This is the UBIQUITY Environmental Job Search Page. This page is designed to help you find a job in an environmental field on the Web. It offers links as well as Hints and Tips
Tips and Hints for Job Searching on the Web EJobs: Search for a Job on the Web
(Takes you to E-Jobs.Org, the most comprehensive search site on the web!) EcoJobs.Com
(another recommended search site with lots of jobs) Environmental Job Search Links Ubiquity Environmental Careers Home Page.
(For tips on choosing a career, applying for environmental jobs, writing cover letters, and more.) Ubiquity Internships Page! (updated 7/4/99) GIS Job Page (What GIS is + Job Links) Contractors, Recruiters and Staffing Agencies
I guess the first thing you should do is know what type of job that you want to apply for. This sounds silly, but when I was responsible for processing resumes, I found that many people did not know what they were applying for. This is a fast ticket to the recycling bin for your resume. If you want to know about different environmental jobs, check out the Ubiquity Job Descriptions Page, you can also check out the Intro to Environmental Careers page for tips on resume and cover letter writing.
Also, make sure you know if the job you are applying for requires any environmental certifications, many environmental jobs do.
Do you have the correct education? Sounds silly, but many environmental jobs require graduate degrees. If you haven't started college yet, do some job searching on the internet. If you see a lot of jobs that you like, and they list a Masters Degree as a requirement, that is probably a good clue that you need an M.S. for that job. I over 100 letters per year from people who went all the way through college and can't find the job they want with their 4-year degree. Don't let this happen to you. For more information, see the Intro to environmental Careers Page.
You'll find that job searching on the internet mostly involves looking for employers, not want ads. There are many databases where you can find employers. The number of good up-to-date job databases is increasing every year. However, WWW Search Engines,are usually a week or two behind in indexing the jobs.
There are lots of big job pages, but the openings they list are really pretty small when compared to the real number of jobs out there. Your best bet when searching for jobs on the Web, especially entry level jobs, is to search the classified ads of newspapers.
Most employers don't waste their time listing on a bunch of databases unless they are having a particularly difficult time filling a particular position. Because of this, B.S. Degree Jobs are the hardest to find on the Web.
Aside from newspaper ads, what you will often find is that in order to get the best job listings, you will have locate employers, and then, Watch each employer's home page(if they have one) where you will find the most recent job listings, Or send them a resume directly. This is especially true if you want to limit your job choices to very specific industries and/or geographic areas. It is tedious, but environmental jobs are still a specialty. Most state employment offices still don't have classifications for most of the job titles.
Government agencies are the best at maintaining job pages. There should be almost no reason to buy a list of government jobs
Costrucing a Job Search on Search Engines
Search EnginesThe quickest way to find jobs, short of having a subscription to an automated list, is to use search engines. The problem is that it takes time for jobs to be indexed. The two search engines we use the most here to find jobs are Excite and AltaVista since they seem to index jobs quickly.
The other problem is that it is hard to sort jobs out from other related web pages. Take time to read the instructions for search engines and learn to use their extended capabilities. For example use the (+) and (-) operators to force words to appear in the pages or to screen pages with certain words. Also use Boolean operators such as AND and OR and (~) which means 'near'. Take a look at job postings and use words that would appear in bold on the posting use several different combinations of search terms for the same job search.
Try at at least a dozen different searches each time you look for a job.Here are some examples of well constructed searches for a summer wildlife intern position on AltaVista:
+Wildlife (requirements OR qualifications) (internship OR intern) education summer 1999
On Excite try: +Wildlife requirements +internship summer 1999
Another AltaVista search: +wildlife +(qualifications OR requirements) +announcement position minimum candidate
On our mailing list EnviroJobs We have some very saavy web searchers. If there is a job out there that has been indexed by a search engine, they are likely to find it. If you have trouble join the list and ask someone to help you search for a job.
If you are considering an environmental career in the industrial sector, you may be able to gain some initial experience through temporary work. Currently there are literally scores of environmental temporary agencies. The politically correct term for these companies nowadays is "Staffing Agencies" since many companies now use temporary help exclusively when staffing short term projects and also use them as head-hunters to test employees for permanent jobs. Temp agencies can be a great way to gain experience and lots contacts and even a permanent job. They also give you something to do to earn a little cash while your waiting for the perfect job. Most of these Jobs require 4-Year Degrees and involve working on the industry side of environmental regulatory compliance.
Many environmental staffing agencies provide temporary work in the environmental sector. A lot of the work is manual in nature but pays pretty well ($9-$14 per hour). There are plenty of office jobs available as well. If you work for a temporary agency, get an organizer with business card holders and start collecting cards from each place that you work. Keep track of the tasks that you did and update the list of skills on your resume (you can see the list of skills on my resume as a rough example). For more information on how to make a resume see the intro to environmental careers page.
A few of the major national firms include include:
Talk to environmental firms in your area and ask them where they get their temporary help. As I said Many environmental firms (particularly remediation firms) now use temporary help exclusively when staffing short term projects. They only keep "Project Managers" on staff full-time.
One thing to watch for however, temp agencies sometimes will put an ad in the paper for what looks like a full-time position, but is really a temporary position. If you are willing to accept temporary work, indicate this on your cover letter. If you are not willing to accept temporary work, also specify that in your cover letter (e.g. "I am seeking a full-time permanent position as..."). It never hurts to ask questions.
Also indicate to the company if you are willing to relocate for short periods of time (6-9 months for example) you can sometimes get the best jobs this way if you are willing to put up with the hassle. One final note, be vigilant of being under paid by an agency. If they ask you to travel long distances, insist on being reimbursed for at least a portion of your travel expenses.
There should almost never be a need to pay someone up front for a job lead. The only people who will find these types of publlications useful are highly experienced professionals, persons with PhDs, and other rare high demand skills. I will try to provide only free links on this page, however, some of the pages at the other end of the links may have pay services on them I suggest that you DON'T DO IT. First of all, 99% of the companies offering leads for sale probably got their leads for free. Secondly, most leads are pretty stale by the time you get them, especially if it is some sort of a printed volume.
There are several notable exceptions to this rule:
However, you can find many of those on your own as well (for example see the
Ubiquity Internships Page).
Some companies give you a money back guarantee on their leads if you don't get a job. There is often a catch though, you might have to apply to all or most of the leads and show all the rejection letters. Some of the leads inevitably could require very escoteric PhDs and you couldn't apply for them anyways and you probably wouldn't get rejection letters for them either.
This is my opinion and should not be confused with actual wisdom. :-) I only know one person, with a PhD in Marine Fisheries, who actually got a job from a paid-for lead.
It is important to start networking for jobs. When you start talking to people in the environmental field, you will find that a very high number of people you meet got their jobe because of someone they knew. Try E-Mail Listserves like EnviroJobs or other chatrooms on the internet. Join exctracuccicular groups at your college, talk to professors, etc.
If you have any requests, please E-Mail me at:
72762.337@compuserve.com
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