On November 30th, the USDA Forest Service released their summer seasonal job openings on the notorious USAJOBS.gov website for myself and the few thousand other outdoor workers to apply for. This date marks the true beginning of the hiring season for the public lands agencies such as the National Park Service, Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management.
The federal job search is much different than that within the private sector: the application, resume, interview process, selection process, etc. Indeed, applying for and upholding federal positions is no trivial task! But as I scrolled through the positions and their respective job descriptions, I noticed that something was different from my last time seriously searching for a position in the federal government over 2 years ago.
My past work involved two internships with public land agencies and one paid position with a conservation non-profit. At the Uni of Aberdeen, I took many Biology courses directly relevant to professional work in the bio-sciences, and at Lewis & Clark College, I am finishing up a semester of environmental studies (ENVS 220), a skills-focused course, and calculus and statistics for life sciences (MATH 123), a maths course tailored specifically for life science majors.
When I first applied for summer seasonal positions on USAJOBS.gov, I qualified for the pay grade known as GS-2 and in certain circumstances GS-3. But as I looked over the qualifications for higher pay grades, I realized that, with my work and education in the past 3 years, I qualified well for GS-3, GS-4, and in some circumstances GS-5 positions!
This boost in pay grade and GS level is thanks to ENVS 220 and the many other bio-relevant courses I’ve taken, and I am truly excited to begin my professional career in a public lands agency this summer.
