Duilio05 AMA

[KoltClassic]

This sounds like an awesome job!

What does a typical day look like for you? ( Is there a typical day? )
What is the most exciting work that you get to do? The most boring work you have to do?
What is the coolest thing that you've seen during your career?
Where in the US would you most like to go next?
I see you've mentioned being a Soil, Plant, and Range Tech; are there other Tech roles you could move to? Which was your favorite role you've been and why?

[Duilio05]

@Huskies311

Follow up question. Hopefully this is worded correctly.

Are there a lot of areas for career growth in this field? Things such as middle or upper level management? And is this something that many in the field do long term?

There is oppounities to move up, but is different given the nature of the work (see what did there) and that it's government rather private work force.

Given the nature of the work (biology stuff) there is more work to be done during summer than winter, because things don't really grow when it freezes and snows. So the initial difficulty with persuing this kind of career is getting from a seasonal position to a permanent one. Which I actually interviewed for what's called a permanent seasonal position in Alaska this year. Permanent seasonal jobs get all the benefits of being permanent but required to be on leave x number of pay periods each year.

Then related to government is that at least the federal level uses different pay scales, a way to determine how much a specific job should be paid. Most USFS, NPS fall under the GS pay scale, which is used by most federal agencies including the military to determine how much an officer makes vs a lieutenant. As such career growth is more about acquiring the needed experience to move up to the next GS level and apply for such jobs that are listed at that level. So moving up falls more upon me to apply myself and actively look for those job postings rather than asking my boss/supervisor for the promotion or pay raise.

@KoltClassic think this applies a little to some of your questions

[Duilio05]

@KoltClassic

This sounds like an awesome job!

What does a typical day look like for you? ( Is there a typical day? )
What is the most exciting work that you get to do? The most boring work you have to do?
What is the coolest thing that you've seen during your career?
Where in the US would you most like to go next?
I see you've mentioned being a Soil, Plant, and Range Tech; are there other Tech roles you could move to? Which was your favorite role you've been and why?

@Huskies311 this might apply to your question too.
A typical day has varied with each job & location. Being a Plant tech at Granby was different than Scottsbluff which has been different here at Groveland. So I'll start with the last question. There are other tech roles - wildlife, fisheries and even wildland firefighter jobs are considered a tech position at certain GS levels. As I graduated with a general biology degree I was open to doing whatever, but after several seasons as a plant tech/botanist that has become the career trajectory I'm staying with.

As a soil tech I hiked transect lines across timber harvest units taking soil samples and measurements to tract how much damage the harvesting of trees did to the soil. If you got bad soil you can grow trees. So with that mind set, the USFS is basically the largest free range farming company in the country.

As a plant tech work has been dependent on location. Most of the time im killing of invasive plants (hence Sermo's comment about being a federal weed guy), but as a plant tech I have also study the rate of succession(process of an ecosystem to recover from disasters; ie fire, flood, glaciers) of plant communities post fire, to helping other groups with electroshocking creeks to remove invasive fish from cutthroat trout habitat, collecting fresh water invertebrates for UofWyoming and even checking the condition of artifacts in NPS possession.

My favorite work was managing the grazing allotment at Grand Teton NP. Wyoming is a fence out state, so the Park is responsible for ensuring cattle don't go where they're not wanted. I basically built fence and drove a utv dodging Bison half the summer and then killed weeds the other half. Not much can beat being able to drive a utv within 15' of a 3000 lb mammal.

[iseedoug]

What made you choose this career path?

What is the coolest wildlife you have seen on the job?

[JPach]

Hey Duilio! MY buddy is trying to make his way into this exactly field and he has some questions for you.

How did you start your process into getting this seasonal position?

What are some good resume builders?

Do you know of any opportunities for people to work with you guys this summer?

What do hiring offices look for?

I hope you have a good day, love you bye.

[LimJahey]

Idk if anyone has asked this yet, is there either a state or park that you would like to get assigned/move to?

[Sermokala]

Whats the meta for government workers working outside? What kind of hat is popular or is hats even popular? Are pants recommended to protect your legs or is it okay to go without them due to the heat? What kind of boots do you like?

[Duilio05]

As mentioned it might take me a bit to respond, especially during the work week. But eventually I will. I'll continue to answer any questions as long as there are questions asked!!

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What made you choose this career path?

What is the coolest wildlife you have seen on the job?

Growing up I was fascinated with dinosaurs. Eventually, I decided live things are a lot more fun. I've just always liked nature, outdoors, and wildlife. I think it's the best possible career because i work to help protect the natural resources that so many take for granted.

