SS 20 - A Career in the Private-sector Environmental Services Field, and How One Prepares for and Finds Their First Position. a Dialogue Among Private-sector Ecologists, Students, and Students’ Mentors

Session Description: An important and growing employment sector that hires ecologists is in environmental services and consulting. What do environmental service firms look for when hiring ecologists? What should students (undergraduate or graduate) do to prepare for such a career – including coursework, research or internships, extra-curricular, and value-added skills? How does one find job openings and prepare a competitive application? What opportunities and what challenges are there for women, minoritized, and disabled ecologists in environmental service careers.

This session will be an interactive interchange among representatives of environmental service firms, mentors of students, and student. The design of the activity is the following:

(1) Each representative of an environmental service/consulting firm will briefly introduce themselves and explain what they and their firm does.

(2) ‘Questions to the panel’ on what kinds of things students and their mentors should know and consider about the environmental services sector, how they can prepare to be competitive for a position etc. The organizers will have questions prepared, but will work as facilitators to elicit questions from attendees. At least one question will focus how the environmental service sector addresses the need for a diverse and inclusive cadre of applied ecologists.

(3) We will divide the room into smaller groups. This will allow for more frank, open-ended discussions, including the challenges of preparing for or working in environmental service careers, and on how to design curricula and co-curricular activities that prepare students for this sector. We also hope that this results in some professional contacts that will continue after the special session. The small groups will discuss the following:
a) What is done currently at each participant’s institution to mentor and prepare ecology students for careers in environmental service fields.
b) What are best practices and opportunities for improving career mentorship and preparing students for career readiness in environmental service fields.
c) What curricular, co-curricular, and internships/professional experience activities ideally should be offered or facilitated to allow ecology students to be educated about and prepared for pursuing careers in environmental service fields.

(4) We will reassemble as a session whole, and synthesize the findings and recommendations of the participants. Beyond the bounds of the special session, the Education Committee plans to use what we learn during the special session to develop materials that help both students and their faculty mentors learn about careers in the environmental service and consulting fields and how to prepare for them.