[NatureTrainee]

I wish you good luck in your career change but I thought I would share my experiences.
I have a degree in Biological Sciences and an MSc and gave up work for a year to work for a Wildlife Trust which ran a trainee program. As part of this year I gained two chainsaw qualifications, first aid and gained experience of all practical conservation tasks on a wide range of habitats. I also spent the summer months surveying and gaining experience writing reports and using Recorder to manipulate survey results. I also attended courses in identification and handling of many things from Otter and newts to winter trees. I gained experience of managing volunteers and running conservation groups. I also worked extensively with the Trust's livestock which included cattle, sheep and ponies. We even had a training course on the farming regulations for conservation. As part of this we also were trained on how to complete application forms for jobs and how to interview effectively. Despite this I have never managed to get a job in conservation. I found that every interview I went to there was one person who had one more string to their bow than me (e.g. trailer driving certificate). One lady I worked with was the most amazingly talented naturalist I have ever met, she was good at all the physical tasks and was generally a lovely person - she did manage to get a job but after trying for 2 years and the job she got was for only a year and on mininum wage.
I have taken a slightly different direction now and really enjoy my job but everytime I hear of people investing time and money to try and get a job in Conservation I worry that the job market is swamped with overly qualified keen people desperate to work in conservation which drives down the salaries for the few jobs that do come up.
I wish everyone who pursues this dream the best of luck as I found my year working for the trust (unpaid) was incredible and if only it were a paid job it would have been my dream job!
I don't mean to be negative but I feel that people need to be aware of the realities of the job market.
Good luck and enjoy every minute of it!