I am often asked by people for advice about improving their chances of becoming an ecological consultant. This page provides a summary of the key points that I would recommend, plus a few insights regarding the approach I took. There are many choices that you can make along the way to achieving the goal of working for an ecological consultancy but hopefully I can give you a few ideas. I’ve tried to separate the key stages so that you can jump to the section relevant to you!

If you don’t want to read this page and just want some general advice then, simply read the headings in bold!

At School

Be as sure as you can – there are so many career choices available when you are at school that it can be difficult to consider making choices at that stage. Everyone is different and there isn’t one rule fits all and as such you will be forgiven if you are uncertain about what you should do. However, in my experience most ecologists have known from an early age that they have a passion for the environment and wildlife. It’s worth thinking about this, even when at school, because you may need to call upon this passion to help you get the qualifications and experience that are often needed for a job like this! Click here (http://www.ieem.net/whatis.asp) to read about the sort of qualities required or here for a more detailed explanation of what’s involved (http://www.inputyouth.co.uk/jobguides/job-ecologist.html).

In my case I told my grandfather when I was eight years old that I wanted to be a Zoologist and rather than studying I would spend a lot of time out in the field looking for birds, fishing and swimming in the River Wye.

Start as you intend to go on – GCSEs, A-levels and other school qualifications in the sciences will always give you a better foundation for obtaining a relevant degree. I went for biology, chemistry, physics and maths.

Gain as much voluntary experience as possible – although not directly related I volunteered on weekends for a couple of years, at the National Bird of Prey Sanctuary, looking after a wide range of birds including barn owls, secretary birds, African fish-eagles and Harris hawks.

The highs of this volunteer work included gaining hands on experience of birds and becoming involved with breeding and release programmes of some endangered species. The lows of such work were primarily the effect on free time, where I was trying to juggle school and volunteering – I even worked in pubs in the evenings washing up to earn a bit of pocket money.

I also did a bit of voluntary work at a local vets which was great because I was helping injured animals  - but not so great cleaning up after all the animals, particularly when a smelly terrier decided to wee all over me! My time at the vets, and any notion of becoming a vet, soon ended after I watched a dog being castrated in the operating theatre!!

After School

Take a year out – I would always recommend taking a year out if you can. There are many personal benefits of this such as having a break from studying, opportunities to earn money and generally experiencing a bit of the world. From an ecological perspective it gives you an opportunity to do more volunteering (a common theme of my advice)!

Gain more voluntary experience – any wildlife related voluntary experience will be beneficial, particularly helping with organisations such as the wildlife trusts and BCTV for example. During my year out I spent some time volunteering for wildlife trusts and also worked at Jersey Zoo cleaning aviaries and feeding rare birds such as pink pigeon, Mauritius kestrel and Hawaiian goose.

The voluntary experience I gained while at school helped me to secure the work at Jersey at a time when there was a lot of competition for the few available positions. The highs of this work were the pleasure of watching gorillas and orangutans in my lunch break (also sad for reasons obvious to any naturalist), having red ruffed lemur climbing on me during feeding time, meeting the late and great Gerald Durrell and again having some small involvement in breeding and release programmes of rare species. There weren’t many low points but having to pay for everything myself wasn’t ideal!

At University
Get a degree in Ecology, Environmental Sciences, Biology, Zoology or similar – unless you have several years directly relevant voluntary experience and are ready to apply for jobs, I would suggest that a first degree is almost essential. It certainly makes it easier to gain your professional memberships once you become an ecologist and this influences pay scales etc.

I studied Zoology at Southampton University and chose this course simply due to a childhood obsession about becoming a Zoologist. Highs: too many to mention! Lows:  having to work as a steel erector and in factories packing Power Rangers during holidays, to earn money (enjoyable in their own way but got in the way of the highs!).

After University

Try and get some relevant paid experience – you may be lucky enough to land a job straight after University but I often hear from candidates that this is pretty hard to do. Unfortunately, I suspect this is more likely to be the case after the effects of the recession and in light of the current economic cuts.

Since there is a lot of competition for graduate level jobs and you want to stand out from the crowd, it is worth getting some related work – even if it is a bit tenuous! I worked as a temp administrator for the London Borough of Barnet in the Environmental Health Department for a few months. I then decided that I wanted to earn enough money to gain overseas experience and so starting steel erecting and cladding in Bournemouth to earn better money (not recommended for the faint of heart). While steel erecting I also continued to undertake a bit of voluntary work for local wildlife trusts - mainly weekends of scrub bashing but also helping with some of the monitoring of designated sites.

