What during my time in the National Park Service was a very rare thing indeed was an opportunity to work as an intern in the protection division of a park. Right now recruiting is being conducted for just such an opportunity at Catoctin National Park in Maryland. This looks like an incredible deal for some interested college student.
Check it out at:
Park Ranger Internship
If at all interested you better get on this fast. The closing date for applications is February 8.
I wish there were more opportunities like this and less money spent pushing programs like ProRanger. Many seasonals feel that ProRangers are being unethically hired into every possible permanent vacancy to make regional employees and hiring officials look better for promotions (push the NPS pet program, handpick and hire a promising graduate, look better for that big promotion). DOI is spending millions advertising, on paid internships, special academies, uniforms, and on noncompetitive hiring of ProRangers. None of this substitutes for the qualifications, heart, compassion and experience that seasonals bring to the table. With sequestration occurring those millions would be better spent in so many other places. It's heart breaking because many seasonals have spent thousands of dollars out of pocket and several years of their lives training and preparing for hopeful careers with the NPS.
ReplyDeleteRather than hire loyal, trained, experienced seasonal rangers into permanent positions NPS is just handing them to (reportedly hand picked) ProRangers.
This program not only rips my heart out it is also causing workplace tensions nationwide. No one wants to work with someone who was handpicked and bypassed the system. On top of that there are many seasonals who age out every year without finding a permanent job. And even more who go through academies just to find out there are no jobs left.
On top of it all for seasonals Obamacare is just around the corner. We can't afford it, NPS can't provide it. But it is given along with other benefits to the noncompetitively hired, under qualified ProRangers.
You make some valid points. But to make the assumption that only seasonals have the "qualifications, heart, compassion and experience" is fooloish. The ProRanger program offers access to passionate and driven people who would otherwise not have the ability or knowledge to gain access into the NPS. I'm not saying this is unfair to the seasonals that have done their service and paid their dues and cant seem to get full time work. But, to say these folks are unqualified sounds like a biased generalization. Also, this is a fairly new program. And, from what i can gather the ProRangers that have graduated before me have served well within the parks they have worked. It is in only two cities that this new program is located. Which counts for a small amount of people. And it is still in its infancy, and has proven itself successful so far. So, I feel I can safely assume that this will be enacted nationwide in the next couple of decades or so as a new way to achieve full time status. Obama has done away with the handpicked nature of the course by enacting the pathways program.
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