Getting a job in Conservation

I am revisiting a topic that I have written about in the past, but believe is still good advice to a young would-be conservationist.

First, don’t automatically assume that a degree in conservation is needed. There are probably more people out of work with such a degree, than there are with jobs in conservation. Think about it. When I left the World Land Trust in 2019, it had grown to employ (part time and full time) around 25 people. But less than 20% of those needed a degree in conservation (and even for that 20%, it was arguable that the degree in conservation, per se, was not essential. The other 80% needed qualifications and experience (particularly the latter), in a wide range of other skills — accounting, business management, communications, publications, sales, design, broadcasting, film making and a lot more. While I was running WLT I always tried to recruit staff into all these other roles that had an interest, if not a passion for wildlife. And there are many many more jobs of this sort in the conservation world.

My second piece of advice, and this applies to teenagers wanting to carve out a career in conservation, is JOIN. Become a member of as many organisations that you (or the Bank of M&D) can afford. Join a local wildlife Trust, join specialist societies, and join clubs and societies that deal with anything you are interested in — not just wildlife conservation. And as soon as possible take an active role. And I don’t mean just going out cleaning ponds and mending hedges, get involved with the administrative side. My experience of administration started when I was in my mid teens, becoming a member of school nature clubs, and then on to the local Natural History societies. If you have pets — join the Cavy club, the local aquarium society, if you grow veg, join a gardening club, and yes join the RSPB, the Bat Conservation Trust, the Mammal Society, Auricula Society, Rare Poultry Club, the Galpin Society etc. (all of which and many more I have been a member of at one time or another). Over the years I have been bemused over the political infighting that goes on in some of these, while others have spurred me on by their sheer enthusiasm. But I can honestly say, that I have learned a huge amount from my memberships — they all operate in very different ways, and one learns as much from seeing what you think is wrong, as one does from the successes. I learned to read annual accounts very early on — and this of course is invaluable when trying to understand how efficient an organisation is. I amused myself recently by listing all the organisations I had belonged to, as a way of counting sheep, to get to sleep. I can’t remember now how many I got to, because I soon fell asleep. But by becoming a Chairman (and getting familiar with “Roberts Rules of Procedure£), becoming a Conference Secretary, sitting on a wide range of committees, by the time I got my first ‘proper’ job running an NGO (part-time), I had plenty of relevant experience.

As a corollary to this, when looking at CV’s of applicants for jobs (and I have looked at many hundreds) I was always appalled at the number of them that stated as their interests (usually listed at the end of a CV): Walking, music, or reading. Yes; most people can walk; most people listen to music of some sort, and by definition by applying for a job with me, I assume you can read. Very few such applicants would have got as far as an interview. But if that person had, for example, described WHY they walked (birding, botanising landscape photography, member of BSBI, BTO), and if that person had written, particular interest in early music, (member of Galpin Society), or Wagner’s operas etc., and if that person had written that they enjoyed reading gothic novels or any other genre, I would almost certainly gone and re-read more carefully their CV.

But more than anything else, what I was always looking for, in job applications, as someone being able to demonstrate a real passion, and a real interest. Not just “I was so inspired by watching David Attenborough’s films.” OK, so you were inspired : What did you do? I was inspired by Attenborough’s first books, along with those by Gerald Durrell (didn’t have TV in those days). What I did, having been inspired, is another story….

Unfortunately many jobs are decided by ticking certain boxes, so always make sure you know which boxes need to be ticked. And finally make sure your application is addressed to the organisation you are applying. So many of the applications I read, were simply copies of CVs and the covering letters did not explain why the applicant wanted this particular job.

However, this is simply my opinion