Job Opportunities and Requirements for NREM Undergraduate Majors

Employment Websites

EcoEmploy http://www.ecoemploy.com
Environmental Career Opportunities http://www.ecojobs.com
Federal Government Agency Positions http://wwwusajobs.gov
State of Hawaii Recruiting Office http://agency.governmentjobs.com/hawaii/default.cfm
Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_hi.htm

The Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) job requirements website: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/index.htm
lists the various position titles and general requirements for federal agency positions. You can use this list to search for specific positions at the federal government's job announcement website: http://www.usajobs.gov. You can do keyword searches, specific agency searches, and position series searches, filtering the results by location, salary range, or pay grade (GS level). A search on December 8, 2005 within the GS 05/09 range found the following.

Positions Series Title

>150 GS-0401, 404 Nat Res Manage and Technician (general)
5 GS-0408 Ecologist
42 GS-0454, 455 Rangeland Management and Range Technician
98 GS-0460, 462 Forestry and Forestry technician
31 GS-0457, 470 Soil Conservation and Soil Science
38 GS-1315, 1316 Hydrology and Hydrologic Technician
10 GS-0023, 0188, 189 Recreation Planning, Specialist and Assistant
12 GS-0819, 890 Environmental Engineering
4 GS-1370, 1371 Cartography and Cartographic Technician
53 GS-0025 Park Ranger
36 GS-0110 Economist (all types)
19 GS-1101 Agriculture and Rural Development, business series
59 Various "GIS Specialist" keyword search
13 401, 404, 1101, 1301 "Water Quality" keyword search
7 Various, Nat Res Student Career Employment Program (SCEP)
Many Various Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP)

For some of these job positions, such as forestry technicians, there are many government, private, and non-profit opportunities for recent NREM graduates with a B.S. degree. A lot of these positions are temporary-6 to 12 months-but they give you the experience you need to qualify for higher-level permanent positions. For other specializations in NREM, such as resource economics, environmental policy, and community development, positions are either clerical/secretarial in nature or are advanced professional positions, requiring graduate education and/or several years of on-the-job experience. In these cases, it is good to seek out internships, especially with non-profit organizations, to make contacts and get experience. Check out the Student Conservation Association (http://www.thesca.org) for a range of internship and volunteer opportunities. The SCEP and STEP internships are federal government internship and temporary employment opportunities for current students and recent graduates. The SCEP program in particular is used as a recruiting tool for permanent government positions.

We also encourage students to consider graduate study in their area of specialization. The NREM undergraduate requirements will prepare you well for a range of graduate programs, but you should seek out the requirements for specific programs. Most graduate programs require applicants to have taken a standardized graduate examination similar to the SAT, e.g. the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), Law School Admission Test (LSAT), