.jpg)
Image: Mayofi/Unsplash
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been turning to virtual ways to develop their skills and gather work experience while staying at home.
The knowledge and skills gained by spending time working with a real-world employer can be an important step towards starting your chosen career in geography. With work experience placements and internships currently difficult to find, online work experience placements can be a great alternative.
With activities including briefings and meetings with a supervisor, video tutorials and tasks which can be completed and submitted online, virtual work experience offers similar opportunities for learning about the work of an organisation as a face-to-face placement would. Forage is a popular platform for hosting virtual placements, and a good place to search for opportunities.
Besides placements with an employer, online volunteering can be a rewarding and beneficial experience. For students looking to make a positive difference and enhance their CV at the same time, many temporary voluntary positions with the United Nations (UN) require writing, presentation and GIS skills for which geographers are ideally suited. Several charitable organisations also provide opportunities to get involved, such as Missing Maps, which provides spatial data for humanitarian uses, and the British Red Cross which is looking for Emergency Response Volunteers.
Developing geographical skills is as important now as ever. Whatever your passion for the world – fascination with landscapes or concerns about sustainability – geography will provide you with knowledge and transferable skills that will reward you personally and advance you professionally.
Find out more about choosing geography.