Environment and sustainability

Have a look at Prospects and targetjobs to find out what roles in this sector involve and how to get into them. These are some of the job profiles available:  

 Environmental protection and control

• Environmental consultant
• Environmental manager
• Environmental health practitioner
• Environmental law solicitor - see Legal Professions for information on entry into law
• Policy officer

Environmental management and conservation

• Countryside officer/ranger
• Ecologist
• Nature conservation officer
• Environmental manager
• Environmental consultant
• Environmental education officer
• Field trials officer
• Water conservation officer
• Forest/woodland manager

Engineering, energy and scientist

• Environmental engineer
• Energy manager
• Soil scientist
• Water quality scientist
• Energy conservation officer

Recycling and waste management

• Sustainability consultant
• Recycling officer
• Waste management officer

• an ability to project-manage, prioritise tasks, meet deadlines and work with minimum supervision

• leadership and the ability to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams

• attention to detail and a logical and methodical approach to problem-solving

• an ability to research, analyse and communicate complex technical data to others

• numerical and IT skills

• commercial awareness and an understanding of local, national and global environmental issues

• a desire to work outside in all weathers may be needed

• a full driving licence and willingness to travel are often required

Starting salaries for graduate jobs in this sector can vary depending on the position.

To get an idea of typical starting salaries use the following resources: 

• our Discover your Earning Potential Pathway offers access to The Pay Index. This shows you how salaries vary across different roles, industries and locations 
• job profiles, such as those listed on Prospects or targetjobs 
• vacancy sites such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn 

For information about how to negotiate a salary, visit Handling job offers. 

• Browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed. 
• Use LinkedIn’s Alumni tool to find out what Newcastle graduates are doing now. You could ask to connect with them, to gain advice and insights into their career. See Newcastle Alumni on LinkedIn to help you get started or watch our quick tutorial on Getting inspiration from others [3:13].  
• Attend alumni events, such as Newcastle Develop, to hear directly from our graduates.  
• Sign up for mentoring support with Graduate Mentor and The 1 Hour Project. These aim to match students with industry professionals who can provide invaluable insights. Register to be connected for a one-hour meeting. 
• Attend events such as recruitment events and  employer and sector insights. Hear about graduate jobs, placement schemes, build your network and ask questions.   

Searching for reviews online can be a useful way to get an idea of what to expect from certain roles or employers. Reviews are written by employees with different opinions about what makes a good employer.  

Use the following review sites for inspiration and insight into the recruitment process: 

• RateMyPlacement  placement year reviews written by students.  
• The Job Crowd – graduate job reviews  
• Glassdoor – company reviews from employees  

Read career guides for this sector, such as:

• Environment and agriculture

• What can I do with my degree in environmental science

• Green Careers

• EAUC Sustainability Exchange - career guide and webinars on sustainability, including understanding job roles, developing key skills and standing out to employers

• Environment Agency careers

• How to get an environmental job

Use online magazines and journals to follow news from your industry. Reading about trends and developments is important for applications and interviews. 

• ENDS Europe provides an environmental news and information service.

• The New Scientist

• Guardian: Environment look at the latest developments in this field.

• edie.net is an environment and sustainability news centre.

• Sustainability Magazine

Attend events to hear directly from professionals in the industry. Regular events for this sector include the British Ecological Society's Student Futures and Research Conference.

See also our recruitment events.

Professional bodies may also often organise networking events.

Join an environment-specific student societiey. These include the Earth and Environmental Science Society and the Ecological Society.

Use social media to find industry insights 

Join sector-specific groups on LinkedIn to keep up to date. Posts often include news, events and opportunities. You can also find useful insights on careers on TikTok. Treat these with caution, as not all content may be accurate. 

Find out more about how to use social media for your career.

Consider joining a relevant professional body/industry network  

Professional bodies often: 

• run networking events  
• have specialist groups you could join 
• post vacancies on behalf of their members 
• have member directories, useful for speculative applications 

Key organisations include:

Professional societies

• Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM)
• Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA)
• British Ecological Society
• The Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM)
• Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
• The Society of Environmental Engineers

Research councils/institutes

• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• National Oceanography Centre
• Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) – joint venture with Defra and Capita

Government departments and agencies

• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
• Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science
• Environment Agency
• Forestry Commission
• Natural England
• Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (includes remit for climate change)
• Committee on Climate Change
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

Sector skills councils/industry groups

• Lantra - awarding body for land-based industries in the UK and the Republic of Ireland
• UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA)
• Law & Your Environment. Includes information on environment law, including links to specialist bodies

Finding professional bodies worldwide

GoinGlobal’s country guides include details of professional bodies. Find them under ‘Professional and Personal Networking’ on each individual country guide.

Apply for advertised opportunities as early as possible.  

For advertised work experience with larger companies, UK applications typically open early in the academic year from September or October. Some close as early as October-November. Many employers close applications as soon as their places are filled. 

Some work experience or volunteering, which will be common in smaller environment charities and organisations, advertise throughout the year, or closer to the start date.

Use our resources to get started: 

• MyCareer - search for internships and placements in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts  
• Internships, placements and shadowing - links to vacancy sites 
• Global work experience - for internships or placements abroad 

Search the following external sites:

• Countryside Jobs Service (countryside-jobs.com)
• E.ON - find year-long placements. Past opportunities have been related to carbon capture and pollution control
• Balfour Beatty
• Lichfields - planning consultancy, accepts speculative applications for internships and placements. Has offices across the UK including Newcastle, London, Leeds, Manchester, Reading and Cardiff
• Carbon Trust - offer paid 3 or 6 month internships in London or Edinburgh. Opportunities cover areas such as policy, technology, business analytics, accreditation and marketing
• Field Studies Council – offer placement years related to environmental education
• Bright Green Placements place students within Scottish businesses. You would undertake paid projects with an environmental focus
• UKELA: Students - events, competitions and internship opportunities

The Careers Service runs flexible summer and part-time internships with local employers and on campus. NCL internships are aimed at all students, from any stage.