As previously mentioned driving a UTV only 15 feet from bison is pretty hard to beat. So like an everyday kind of thing i've done that's the coolest. but for a more rare wildlife occurrence, I stared into the eyes of an angry bobcat only about 30 feet away. I've had plenty of other fun wildlife encounters while not working. I'm only missing cougar, lynx, wolverine, polar bear, and caribou on my North America large animal bingo card.

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Hey Duilio! MY buddy is trying to make his way into this exactly field and he has some questions for you.

How did you start your process into getting this seasonal position?

What are some good resume builders?

Do you know of any opportunities for people to work with you guys this summer?

What do hiring offices look for?

I hope you have a good day, love you bye.

I started getting into the seasonal work about 2 years after graduating from college. Was kind of in a place that I wasn't quite sure where or how to use my degree. Then finally buckled up one winter and sent out probably 100+ applications to USFS and NPS positions. If he's wanting to go with Federal work I recommend he start now even if he's still in school. If he is currently working on his bachelors he should look for GS 03 and 04 jobs. if he's got his bachelors he should look for GS 05 jobs. and if he's doing graduate school I think he'd qualify for GS 07. 

90% of Federal jobs get posted to USAjobs.gov this includes all federal jobs even NASA. They have a resume builder that i recommend as a good starting point. government resumes are not the same as what colleges and career fairs teach. my current resume for federal applications is currently 7 pages long. After he uses the resume builder tool on USAjobs he can start tweaking it to make it look better and save it as a pdf.

For current opportunities this summer it will depend on location, but if he's wanting to start building experience now checking in with his local park or forest office for ways to volunteer is always good. For next year's summer season jobs will get posted to USAjobs about December through February. My advice is he does a new search for job posting once a week beginning December 1st.

Another resource for job opportunities is Texas A&M Wildlife Job board. I'd say over 70% of all wildlife-related jobs in the country get posted there, even some federal jobs. This includes everything from State Fish & Wildlife to third party groups like Great Basin Institue. There are definitely jobs getting posted there for late summer/fall work. Even graduate research opportunities for masters and PhDs get posted there too if he's considering even higher education. All that said if he's wanting to go federal (USFS, NPS, BLM, USGS, etc.) working federal environmental jobs early as possible helps make getting that first permanent job faster. And he may even qualify for what's called the Pathways hiring process. 

If he knows exactly what he wants to do then he should be picky about it (wildlife, plants, hydrology, or timber etc.) if not and he's open to whatever then i recommend applying for everything and see what he enjoys. In my experience being willing to travel to someplace new, he's never ever considered before helps.

The application process for federal jobs gives exactly what hiring offices look for. There is a qualification questionnaire for each job. If he's answering questions about work that he has done but didn't include in his resume he should go back in and update the resume and resubmit, with the exact phrasing the questionnaire used.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions he has, even talk with him via discord. There's a lot to wade through that for those not used to the seasonal work-life is kind of strange compared to normal jobs.

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Idk if anyone has asked this yet, is there either a state or park that you would like to get assigned/move to?

The next location on my list would be Washington or Alaska. Basically anywhere in Alaska be dope. As for Washington, I'm looking at the northwest like Rainier or Olympic areas.

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Whats the meta for government workers working outside? What kind of hat is popular or is hats even popular? Are pants recommended to protect your legs or is it okay to go without them due to the heat? What kind of boots do you like? 

Depends on agency. Although I haven't worked for BLM i get the impression they're most laid back loosely goosey wear what you prefer. For USFS most permanent employees have a uniform, green and tan, but a lot of seasonal employees don't wear it. Then NPS takes a lot of pride in their uniform and their classic wide brim hats. The USFS requires the use of a hard hat. Again going back to my previous comment that USFS is the largest free-range farm in the country, some of those trees come down without warning. Both NPS location I worked at required me to wear the uniform. Let me just say the wide brim hat of the NPS employee is my favorite.

pants and long sleeves for definitely necessary. Want to avoid getting scraped up by tree branches and thick brush we gotta hike through, avoid direct contact with poison oak or ivy, make it harder for ticks to get to your skin. It does get hot out, we just take our time, drink plenty of water and lots of shade breaks to rehydrate. Also, one gets sunburned infinitely faster when at higher elevations so long sleeves help prevent that too.

I don't have a preferred hiking boot, i actually wear my chacos 90% time for recreation stuff. But for work specifically, I really like my Danner high ankle boots. I forget which specific model i have. I got them my first season and they have been fantastic for working cross country having to step on and over down trees, and through thick brush. For most jobs just a good hiking boot is efficient enough, but if one is gonna do any fire fighting they need a boot that is 8 inches high, all leather, no metal in the toe, and the soles need to be stitched to the boot not just glued.

@Sermokala @LimJahey @JPach @iseedoug