemostratigraphy and paleomagnetism.  Companies typically recruit more generalized geologists, which include a skill set of having studied paleontology (principally biostratigraphy). However, I rarely see a job advertised in the oil and gas industry looking for a paleontologist outright. Many students with degrees in geology go on to work in the oil and gas industry, having taken a class in paleontology, along with geophysics, geochemisty, mineralology, sedimentary geology, petrology, and stratigraphy. These students often make considerable incomes within their profession of study. However, companies will not be impressed with your phylogeny of the dinosaur family Spinosauridae when it comes to the job interview.

2) Aren’t there paleontology jobs in micropaleontology?

Micropaleontology is the study of small fossils, in particular marine and freshwater tiny organism (diatoms, ostracods, forams), as well as pollen and phytoliths.

Indeed there are jobs in micropaleontology, including working within academia and industry. In the United States, a significant employer of micropaleonologists is the United States Geological Survey, as well as the Ocean Drilling Program. I’m not as familiar with job prospects in this field. But they are likely good, especially with additional geology skill sets mentioned above.

3) Are universities producing more Masters and PhD students in paleontology then there are jobs for?

To answer this question we need to look at the number of graduates in the field of paleontology, and their jobs after graduation. Are they in the same field, and how much does a typical paleontologist make with a Masters degree, or a PhD?

Unfortunately paleontology is very multidisciplinary. Students can be trained either in a biology or geology program of study. However, we do have these numbers for geologists thanks to the hard work of the American Geoscience Institute, which keeps track of these things.

In fact after I graduated, I completed a survey with the American Geoscience Institute, so they keep close track of paleontologists, but don’t separate out paleontologists from the rest in the statistics.

I show all my students these numbers. (Here are the latest numbers for 2013). Here are the biggest surprises:

1) Don’t go for that PhD.

In 2013, 50% of Masters degree students in geology have a starting salary above $100,000

In 2013, only about 20% of PhD degree students in geology find a starting salary above $100,000

See here for the figures.

What? This is because most geology students with a PhD go into academia or governmental work, which are low paying jobs compared to working in private companies. This produces a strange irony. Most Masters degree students will get paid more in their first year after graduation, then their instructors who trained them with a PhD.

2) The United States produces fewer geologists than it used to.

Since the 1973, the United States has produced less than 5 PhD geology graduates per 1 million people. In the last 40 years there has not been an increase in the number of PhD graduates in geology. Supply of undergraduate and Masters students show an overall decline, with less than 5 Masters geology graduates per 1 million people, and about 9 undergraduate graduates per 1 million people. In fact during the 1970s and 1980s the United States trained many more geologists (including paleontologists) then today. Enrollment of geology students show the significant decrease of graduating students as oil and gas prices dropped in the trouble years from 1985 to 1988. Since then there has not been recent rebound, yet demand for geologists grows. Hence, why a newly minted masters student can make more money than their professor.

3) You may have to move west.

Most jobs in geology are concentrated in the American West; particularly the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and California where many companies are headquartered. However, most universities that are educating students are located in the Mid-West and North East. After graduating expect to move to a different city, and be flexible. If you are trained as a paleontologist, you will likely not find a job if you limit your search to your current geographic location.