COSAM News Articles 2020 May Geologist Shares Nuggets of Advice with Auburn Students

Geologist Shares Nuggets of Advice with Auburn Students

Published: 05/05/2020

“Work on your networking skills,” Josh Poole ’15 explained at this year’s SUCCEED Conference. “In today’s workforce, relationships you start building now can be important later in furthering your career… Learn how to present yourself as the most marketable package, even if you have experience that might not seem directly related to a position.”

Poole graduated with his master’s degree in geology from Auburn University. He returned as a panelist speaking about industry to students at the SUCCEED Conference where he gave advice to students about proactively networking and attending conferences, and also project management.

Since 2016, Poole has been an exploration and field research geologist for Wellborn Mining. He works on location at the historic Hog Mountain Alabama Gold Deposit.

“Working on collaborative/group projects and/or research shows that you can formulate a project, see it through to completion, have solid communication skills, and maybe even become proficient in technical writing.” he added. “Most industry jobs are project based… and these skills can be directly applied to being a team leader.”

In his current role, his responsibilities include lithologic and geotechnical core logging, field mapping and digital modeling.

Poole concluded the panel discussion with this advice for students.

“Get your foot in the door and put in the hard work,” he said.