Should I do a Masters? You’ve just finished university and your deciding what to do next can be difficult, particularly if you already know that you want to build a career in ecology. For some graduates, the next step is relatively straightforward and they move directly into employment. For others, particularly those who find securing their first role more difficult, the question of further education quickly arises.
Would a Master’s make me more employable? Should I specialise? Would a PhD give me an advantage? Or should I concentrate on finding a job and gaining experience?
These are sensible questions, and further education can undoubtedly play an important role in an ecologist’s development. A Master’s can deepen knowledge, provide access to specialist areas and allow someone to explore a subject they are genuinely passionate about. A PhD can be invaluable for those interested in research, academia or areas of ecology where advanced specialist knowledge is particularly important.
However, for graduates whose main ambition is to work within ecological consultancy, there is another question that deserves just as much consideration:
is further academic study actually the thing that will move your career forward most at this particular point?
Having spent many years recruiting professionals and working closely with ecological consultancies, I have seen how valuable education can be. I have also seen how quickly relevant experience begins to influence someone’s employability once they start trying to enter the profession.
For many consultancy careers, there comes a point where another academic qualification may add less immediate value than gaining experience of actually working within or alongside the profession.
What Are Ecological Consultancies Actually Looking For?
Ecological consultancies recognise the importance of a strong academic foundation. A relevant degree demonstrates that someone has developed knowledge of ecology, environmental science, conservation or another related discipline and provides the scientific foundations upon which a professional career can be built.
However, when employers recruit graduate and early-career ecologists, academic achievement is only one part of what they are considering.
Consultancy requires people to apply their ecological knowledge within real projects involving planning requirements, legislation, clients, budgets, deadlines and competing priorities. Employers therefore also look for practical experience, communication skills, report writing, GIS capability, organisation, commercial awareness and evidence that someone can work effectively with colleagues and clients.
Many of these skills are difficult to develop fully within an academic environment because they become meaningful through application. Understanding the principles behind a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal is valuable, for example, but contributing to one on a live project introduces a completely different layer of learning.
The same applies to GIS, planning legislation, report writing and project management. Once these activities are connected to real sites, clients, colleagues and decisions, academic knowledge begins to become professional experience.
What I Saw When Recruiting Hundreds of Ecologists
This is something I can speak about from personal experience.
Over the years, I have been involved in recruiting hundreds of ecologists at different stages of their careers. When I was reviewing candidates for consultancy positions, having a Master’s or PhD did not automatically give someone an advantage simply because they had an additional qualification.
For the types of consultancy positions I was recruiting, I would often have been more interested in seeing that someone had started gaining relevant experience alongside or after their studies.
That might have been seasonal or part-time survey work, volunteering with a conservation organisation, involvement with a local wildlife group, biological recording or another opportunity that demonstrated they had actively started applying their knowledge outside an academic environment.
That experience gave me something different to explore during an interview. It demonstrated initiative and provided evidence of a genuine interest in the profession, while also showing that the candidate had begun developing their understanding of ecology beyond university.
This certainly doesn’t mean that I viewed postgraduate qualifications negatively. A Master’s or PhD represents a significant achievement and can demonstrate considerable subject knowledge, research capability, commitment and academic ability.
However, for the consultancy positions I was recruiting, those qualifications were rarely a substitute for relevant experience.
If I had one candidate who had continued directly through several levels of education and another who had spent that time gaining practical experience within or around the ecology profession, the additional qualification alone would not necessarily have made the first candidate stronger.
In many situations, the practical experience of the second candidate would have been extremely valuable.
When More Education Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Greater Employability
This is where I think some aspiring ecologists need to be careful.
I have spoken to people who have invested thousands of pounds and several additional years in postgraduate education because they believed doing so would significantly improve their chances of securing their first ecology position.
Some eventually reach the end of that journey with excellent academic credentials but very little practical experience.
They then begin competing for consultancy positions against people who may have spent those same years gaining seasonal survey experience, volunteering, working within junior ecology positions or simply building relationships within the profession.
At that point, the additional qualification doesn’t necessarily provide the advantage they expected.
In some circumstances, the lack of practical experience can actually leave someone at a disadvantage for a consultancy position, despite them being academically more qualified.
