Advice from 1998 CONS graduate Rob Billerbeck:

I've had a few students email me asking about working in this field. Again, I thought this might be helpful to some CONS students or environmental/biology undergraduates headed this way. Here's my advice:

1. Take a handful of very applied technical classes to get skills that make you marketable (GIS, wetland mapping, plant identification). Theory is great, but it doesn't get you a job, and theory only works well when you know enough to be able to apply it to something. There are lots of environmentalists out there who don't actually know anything, don't be one of them.

2. Look at job descriptions for positions you might be interested in, as you are picking out your classes for next semester - try to acquire the skills necessary to get the job.

3. Take a few environmental policy or philosophy classes (a very important aspect of the real applied biology world). Also attend a few controversial public meetings. Going to some of these might help you decide if you really want to work for the government or not. They can be very nasty and educational.

4. Seek out discussion with or take one class with people from a very different social class or with a different perspective in life. Learning to listen, be tolerant and to have humility when dealing with people with different backgrounds is very important in this field. College doesn't teach you everything and a smarter-than-thou attitude turns off people very quickly.

5. If you have a chance to be a leader in group projects or outside activities then do it. If there are any classes about managing people or managing projects in your college - take them. You'll find it very helpful for managing people or for being managed by people. Managing is tough and if you understand that your boss is human and can be threatened by you, can feel under-appreciated and over worked, then you can relate to them better. When you become a boss you can apply all those things you wish your boss had done.

6. Learn to actually manage your time well. That means accepting that certain things won't get done. If you are in the habit of pulling late nights or turning things in late because you are a perfectionist, then correct it now. In school, sometimes the demands on your workload or for individual projects are actually unreasonable. If you can learn to recognize those situations, then rather than staying up late and stressing out, practice your negotiation skills. Try to come up with reasonable compromises with your professors (sometimes professors just don't realize). This is a lot like the business world. Learn to do less, but do better. The world will judge you on the quality and timeliness of the final products, but they will never know or give you credit for how many things you juggled at once, or for staying up late and getting stressed out.

7. Never take the written description of a project as a given - ask questions to see what the audience really wants. This is important in school, for grant writing, for education materials, and just for your boss. You may miss the target if you don't.

8. Take advantage of work study or intern programs, but after you get in them be very assertive about getting experience and asking questions, don't just get stuck Xeroxing. No one is watching out for you anymore so you have to make your own breaks. Greater responsibility comes to those who take it.

9. Learn who the movers and shakers are and what the history is for your sub-field. It will help you understand the literature and a lot of the baggage that goes with that field. Read biographies of those founders and try meet them in person - many of them are probably still alive and kicking.

10. Do hobbies, sports or other things that build your confidence. Building up confidence in your abilities may help you more than anything else in your career and is essential to managing people or dealing with the public. They are also great stress relievers.

If only I could have listen to my own advice!

Rob Billerbeck