CAREERS IN GIS

Why do you love GIS?  Do you love GIS?  Why did you choose to study it in school?  If you did not study about GIS in school, why are you interested in it now?  Would you incorporate GIS into your career or into your life even if it was not your primary concern or even if you were not being paid to deal with it?

These questions should answer where your passion lies.  I have seen too many people studying GIS or looking for a job involving GIS who simply have a look of apathy or hopelessness in their eyes.  If you happen to receive a job interview, do not be foolish enough to think that an interviewer will not notice this.  People can usually tell whether someone is excited about an opportunity.  I do not mean “excited” because they are desperate for a job but excited because they love what they do and they want you to know how much they love it.

The key is conveying your passion for GIS to an interviewer without embarrassing yourself.  Do not show up to an interview dressed as a globe or a GPS unit.  Also, as impressive as you may think it is, I would not advise putting the latitude and longitude of your home address on your resume in place of a normal street address.  (You would be surprised how many people in the GIS industry would not have a clue as to what those strange looking numbers may be.)

However, people have forgotten the power of a portfolio either to receive an interview or to present during an interview.  Maps you have produced, analyses you completed, websites you maintained or created, or computer code that you wrote.  All of these are things that can be simplified into a PDF or a web link for display/presentation purposes.

If you plan to have a face-to-face interview with someone, put together a packet of information to present to the person at the time of the interview.  It will give you a chance to discuss things that you have done and/or things that you can do.  Unbelievably, interviewers get bored.  Give them something that sparks a conversation.  Not only will you show them your passion, it will definitely make you stick out in their mind from who knows how many others that may be applying for the same position.

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