Seasonal Forestry/Recreation work for reforming office worker

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boquillas
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Joined: March 4th, 2013, 3:56 pm

Seasonal Forestry/Recreation work for reforming office worker

Post by boquillas » March 6th, 2020, 3:02 pm

Hi, I am interested in a career transition from business to forestry/recreation. I am leaving my job in late May and hoping to find some opportunities to get experience. I have aged out of Americorps (34 in April. How did that happen?). Wondering if y'all might have any ideas that would be entry level. Most everything I've found seems to be for current forestry students

justpeachy
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Location: Portland, OR
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Re: Seasonal Forestry/Recreation work for reforming office worker

Post by justpeachy » March 7th, 2020, 3:23 pm

I saw this post on the Mt. Hood National Forest Facebook page:
Spend your summer on a National Forest! The U.S. Forest Service has more than 80 jobs still available in WA & OR for the 2020 summer season.

We're looking for entry-level employees and with specialized skills or experience in a variety of fields. Housing may also be available at some locations.

Applications are due Monday, March 9 via USAJobs.gov.

For a complete list of opportunities and links to apply: https://tinyurl.com/suzhbtp

For info about more Forest Service employment opportunities in the Pacific Northwest, visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/r6/jobs.

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aiwetir
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Re: Seasonal Forestry/Recreation work for reforming office worker

Post by aiwetir » March 8th, 2020, 8:59 am

You could register for an online forestry class at your local community college.

I just spent 8 months in the job market with a change in careers at 52 year of age. It was soul crushing. One thing I learned was that nearly everyone applying for anything out there is lying about their qualifications. Even interviewers have told me that you should never say no in the interview because you never get the chance to explain later.

I landed in wildlife biology in 1996 with no degree and really no qualifications but my desire to do it. Times have changed but I think there’s still opportunity to land jobs like this in similar fields in the private sector. The drawback is that private sector often requires a related degree, so you start looking at public sector where it’s just so hard to even get an application submitted with all the proper paperwork.

So I’m not advocating lying, but I would advise you to stretch the truth in your application as far as you are comfortable with and highlight whatever skills you do have and figure out how they translate to your new career path. On the applications you literally have to copy/paste their terminology into your cover letter and resume to get past the HR person who usually has no idea what you are apply for. For instance if you have "Data QA/QC" in your resume and they keep saying "Data quality management" you have to use their terms to get in.

Forestry or recreation, I haven’t much advice for forestry or recreation but I do have some ideas about wildlife biology if you care to hear them.
- Michael

johnspeth
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Re: Seasonal Forestry/Recreation work for reforming office worker

Post by johnspeth » March 9th, 2020, 7:18 am

aiwetir wrote:
March 8th, 2020, 8:59 am
So I’m not advocating lying, but I would advise you to stretch the truth in your application as far as you are comfortable with and highlight whatever skills you do have and figure out how they translate to your new career path. On the applications you literally have to copy/paste their terminology into your cover letter and resume to get past the HR person who usually has no idea what you are apply for. For instance if you have "Data QA/QC" in your resume and they keep saying "Data quality management" you have to use their terms to get in.
It's even worst than that. Today's HR folks are so overwhelmed with the quantity of resumes that they use data analysis services to filter out resumes that don't match the job requirements. That means resumes are rejected by non-human means if the resume didn't happen to nail the expression of the required keywords just right. Submitting a resume today has induced applicants to flood broadcast resumes to get past the computer filters.

I was in the job seeking market two years ago. I attended Oregon's resume workshop. The instructor discussed this filtering technology and how to beat it. He explicitly said you need to match keywords exactly to get past the computer filters. There are even services that will score your resume for keyword match effectiveness so you can tune your resume to get past the filter.

Is that f-ed up or what?

cfm
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Re: Seasonal Forestry/Recreation work for reforming office worker

Post by cfm » March 9th, 2020, 5:17 pm

How about Park Ranger at Saguaro National Park?

cfm
Posts: 1097
Joined: June 18th, 2008, 6:49 am

Re: Seasonal Forestry/Recreation work for reforming office worker

Post by cfm » March 10th, 2020, 6:32 pm


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