Jump to a section:
- Roles and Work Environment
- Skills and Training
- Industry Timeline
- Find Opportunities
- Applying and Interviewing
- Additional Industry Resources
Roles and Work Environment
Today, environmental concerns, such as climate change, are among the most urgent challenges facing our species. Tackling these problems may prove vital to our economic success, our health and safety, and our national security. There are myriad ways that this enthusiasm can be channeled into productive work on behalf of the environment—through government, private industry, nonprofit work and the efforts of individual citizens. Developing clean forms of energy, using policy and technology to remove toxic chemicals from our food, water and air, and ensuring that future generations benefit from preserved parks, forests, watersheds and greenways, are some ways that today’s environmental workers help create a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable future. Environmental workers span a diverse range of career types, skills, goals and backgrounds, and their ranks, by all industry estimates, will continue to expand, making the environmental field an excellent career choice well into the future. (Vault Guide to Environmental Careers)
When we talk about Nature and Agriculture at the Career Center, we focus on work where people engage with the environment and the land for conservation or for production of food. As with most careers in Science and Sustainability, these roles can also connect to policy, law and advocacy as well.
Below is a sample of job titles you might find:
- Agricultural and Food Science Technicians
- Agricultural and Food Scientists
- Farmers, Ranchers, and Agricultural Managers
- Conservation Scientists and Foresters
- Forest and Conservation Workers
- Environmental Science and Protection Technicians
- Environmental Scientists and Specialists
- Natural Sciences Managers
- Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
And below you can find a selection of the types of organizations that typically recruit for these roles
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- World Wildlife Fund
- Piedmont Environmental Council
- National and State Parks
- Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
Skills and Training
For roles in this area, the best preparation are experiences and opportunities that allow one to be outdoors or gain a better understanding of ecological and agricultural issues. It can also be incredibly beneficial to gain research, lab and fieldwork experience that is more hands on, either via coursework or via volunteer opportunities.
- Degree programs in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
- World Wide Opportunities in Organic Farming
- EdX Environmental Studies Courses - Learn about environmental studies and more from the best universities and institutions around the world.
- EdX Sustainability Courses - Learn about environmental studies and more from the best universities and institutions around the world.
- List of Sustainability Focused Grad Programs
- River Network Clean Water Course
- Seaweb Summit Scholars Program
Industry Timeline
Except for established fellowships or bridge year programs, recruitment for these types of roles occur as the need arises in the organization. Unlike consulting or finance, there are not predictable surges of recruitment activity. It is helpful to look throughout the year for opportunities, conduct informational interviews and follow organizations of interest on social media. For positions in federal, state or local government, most agencies will post or recruit according to their needs, therefore opportunities are available on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Find Opportunities
On-Grounds
- Outdoors Club at UVA
- Environmental Resilience Institute
- Morven Kitchen Gardens
- Animal Justice Advocates
- Campus Kitchen
- Charity Water
- Environmental Sciences Organization
- Green Grounds
- Green Dining
- Green Labs Program
- Greens to Grounds
- Slow Food
- UVA Food Collaborative
- UVA Community Garden
- Office For Sustainability
Off-Grounds
- The Student Conservation Association
- CEI Internships: The Big Green Internship Book: (Log in Through Handshake)
- American Agricultural Economics Association
- Charlottesville Food Justice Network
- Good Food Jobs
- The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
- AgCareers.com
- Eco Jobs
- Farm and Ranch Jobs
- Jobs in Extension, Outreach, Research and Higher Education
- BlueSkySearch.com
- Careers in Food
- The Society for Food Science and Technology – Career Center
- Conservation Jobs
- Forestry & Natural Resources
- ForestryUSA
- The Care of Trees
- Conservation Job Board
- Environmental Career
- Environmental Jobs and Careers
- Green Careers
- Pathways to Science.org
- Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
- Yale School of Forestry Job Board List
Applying and Interviewing
Resumes and Cover Letters
Your resume will often be the first impression for a potential employer. You want to make sure that your resume is succinct, direct, active and specific. It's also a good idea to ensure that your resume is tailored for the position and for the industry. Because many positions will also be looking for you to have some content mastery, highlighting relevant coursework can demonstrate your fit for a particular position.
Cover Letters
A cover letter introduces you to a potential employer. Use the position description to make explicit connections between your skills and experience and what the organization is looking for in a candidate. A cover letter could also serve as your introduction to an organization, even if they do not have a position posted. The cover letter should be concise and well-written—if a potential employer reads your cover letter and is intrigued, they will then read your resume. So your cover letter should not repeat your resume verbatim, but enhance it. Together the cover letter and resume can help land you an interview. Review our section on cover letters for more information on how to construct one.
Interviewing
Most interviews will contain a mixture of resume based questions (questions about your past experience) and behavioral based questions (your ability to handle prospective situations at work. Most positions will begin with an interview that has a mix of these questions, and these may take place in person during On Grounds Interviewing, or via skype or telephone.. Review our section on interviewing for more information on how to navigate an interview for a job or internship. You can schedule a mock interview with a career counselor to practice or use Interview Stream to prepare as well.
Additional Industry Resources
If you are interested in exploring and learning more about your industry of interest, then news articles, blogs and professional associations are an invaluable tool in deepening your understanding. Student memberships in professional associations are often free or offered at a very nominal fee, and can give you access to unique resources, job boards and opportunities that you might not see anywhere else. Take the time to explore these unique resources.
Blogs and Industry Research
- Ag Day
- Agriculture in the Classroom
- Agriculture.com
- US Department of the Interior: National Park Service
- US Environmental Protection Agency
- USDA: Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
- Culinary Arts and Food Science Career Guide
- Discovery Education Food Science Information
- FDA Food Science Careers
- Food Science Central
- Go Government
- United States Department of Agriculture
- USDA Living Science
- World of Food Science
- Environmental Education Directory
- Fish and Wildlife Management State Links
- U.S. Bureau of Land Management
- U.S. Department of Agriculture/Aquaculture
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- U.S. Forest Service
- U.S. National Park Service
- Wildlife Careers
- Vault Guide to Agriculture Jobs (Handshake)
- Vault Guide to Park and Public Land Jobs (Handshake)
Professional Associations
- https://www.ifama.org/
- Institute of Food Technologists
- International Union of Food Science and Technology
- Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
- American Fisheries Society
- North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association
- Refuge Law Enforcement
- Society for Range Management
- Student Conservation Association
- Wildlife Society
- World Wildlife Fund
- Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences