Establishing your Professional Image

One of the greatest challenges of young professionals is learning to indicate, project, and assert professionalism and professional ability. Appearing as a mature, sensible, decisive, and hard-working individual to supervisors and potential employers will assist an individual in gaining continued and future employment opportunities and even increased professional responsibility (i.e. promotions). Following are some tips on how to create and maintain your professional image.

1. Frequently check for e-mail and phone voice-mail messages. Return messages as soon as possible with structured, well-considered responses that answer any questions and provide additional details that may help your correspondent's decision-making process. For example, your supervisor asks for your work schedule for the coming week. Respond with the hours you are planning to work, projects to work on, and the goals for each day or time-line for each project.
2. Invest in professional attire. If involved in field work, purchase your own safety gear such as field clothing, approved work boots, hard hat, cruiser's vest or other job-related gear. Having your personal "kit" will indicate to supervisors your interest in future employment within your current profession. For office-based positions, office-casual wear such as nice shoes, slacks, and button-up shirts. Pressed clothes and a noticeable absense of t-shirts or blue jeans will impress your supervisor and encourage him/her to introduce you to other professionals.
3. Manage your social networks. Many co-workers, supervisors, and future employers are on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If you do not already have a profile on either service, please consider establishing one. When using either service, consider posting news stories, commentary, or other media relevant to your profession. Avoid professionally inappropriate status updates, comments, or photos, video, or friends who are prone to such.
   
4. Print and hand-out business cards. A timeless form of social networking media, business cards are a professional means to advertise and help new contacts remember your name, contact information, profession, and career interests. Consider printing double-sided cards that include the address of your LinkedIn profile, degrees, training, or certifications on the reverse side. Whenever applying with paper forms, include a business card to distinguish yourself as a professional.
5. Volunteer, attend conferences and trainings. Many current and future potential employers value employees who actively seek out community service and continued learning opportunities. Not only are these great ways to improve your resume, but volunteering, conferences, and trainings are incomparable networking opportunities to meet other professionals in and beyond your field. If you are currently between employment opportunities, volunteering and trainings help maintain continuity of your resume.

Stand Out from the Crowd

The spread of online job application software and use of new media tools to publicize job opportunities has allowed employers to reach broader candidate pools and expedite the application process. Potential employers benefit by receiving more applications of qualified individuals. The applicant, however, faces the challenge of distinguishing oneself among many applications perhaps equally or even more qualified for the responsibilities of the available position.

To receive the full consideration of a potential employer, the applicant must carefully compose their resume, cover letter, and all other communication to present oneself as a skilled professional highly interested in the available position.

1. For each job experience in your resume, translate and relate the duties of the job into skills applicable to the position you are applying for. For instance, if you had a past job experience as a restaurant server, note the duties of the position as including troubleshooting, multitasking and working in an efficient manner, mental calculation and memorization, and maintaining standards of safety and customer service. Any resume reviewer will know from the past position title and employer that you served food, took orders, and calculated bills- better to instead relate relevant skills you gained from the position.
2. Always write and include a cover letter with job applications, even if not explicitly required. A cover letter is not only an example of writing and composition skills, but a medium by which you can relate how the position relates to your career interests, goals, and background. Never include any information in a cover letter such as a job or volunteer experience not recorded in your resume.
3. For those few print and mail-in applications, avoid handwriting whenever possible. Learn how to feed envelopes into your printer and print addresses directly onto the envelope. Edit the application form directly and type in your information. If the form is in PDF format, use a PDF-editor such as Adobe Acrobat (try your local library) or import into Microsoft Office or OpenOffice. The application reviewer will be all the more impressed with your extra effort and care rather than suspicious of the legibility of your handwriting.
   
4. After your application is submitted, place a phone call or send an email to the contact person listed on the job announcement. Politely introduce yourself and state that you have applied to the position. Be enthusiastic- ask questions about specific projects or responsibilities that are planned for the position. Once you are in a conversation, find something that may help the contact person relate to you- ask about their career, alma mater, favorite outdoor activities, or sports team. Thank them for answering your questions and say you hope to hear from them soon. If no contact information is provided with the job announcement, call or send an email to whatever seems to be the most relevant contact person or point within the organization and ask nicely for them to forward the call or message onto the appropriate person.

Following these tips will help you stand out and become known to potential employers. Appearing interested and motivated, professional and detail-oriented, will greatly help your application stand out above other potential candidates and may help you get the job.

Internship - Grossman Forestry (MI)

Grossman Forestry manages more than 320,000 acres in northern Michigan. This summer, Grossman Forestry is offering an internship for upper-level forestry students or recent graduates interested in forest management. Duties would include timber-marking and forest inventory. Preference is for students who have completed a summer field studies course and have prior job experience in forestry. The intern would be based in Newberry, Michigan. To view the entire announcement, click here

Relocation- Adventure & Opportunity

Whether it may be across the state or across the country, your next career opportunity is quite likely nowhere nearby. At one time or another, most everyone faces the task and burden of packing up apartment or household and transporting it all to parts unknown. To help you consider and plan a career relocation, below is a step-by-step guide of tips and suggestions:

1. Talk with friends and family. Gather any advice, insights, farewells and have a last hurrah before your move. Parting with dear friends and loved ones, however temporarily, is never an easy experience to overcome.
   
2. Familiarize yourself with the area you are moving to. Consult maps, tourist guides, and your soon-to-be supervisor. Visit the websites of nearby cities and towns. Search out what amenities and recreational opportunities there are to discover and thereby ease your transition into an exploration of a new area.
   
3. Find a place to live. If housing is not provided, search for housing opportunities on Craigslist and post on the "Housing Wanted" section to find potential future roommates or landlords. Future supervisors and co-workers area a great resource- they have local familiarity with the area and can visit in person any places you may be interested in. The "Streetview" feature of Google Maps is a great tool to check out neighborhoods you may be considering.
   
4. Select a departure date, route, and put together a trip itinerary. Consider distances, travel time, potential weather and traffic. Try to avoid holidays, weekends, or the vicinity of any metropolitan areas during rush-hour periods. Consider airline, rail, or bus services if you don't drive, aren't bring many things, don't have a reliable vehicle, or are only moving for a short time. Most future supervisors or co-workers are willing to drive a short distance to meet you at the nearby airport, rail or bus station.
   
5. Begin packing early. To save packing space, first pack only what cannot be inexpensively replaced. Any extra space can be devoted to odds and ends. Thrift stores abound and specialize in selling inexpensive furniture, household and kitchen wares to outfit your new abode. If set on bringing your own furniture, rent a cargo van from your preferred car rental service. They are usually much more affordable, better maintained, and easier to drive than a "U-Haul" truck, van, or trailer.
   
6. Print directions using your preferred online map service such as MapQuest, Google Maps, Yahoo Maps. Read them over before you go and make sure you understand the directions. Trace out the route on a US road atlas to build your mental map. Be sure to bring that same atlas along as well as road maps of the states you will be passing through. These can be requested online for free and mailed to your address before you travel.
   
7. Bring drinks and snacks for the road. Avoid sugary or salty snacks as these will inevitably lead you to drink more and stop more frequently for restroom visits.
   
8. Prepare and bring along your favorite favorite music, podcasts, books on tape, or other entertainment for the trip. Familiar and interesting entertainment will greatly improve the travel experience.
9. Take it slow. If driving, observe posted speed limits and stay alert. Be aware of level of weariness and be sure to stop and rest if feeling drowsy. If flying, get to the airport early. Avoid flights that have connections with quick turnarounds that may send you scrambling with luggage across an unfamiliar airport. The same holds true for buses and rail.
   
10. Last of all, have fun. You are on an adventure to explore, make new acquaintances, gain new career experience and develop additional skills. Be sure to partake in all that an area offers while you have the opportunity. If moving somewhere temporarily, you may not have the chance to return there again before quite some time passes.
    

When Your Summer Job Ends

Many recent graduates find temporary, term-limited employment rather than permanent positions after completion of their degree program. Such opportunities provide great career experience and further development of marketable job skills. However, after the usual 3 to 6 month term of employment is over, a new job needs to be found. The seasonality of available entry-level positions in the natural resources profession can disrupt continuity of employment and poses a challenge for many young professionals in this field.

Just such a concern was recently discussed on a leading natural resources email listserv and reposted here with permission:

I see that the surge of recruiting announcements for the seasonal technician jobs is underway. It looks like a lot of important and exciting projects, as I would expect. But it is impossible not to notice the time frame: usually just spring and summer, some only spring or summer.

I cannot really complain; I am fortunate in that my current job began in January, instead of having to wait for April or May. Still, it does end in July, about the time so many other jobs are also ending. This means I will have to compete with all those other temporary and seasonal technicians for my next job.

Which brings me to my question: what does someone like me do in fall and winter? Granted, based on my current qualifications, someone I work with predicts I could have a permanent position "within two years." But I must still make a living DURING those two years. What should I be looking at now to maximize my chance of being employed come this fall and next winter?

Jason Hernandez
Biological Science Technician, USDA Forest Service

The "field season" of many natural resources agencies begins in the spring and lasts through the onset of hunting seasons and winter weather that restrict access to work sites often in remote settings. As the author mentions, the onset of field season correlates with a large expansion in the number of employment opportunities in natural resources. Too often these opportunities are only temporary jobs that end by August or September. That is just as well for students who return to classes in the fall. Recent graduates seeking to support themselves, pay student loans, and other expenses, however face the prospect of fewer job opportunities slated to begin in the fall and winter months.

Many who are temporarily employed thus continually search and apply that next opportunity throughout their current term of employment. Through a series of temporary, entry-level jobs, recent graduates hope to build experience and qualify for permanent positions which often require two or more years of professional experience and advanced technical skills.

Continuity of employment greatly assists a young professional in qualifying for a permanent positon. To achieve continuity requires much hard work and forethought:

• Leverage networks within your past and current job environments. Maintain communication with former co-workers and supervisors. Establish connections with professionals encountered in the duties of your temporary job. Know and become known to everyone you meet by being personable. Pursue Facebook and LinkedIn connections to people you meet in person.
• Search nationally for employment opportunities and maintain your flexiblility and enthusiasm to relocate. The early part of your career is a time to explore different areas of the country and your profession.
• Attend professional conferences and trainings. Don't be shy as a recent graduate to register as a student and save on conference fees. Meet and shake hands with whomever you can.

I will close this post by offering some parting advice: be enthuisastic, be bold, and present yourself as a professional. As a young professional you have the many advantages of youth to offer: energy, physical ability, and flexibility. By proving your ability through working long hours, performing hard labor, and enduring adverse work conditions you will gain needed recommendations and prove you have the work ethic necessary for a permenent position.

Job Interest Cards

One of the more useful and expedient tools for the job seeker are email notification services. Most online job hosting software applications allow users to register and receive email notification about newly listed job openings. Prospective candidates can usually select search options such as location, pay, or interest category and receive notification when new positions are available that meet the search criteria. Variously known as "Saved Searches", "Job Interest Cards", or "Job Agents", email notification saves the job seeker from checking and re-checking company or agency websites for newly listed job opportunities. With email notification, your inbox will become your go-to place for new job announcements.

Job Search Tip of the Day:
*Whenever offered by a potential employer's website- register and set-up email notification for new job listings.

Summer Forestry Internships with Plum Creek

Plum Creek (at 6.8 million acres the largest private landowner in the United States) has multiple summer forestry internship opportunities available for 2011. Qualified applicants would have at least one year of forestry courses completed and possess skills in dendrology and GPS. Completion of a field skills course or experience cruising and marking timber is highly preferred as duties will include extensive field work such as timber-marking, compass, map, and GPS use. Interns will be hired and paid through a temporary staffing service separately from Plum Creek and will be subject to a background check and drug screening. Available locations include Georgia, Maine, Michigan, and New Hampshire- you must apply separately to each location to be considered for placement in that state.

To view available internships, visit the following link and select Interest Category "Internship Opportunities- Forestry 2011": http://www.plumcreek.com/Careers/ExploreOpportunities/tabid/168/Default.aspx

NEOGOV Software for State & Municipal Jobs

As you roam the World Wide Web searching for job opportunities in Forestry, you may notice several important providers of online job hosting software. The States of Ohio, Michigan, Colorado, and many municipalities use the NEOGOV software to list job openings, manage applications, and host applicant profiles. For the applicant seeking opportunities across many states and agencies, this commonality of software is a GREAT time-saver.

The NEOGOV Search page allows the jobseeker to select available positions by state, keyword, or job category. The aspiring Forestry job candidate might be wise when searching via the "Select Job Category" to choose the following choices: "Forestry", "Urban Forestry", "Natural Resources". Other categories that may be of interest are "Parks", "Parks & Beaches", "Parks and Recreation", "Green-Collar/Environmental", "Wildlife", and "Geology/Hydrology".

Possible the best feature of NEOGOV is that once Applicant profiles are completed in the Career Seekers section, they may be used for any number of job applications. No more adding contact information and work histories, education and references over and over again!

In total, NEOGOV makes for an altogether satisfactory job hosting software, much more readily accessible and user-friendly than USAJOBS and federal agency-specific software such as Application Manager (NPS, NFWS, NRCS) Avue Digital Services (USDA FS). However, take notice- though they may be convenient for both jobseeker and job-advertiser, electronic submissions are never as effective as personal contact. Don't be lost in the masses of applications- email or preferable call to introduce yourself as a candidate whenever contact information is available.

Job searching is never an easy process- therefore I will sign off this post by wishing you good luck and good hunting! May the jobs be plentiful and your applications fruitful!

Summer Forestry Internship - St. Louis Co., MN

Here's a paid summer Forestry internship with St. Louis County, MN. Stationing would be in Duluth or Virginia, MN. Perfect career experience for students who have completed two or more years of Forestry courses such as Silviculture and Dendrology or have GPS and map-reading experience. Duties would be to support of county forest management programs, including tree planting, regeneration surveys, timber sale marking, and GPS work:

http://agency.governmentjobs.com/stlouismn/job_bulletin.cfm?JobID=293432