How To Become A Geophysicist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a geophysicist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Chad Pritchard Ph.D.

A Geophysicist is a scientist who studies the physical properties of the earth and its atmosphere and applies scientific principles to solve problems. He/she must identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions and use scientific rules and methods to solve problems.

Geophysicists spend most of their time outdoors studying various features of the earth and indoors using computers. Geophysicists usually work closely with civil engineers, architects, analysts, and land representatives. They mostly work in private mining companies, transport industry, oil and gas companies, archaeology, urban planning, and the government.

A successful geophysicist must have in-depth knowledge of geography combined with the relevant technical skills, analytical skills, ability to interpret data, and knowledge of programming languages. Geophysicists who work in offices and laboratories work full time 40 hours a week from Monday to Friday, from 9 to 5. Those who are involved in exploration work in fields on assignments may work extra hours.

What general advice would you give to a geophysicist?

Chad Pritchard Ph.D.

Chair, Eastern Washington University

Talk to your faculty and career services center to get you resume, CV, and cover letter polished. Keep going, and don't get too fixated on one job. Try to keep you options open. Being able to move for a job can help you find more jobs and gain experience towards becoming a professional geologist, which then creates more possibilities. If jobs in your area are slim and you cannot move, then you might consider graduate school, so that when the market rebounds, you have that much more experience and will stand out to potential employers.

ScoreGeophysicistUS Average

Salary

7.7

Avg. Salary $105,067

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.5

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.58%

Asian 5.32%

Black or African American 0.86%

Hispanic or Latino 6.25%

Unknown 4.67%

White 82.33%

Gender

female 19.40%

male 80.60%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a geophysicist

Explore geophysicist education requirements

Most common geophysicist degrees

Bachelor's

71.2 %

Master's

22.0 %

Doctorate

4.1 %

Start to develop specific geophysicist skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Collection	15.83%
Geophysical Data	8.85%
C++	8.33%
MATLAB	5.38%
Data Analysis	5.27%

Complete relevant geophysicist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New geophysicists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a geophysicist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real geophysicist resumes.

Research geophysicist duties and responsibilities

Plan, develop, manage and implement geological, geophysical, and geotechnical subsurface investigations.
Train and mentore staff to use internally develop methodologies by effective utilization of ProMAX and ProManager software to achieve optimum results.
Monitor regulatory compliance (CERCLA, RCRA, RWQCB, MTCA, VCP).
Produce field grade and final quality maps utilizing GPS data and integrate geophysical survey data in GIS.

Prepare your geophysicist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your geophysicist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a geophysicist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable geophysicist resume templates

Build a professional geophysicist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your geophysicist resume.