Workshop
IN THIS LESSON
You will:
Review a current job posting in Ecology and carefully analyze the listed skills.
Assess your current readiness for the desired position.
Develop a strategic plan to acquire any necessary skills identified.
Ecologists work to address our planet's current and emerging environmental challenges. Professionals are needed to integrate ecological science with various sectors, including business, transportation, engineering, agriculture, communication, and politics.
There are diverse career opportunities in ecology, and this module will walk you through exploring ecological careers.
First, where to find information on all different types of ecology careers? Try the links below to start.
Next, when you have a potential ecology career/job in mind, walk through this worksheet to identify specific details.
How are you feeling about this potential ecology career?
Do these details match with what you learned in the IDP module?
You can take this module a step further and start to connect the job requirements for your potential ecology career with the skills you are learning in your courses (lectures and labs), field work, and research experiences.
What do you need to do to prepare for your career in Ecology?
First, find an actual job listing for your potential ecology career. Here are some good websites to start your search:
Once you have a job posting, download this worksheet.
This worksheet helps you align your current skills with those listed in the job posting, and helps you figure out what skills you need to keep developing while you are in school.
In the far left column, copy and paste the skill requirements from the job posting. One skill per line!
In the middle column, reflect on whether you have this skill, and, if you do, brainstorm on how you would show you have this skill in an interview.
You probably don’t have all the skills this job asks for, and that is OK. Use the far right column to strategize how you can work on developing those skills you have yet to master. This can serve as a blueprint for envisioning your remaining time in school.
Here is an example skills chart for your reference.
Jobs for undergraduates:
General job searches:
Non-profit jobs:
Federal government jobs:
Research-based jobs: