National Park Service

As a part of the Academic Internship program, each intern is given a supervisor to mentor them throughout their internship experience. It is not specifically labeled as a mentorship program, but I certainly felt mentored through my internship. My supervisor was very helpful and was thorough about...

The NPS is very laid back, with a culture that supports growth and allows employees to use their expertise to bring new perspectives to their parks. This said, depending on which park interns are placed at, some park cultures will be reluctant to change.

Trail work is grueling yet rewarding work. The first few weeks on the job, I contemplated quitting because I was slower than my teammates when hiking 11 miles up a steep mountain while carrying a 45 lb back pack and weed eater. However, my boss was patient with me and encouraged me to stay on the...

We worked a minimum of 4 10 hr days (8am-6pm) to meet 40 hours/week. Because I lived with other trail workers in park housing, we would always go out and explore and have fun on our 3 day weekends. I felt like there was plenty of time for fun while working this job.

For me, each day was different which I really liked. I worked at Grand Teton National Park which is one of the most visited parks in the country. And on top of that, I worked at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center which is the busiest visitor in Grand Teton. So everyday I would look rea...

The training to be a Historical Interpretation Intern is a Three-week training course where you talk about formal interpretation as well as informal interpretation. You go on a day-long tour of all the different battles that are part of our parks to get an in-depth idea of what happened at during...

The main skills I would highlight during an interview with the NPS are a strong work ethic, resilience and perseverance–the days are long and strenuous, with various physical challenges specific to different areas. In my time in the NPS I performed manual labor for 8 hours a day in all conditions...

The National Park Service (NPS) has certain education requirements for different types of jobs. Relative to the job you’re looking for. Interpretation would require a bachelors degree in biology, geology, or other life sciences. Sometimes they’re flexible if you have prior relative work experienc...

A day in the life depends on whether the intern is working at the National Park or with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. If working at the National Park, we meet at Park HQ Natural Resource Management at 8am sharp, and rive together to the Matt Albright Native Plant Center. Duties at the Native Pla...

Great work life balance - when you are on the clock, you are expected to give it your all and dedicate your full attention to the task at hand. But late afternoons, evenings, and weekends are entirely your own. There will be opportunities to participate in events hosted by the Tribe or the Park o...

When it comes to highlighting qualities in an interview for this position, there is no quality i would value higher than money handling skills. “Visitor Use Assistant” is mostly just fancy language for “Fee Booth Operator”, and at the end of the day, the only thing your employer will care about i...

The expected compensation for Visitor Use Assistants is exceptional. At the time, working in the few booths was the highest paying job i’ve ever had, and that’s on top of the health and retirement benefits that the park just automatically offers. Looking at the compensation, there are very few ri...

A day in the life of a Junior Ranger means looking out for people with questions about the park, its trails, and the history of its slow and eventual establishment. It's being ready to help people throughout the park and helping keep the park clean and respecting nature as it is found there. It's...

The amount of ownership you have over your work really depends on the park and data you are working with. My supervisor gave me a problem and basically gave me autonomy over how to solve it using GIS. He gave me some indication about what kind of end result he wanted, but otherwise I was free to ...

There isn't really training for the position because it's expected that you know what you are doing. With that being said, anything you need to know for the job, you will learn by doing it on the job. There are also many training and certification opportunities in other areas that may be provided...

My favorite part about being a BST was I basically got paid to be in national parks all day. It was pretty demanding physically, but I got to work in beautiful forests all over the Mid-Atlantic region. The job is different based on location, so you could be removing invasive plant species in the ...

My job involves education and outreach with the Air Resources Division, so it's a lot of editing and writing content, creating graphics, web pages, and maps, and entering documents into databases. I do a variety of projects for NPS, so every day is different. Some days I just make maps, some days...

The work-life balance is really good where I am. I have the option to telework when I don't have to attend meetings. You work very independently most of the time, and you can adjust your daily schedule to suit your needs (some people come in at 7, some come in at 10). They encourage you to take w...

As a GS-7 archaeological. technician most National Parks will consider you as a crew chief. This being said, you will most often spend your days leading and supervising archaeological crews in the field. Field work typically includes surveying areas for archaeological sites and documenting the si...

Most supervisors that I have met are looking for passionate interpreters that get excited about their topics and are willing to try out creative techniques to engage their audience. I would highlight any public speaking experience you have, or experience leading or teaching a group (camp counselo...