If not paid work, then get more voluntary experience – the advice is the same as above but if you can’t find paid work that is relevant, still try and gain some voluntary experience. Volunteer with relevant organisations as much as you can. If you are sure at this stage that consultancy is the direction for you, try and gain some experience with a local consultancy and, if you can afford it, do some training courses such as those offered by the Field Studies Council. This is the time to really hone your species identification skills (hopefully you’ve already developed some by this point) and if you can demonstrate an affinity for one or more taxonomic group, you will be taking a major step forward in your search for employment with an ecological consultancy.

Overseas experience (optional) – whilst I don’t think this is a pre-requisite to gaining employment with an ecological consultancy, I think that individuals who have some overseas experience do tend to be more grounded individuals and they also seem to have more insight and confidence in an interview situation, which isn’t a bad thing. Plus, once you have started your career it is harder to break away and go travelling.

Research and send speculative job applications – this advice is relevant at any time you are job hunting. Don’t wait for the right job advert to turn up. Research the type of organisations you would like to work for (and probably even those that you don’t) and send as many applications as you can.

I decided to go to Australia and sent speculative applications to about 30 wildlife related organisations, including Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary where I secured a couple of months of paid work.[1] The work involved looking after wallabies, kangaroos and rare native birds and gave me an insight into working with a wider range of fauna.  After spending months enjoying myself, tracking down the fabulous fauna of Australia and diving on the barrier reef, I decided I needed to take further steps to secure my career.

Gain a postgraduate qualification (optional) – again, I would not say that this is a pre-requisite to gaining a job in an ecological consultancy but it can help get your foot in the door, setting you apart from your competition.  I decided to go for a one year intensive Masters Degree in Environmental Management at Farnborough because the course was the quickest way of gaining this qualification, had a very good reputation and also had an extended vocational element to the course. There are many suitable courses available now, including those that provide you with relevant field skills.  As with all my previous academic experiences I tried to complement my Masters with some real-world experience by undertaking some freelance consultancy work. The work I gained was with The Forest Stewardship Council at a time when it hadn't long been established, undertaking research into organisations and companies that might be interested in gaining the FSC accreditation.

For my vocational placement I chose to work with the Environment Agency in Winchester since it tied in with my dissertation at the time, which related to the implications of the Water Framework Directive on the water industry.

Finding Work

Fortes fortuna adiuvat (Fortune favours the bold) – in my view this is a key attribute, whether you are looking for work or already have a job.  You are one of the lucky few if your dream job has materialised in a job advert at the time that you want it. I would recommend approaching the hunt for a job as you would a dissertation or research project. Do a lot of research into the market that you are interested in and get as much information and as many contacts as you can. I’m not going to spoon feed all of the best places to look because all the information is readily available on the internet and I, like many employers, are looking for that extra bit of initiative! Obviously, it is worth putting extra effort into applying for advertised opportunities but I’d also strongly recommend that you personalise and send your cover letter and CV to as many organisations as you can.

When I finally got around to applying for jobs, it is no exaggeration to say that I sent out well over 100 personalised cv’s and cover letters to water companies, consultancies (large and small) and conservation organisations. This effort paid off because I was offered four interviews, one with the Environment Agency, two with Thames Water and one with Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners (now JacobsBabtie).

Some might say that I was fortunate that I was offered all four jobs but the feedback I had at the time was that the effort I had put in throughout my life, and experience I’d gained, had made it a relatively easy decision for my prospective employers.  

This stage was also a pivotal point for my career, because I was to choose between a government agency, a water company or a consultancy. I chose the consultancy because during the interview I was told that if I put in the effort I would be able to get involved in a wide range of projects and my pay would increase according to my results. In addition, as long as I was well utilized, I could have quite a lot of freedom in choosing my career path. I was attracted by the flexibility of a consultancy environment even if this was somewhat counteracted by the strong commercial pressures associated with such a role.

At Work
Advice on how to progress within an ecological consultancy will be the topic of a future post...

Finally, if you do decide that you want to embark upon a career as an Ecological Consultant I would like to wish you the best of luck.

Cain Blythe

Managing Director