To add a couple of little details to what others have said: find out if there is a Greendrinks group in your area. These are informal groups where eco-minded people, including professionals in the field, met, mingle, and network. You never know whom you might met, and who might turn out to be that crucial contact.
Government might be another viable option. At first, you may need to be willing to relocate to wherever a National Forest, National Park, or other tract of government land is located; but once you establish your reputation, more options will open up -- the Federal Government has preferential policies toward hiring applicants who have already worked for them. Jason Hernandez ________________________________ Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:08:21 -0500 From: Ryan Metz <ryancm...@gmail.com> Subject: Best way to jump start a career in ecology After graduating in 2009 I have bounced around a number of jobs, some of which were in my career field (ecology), some were not. So I took the advice of my former professors and volunteered. Since returning from France this summer as a volunteer ecologist for A Rocha international (due to intense competition and few opportunities) I have been largely unable to find a suitable position as an ecologist in the NYC area. I have since decided to broaden my search (nation wide), but have run into new difficulties. The first problem is the wide distribution of information scattered about the web. There seem to be any number of websites with ecological job postings which makes it very difficult to search for openings. So many of these sites are inadequate to say the least in terms of ease of use, search options, job descriptions, contact information, salary, etc. Most of these small sites are updated infrequently as well. The larger sites such as Monster, are much easier to search and use, but do not list the same positions as the smaller sites. The second problem is the apparent lack of information and direction available concerning ecological work outside of academia. I am well aware of the great number of private companies that hire scientists for any variety of work in the private sector, yet there seems to be very little anyone can tell me about these companies or the general kinds of work available to an ecologist. I've been able to contact a few people through linked in about the companies they work for, but outside of direct contact with employees, there is little to be found out about the private sector. The third issue that comes to mind are the postings on this list-serve. Most postings for job opportunities are for grad students, or research assistants with advanced degrees. I have seen a few postings for work in the public sector, but to my knowledge there has not been any mention of opportunities within the private sector. The thought occurred to me that there must be other list-serves geared towards job ops in general, yet I haven't come across any. To clarify, the jobs that I have been looking for are those that focus primarily on fieldwork and reporting such as baseline ecological evaluations, species identification, etc, and less on permitting and phase I and phase II assessments. I am hoping that some of you will be able to address these issues and/or respond with some helpful information in regard to finding a job in the private sector that will be worthwhile in terms of gaining knowledge and experience in the practical application of ecological principles. Ryan Metz
