What jobs are out there?

[wild oats are us]

Hello, i am very interested in the environment, nature and science and have a passion for wildlife. I was wandering if anyone could suggest some careers that involve these key features? I am currently in year 12 and studying maths, biology, chemistry and geography. I was strongly considering veterinary but am now having some doubts as I feel most at home out watching wildlife and in the natural world! Thanks, Alice

[eeyore]

at the moment not a great deal - but by the time you graduate hopefully the economic situation will have improved.

take a look at Countryside Jobs Service - home page and Environmentjob.co.uk: Environmental and green jobs in the UK which will give you an idea of the sort of jobs there are and the pay levels - you arent going to get rich working in the great outdoors

I notice from other threads that you are in our area (I'm the Head Ranger for the National Trust in East Devon), if you want to dip you toe in the water and see what countryside work we have a few volunteering opportunities on (you can check these out on our blog http://nteastdevon.wordpress.com ) or for that matter i'd be happy to arrange for you to spend a few days with our team so you can see what its really like (assuming you are over 16 of course) - our contact details are on the blog site

[Johnny Redgate]

If you're likely to get the grades my advice would be to go down the vet path and do wildlife as a hobby. Veterinary work is a well paid profession and you could aim for wildlife work or farm animal work which would get you out and about in the countryside. Farm animal vets are increasingly in short supply. Wildlife/environment jobs are thin on the ground, poorly paid and over subscribed and you may well find yourself working for nothing as a volunteer for months before certain employers will even consider you. I'm an under-employed freelance ecologist with a PhD, formerly with an ecological consultancy and before that a local authority environmental specialist. Would I choose the same career path again......probably not.

[Jim Ford]

I would think the above is truly excellent advice!

Jim

[eeyore]

It is , but there are far more students who want to be vets than there are vet school places , and there are more vet school graduates than there are vet jobs.

to get into a good vet school you will need straight As and A*s at both gcse and A level, and a good refference, and if possible stuff like volunteer work with a dogs home/ wildlife hospital etc on your extra curricular activities.

If you arent going to get those kinds of grades then an alternative route is to train as a vetinary nurse and work your way in that way - but those places are also hotly contested.

The bottom line is that nothing is easy at the moment - you 'might' be better looking for a straight commercial degree and keeping the wildlife thing as a hobby - but, and its a big but, I used to be a marketing agent for coke and although it paid considerably more than I'm on now it was very stressful, boring, and tiring and I hated eevery minuite of the job.

My current role is also pretty stressful and pays only about £25k (and thats with 18 years experience) but I wouldnt swap it for my old job for all the tea in china

[Johnny Redgate]

OK, perhaps I was having a little bit of a bad day there . But vet work is likely to be rewarding as regards job satisfaction as well as financially if you like animals.

Having said that, ecology/conservation careers deserve high quality graduates/candidates (including academically) as much as vet careers do. If you are very academically minded have you thought about aiming for ecological research - it might take you to some very interesting places.

[wild oats are us]

Thanks for all the advice, eeyore I would most definitely be interested in some work experience/ volunteering as I feel any experience would be helpful! I agree that Veterinary would be a great career and i could get the grades if I work hard but it is an extremely competitive field and so I thought i would just see what else is out there! I shall take a look at those links too.
Thanks again, Alice

Oh and yes I am 16 and shall be 17 in a few months.

[wild oats are us]

Originally Posted by Johnny Redgate

Having said that, ecology/conservation careers deserve high quality graduates/candidates (including academically) as much as vet careers do. If you are very academically minded have you thought about aiming for ecological research - it might take you to some very interesting places.

I hadn't really considered ecological research but it does seem very appealing! I wonder, would you know where I could find any more information on the topic?

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by wild oats are us

I hadn't really considered ecological research but it does seem very appealing! I wonder, would you know where I could find any more information on the topic?

I would think that if you wanted a research job, you ought to start by researching "where I could find any more information on the topic"!

Google is your friend!

;^)

Jim

[wild oats are us]

Yes very true! But I was technically 'researching' by asking others and so using other sources, not simply relying on our friend google!