Dear Jason et al., After 10+ years of doing the seasonal field tech thing (including a couple after getting my MS), I absolutely echo what Ms. Orling and Ms. Weissinger and others have said (there are winter jobs in Arizona and southern California! go travel and volunteer!), but I also want to put in a plug for Americorps. Americorps is not just for recent high school or college graduates. The others in my program were well-educated, well-experienced, entry-level professionals. My Americorps position with a water district was an opportunity to hold a lot of responsibility, learn a great deal, and work for a whole continuous year building resume-worthy experience while getting a stipend and funds to pay back some school loans. SCA is another good conservation-oriented organization with leadership opportunities. In my opinion, volunteerism gets short shrift in the US, and it's often overlooked by those of us looking for yet another field gig.
Olivia