That is why I think graduates need to be particularly careful about assuming the solution to struggling to find their first role is automatically another qualification.
Sometimes it will be. Sometimes it won’t.
The important thing is understanding what is actually missing from your CV and what the employers you want to work for are really looking for.
Why Continuing Education Can Feel Like the Natural Choice
There is also a very understandable reason why some graduates continue studying when their first job proves difficult to secure.
Education is familiar.
After progressing through school, college and university, moving into a Master’s can feel like a natural continuation of a journey that has already been successful. You understand the environment, you know how to learn and you know what is expected of you.
Trying to secure your first professional position is much less predictable.
A graduate can have a good degree, genuine enthusiasm and considerable ecological knowledge and still receive rejections. Some applications receive no response at all, while other vacancies appear to require the very experience someone is trying to obtain.
After several months of this, it is perfectly understandable to wonder whether another qualification might provide the missing piece.
Further education can also be incredibly enjoyable. Some people genuinely love studying, research and academic life, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to continue learning simply because you enjoy it.
The difficulty comes when postgraduate education becomes the default response to struggling to secure employment rather than a deliberate decision about where someone wants their career to go.
A graduate can complete an undergraduate degree, move directly into a Master’s and potentially consider further academic study while still never having experienced the profession they ultimately intend to join.
They may become increasingly academically qualified while the original gap on their CV, relevant practical experience, remains largely unchanged.
The Value of Getting Into the Profession
For someone determined to build a career in ecological consultancy, securing that first opportunity can be transformative. It doesn’t necessarily need to be the perfect permanent Graduate Ecologist position either.
Seasonal survey work, assistant roles, fixed-term positions, volunteering and zero-hours opportunities can all provide an introduction to the profession and begin building the practical experience employers value.
Once someone starts working alongside experienced ecologists, their learning continues in a very different way. They begin to understand how projects move from an initial client enquiry through survey, assessment, reporting and recommendations.
They see how ecological advice interacts with the planning system, why survey windows matter commercially as well as technically, how reports are reviewed and how experienced consultants communicate uncertainty or difficult findings to clients.
They begin to understand how different people within a consultancy work together and why communication, organisation and professional judgement matter alongside ecological knowledge.
This is learning too. It simply happens in a different environment.
Experience Can Help You Decide What to Study Next
Another advantage of gaining experience before committing to further education is that working within the profession can completely change your understanding of where you want your career to go.
Someone might enter ecology believing they want to specialise in one area and discover, after working on different projects, that something completely different captures their interest.
You may develop an interest in botany, Biodiversity Net Gain, ornithology, GIS, ecological impact assessment, protected species, conservation, planning or another specialist discipline.
At that point, further education becomes a much more informed decision.
Instead of choosing a Master’s because it feels like the next logical academic step, you might choose one because two or three years of professional experience have shown you exactly what expertise you want to develop and how that knowledge could support your future career.
For me, that is a very different proposition.
Your Employer May Help You Continue Your Education
There can also be an assumption that you have to complete all of your education before entering employment. In reality, professional development should continue throughout your career.
Good consultancies invest in their people in many different ways. This might include internal technical training, external courses, mentoring, professional memberships, conferences and structured career development.
Some employers may also support relevant postgraduate study where there is a clear benefit to both the individual and the organisation. That support will vary between employers and certainly shouldn’t be assumed, but it may include financial contributions, study leave, flexible working arrangements or support towards specialist professional development.
This creates another potential route.
You can enter the profession, gain experience, discover where your interests lie and then explore further education when you have a clearer understanding of what will actually benefit your career.
Instead of choosing between education or experience, you may ultimately be able to develop both alongside each other.
When a Master’s or PhD Can Make a Real Difference
There is an important qualification to everything I have said.
Most of the positions I personally recruited were within ecological consultancy rather than heavily research-focused roles.
Had I been recruiting someone for a role requiring significant scientific research or deep expertise within a very specific ecological discipline, a relevant Master’s or PhD could have carried considerably more weight in my assessment.
There are careers within ecology where postgraduate education is extremely valuable and others where it may be essential.
A Master’s can also make sense for someone whose undergraduate degree is related to ecology but hasn’t provided enough ecological content for the career they now want to pursue. It can provide specialist knowledge, research experience and opportunities that may otherwise be difficult to obtain.
A PhD requires slightly different consideration because it represents a significant commitment to a particular area of research. For someone interested in academia, ecological research or a highly specialised scientific career, doctoral study can provide expertise and opportunities that would be difficult to develop elsewhere.
The distinction is that neither qualification should automatically be viewed as a general requirement for becoming an ecological consultant.
Someone with a PhD may bring exceptional research capability and specialist knowledge into a consultancy, but a doctorate doesn’t automatically provide experience of clients, commercial projects, planning, deadlines or professional delivery.
Equally, an experienced consultant without postgraduate qualifications may have developed considerable expertise through years of professional practice.
Both have value. They are simply different forms of development.
Start With the Career, Not the Qualification
For anyone approaching graduation or considering postgraduate education, my advice would be to start by looking at the career you actually want rather than the qualification you could do next.
Look at the positions you would like to be doing in two, five or ten years and investigate how people currently doing those jobs got there. Read job descriptions, speak to ecological consultants and employers, and understand which qualifications are genuinely required and which are simply desirable.
If postgraduate study clearly moves you towards that destination, then it can be an excellent investment.
If there is a subject you genuinely want to explore in greater depth, that’s important too. Education doesn’t have to be justified purely by its impact on your employability.
However, if the main reason you are considering spending thousands of pounds on a Master’s is because you haven’t yet managed to secure your first ecology position, I would encourage you to investigate whether the barrier is actually academic.
It might be that employers want more practical experience. Perhaps your CV isn’t demonstrating your strengths effectively. You might need greater interview confidence, better species identification skills, some GIS experience or simply that first opportunity to demonstrate what you can do.
Another degree will not necessarily solve all of those problems.
Sometimes six or twelve months spent gaining relevant experience, even if some of that experience is voluntary, seasonal or part-time, can add something to your CV that another academic qualification cannot: evidence that you have begun turning your knowledge into professional experience.
Building Your Career Doesn’t Mean Stopping Your Education
Perhaps the most important point is that entering employment does not mean choosing work instead of learning.
Ecology is a profession in which learning should continue throughout an entire career. Legislation changes, technology develops, new research emerges and professionals continually develop new areas of expertise.
University provides one form of education, while working alongside experienced professionals provides another. Specialist courses, mentoring, professional memberships, conferences, postgraduate qualifications and everyday project experience can all contribute to someone’s development over many years.
For aspiring ecological consultants who already have an appropriate academic foundation, there is no need to assume that every possible qualification must be completed before their career can begin.
A Master’s or PhD can absolutely strengthen an ecology career when it has a clear purpose, particularly for those pursuing research or specialist areas. But it should be a considered choice rather than something graduates feel they have to do simply to become more employable.
From my own experience recruiting hundreds of ecologists, I would encourage graduates to give relevant experience at least as much consideration as further academic study. Volunteering, seasonal work, part-time opportunities and that first junior position may not initially feel as impressive as adding another qualification to your name, but they can provide exactly the experience an ecological consultancy is looking for.
Further education will still be there later, and you may eventually undertake it with a much clearer understanding of what you want to learn and why.
For many aspiring ecological consultants, the most valuable next step after university may therefore not be another qualification. It may be getting into the profession, applying the knowledge you already have and allowing your education and experience to continue developing together throughout your career.
Useful next steps
If you’re trying to build a career in ecological consultancy, you may also find these useful:
- Explore the Ecology Careers Hub
- How to Get Your First Job in Ecology — practical steps for graduates and career changers trying to enter the profession
- Do You Need a Driving Licence to Work in Ecology? — particularly important if you’re considering field-based consultancy roles
- Ecology CV Advice — how to show relevant experience, transferable skills and practical knowledge
- Ecology Interview Advice — what consultancies are likely to explore when recruiting graduate and early-career ecologists
- Ecology Ready — practical consultancy-focused training covering areas such as PEAs, BNG, GIS, report writing and commercial awareness
- Browse Ecology Employers — discover ecological consultancies and organisations across the UK