Search for these under Vacancies on MyCareer. Type in ‘NCL internship’ into the text search box. 

You can find these advertised throughout the academic year. Full-time summer opportunities are advertised from around March. 

In the North East

• Go Volunteer offer a variety of environmental projects to Newcastle University students
• Northumberland National Park regularly offer short-term work experience opportunities. These are for people aged 16 to 25, who are seeking a career in the countryside sector. See also their other volunteering opportunities.
• Northumberland Wildlife Trust has a range of volunteering opportunities
• Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. See opportunities at their centre in Washington, Tyne and Wear
• Natural History Society of Northumbria.  There are a wide range of voluntary opportunities including nature conservation and research.

In the UK

• The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) - voluntary opportunities and training
• National Trust - voluntary opportunities
• National Parks - jobs and volunteering
• Wildlife Trusts: voluntary opportunities and links to local trusts
• Sustrans - sustainable development charity with volunteering opportunities
• Centre for Alternative Technology involves jobs and volunteering opportunities. These include six month voluntary placement with accommodation

 Access GoinGlobal for internships in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:  

• additional vacancy websites  
• CV, application and interview advice   
• Advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world.  

Finding experience overseas

• Newcastle University: Student expeditions - information on organising and funding an expedition
• British Exploring Society - charity teaching young people about fragile living environments
• Pacificislandjobs.com - sustainable development opportunities are available in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
• UN Volunteers - see current opportunities

If you’re looking for inspiration, try searching our NU Work Experience Directory. You can see where our students have had internships and placements in the last five years. To see all results in a search category, keep the search field blank. 

The resources in this section advertise both graduate jobs and graduate schemes. See our graduate jobs page to understand the difference between them. 

For graduate schemes, apply as early as possible.  

UK applications typically open early in the academic year from September or October. Some close as early as October or November. Many employers close applications as soon as their places are filled. These are more common with large companies in industries like sustanability or green energy. 

Graduate jobs tend to be immediate start positions which can be available all year round. You are more likely to apply for these towards the end of your studies. These may be more common with smaller environment charities.  

Vacancy sites (All sectors)

Use our resources to get started:

• MyCareer - search for graduate schemes and graduate jobs in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts  
• Graduate Jobs – lists graduate vacancy sites 

Vacancy sites for environment and sustainability

• Environmentjob.co.uk
• Environmentjobs.co.uk
• Environmental Science Opportunities | Gradcracker 
• Change Agents - sustainability jobs
• Earthworks-jobs.com - worldwide jobs in a range of environmental sectors
• Greenjobs
• Guardian Jobs - environmental jobs section
• Nature Careers
• EHN Jobs - jobs in environmental health and protection

Environmental management and conservation

• Countryside Jobs Service - jobs, voluntary opportunities and training
• ENDSJobsearch
• CIWMjobs.co.uk
• Conservation Jobs
• IEMA Jobs
• Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management: Jobs

See International Jobs for details of overseas vacancy sites. 

Access GoinGlobal for job adverts in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:  

• additional vacancy websites  
• CV, application and interview advice   
• Advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world.  

Start by identifying organisations you are interested in. Our guide to finding organisations below can help. Then use the following steps to approach them speculatively about possible opportunities: 

1. Identify a contact name to address your cover letter to. Call or email to find out who handles recruitment within the organisation. Or, find a key contact in the department you want to work in. 
2. Send them a tailored CV and cover letter. Express your enthusiasm for the sector. Show that you have researched the company. 
3. Follow up your speculative application with a phone call, or email, around a week later. This shows you are serious and motivated. 

If your application was unsuccessful, ask for feedback or advice, and keep trying! 

You can use this approach at any point in the year. We recommend that you: 

• start your research as early as possible to gather relevant contacts
• contact organisations around three months before you want the opportunity to begin 

• Find organisations on MyCareer. Select ‘search' then 'organisations’. 
• Use the business directories and databases on our Researching employers page
• Search for companies on LinkedIn. The Find Alumni tool shows you where Newcastle graduates are currently working.
• Browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed. 

• ENDS Directory - environmental consultancy directory
• IEMA: EIA Quality Mark Registrants. This is a list of organisations which deliver environmental impact assessments
• Environmental Expert – worldwide environmental business directory, useful for speculative applications
• Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management. This includes a professionals directory for specialisms in regions
• Environment Agency - contact regional office to find out about work placements
• Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). This includes list of government agencies and partner organisations
• North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) includes a member directory.
• Water UK has a list of UK water and wastewater service suppliers. This is useful for speculative applications.
• targetjobs - search employers by sector, eg software engineering or technology
• Yell.com - online business directory. Search by keyword, eg environment consultancies, and location

Search GoinGlobal’s employer directory for company information in 196 countries. Their country guides list professional bodies around the world. 

GoinGlobal’s country guides include details of recruitment agencies in specific countries. They are listed under the following headings:   

• Staffing agencies and temporary help firms  
• Executive recruiters and search firms  

Recruitment agencies may not operate in the same way in different countries. In the UK agencies are free for job seekers, but this may not be the case elsewhere. Explore the terms and conditions of an agency before signing up to use them.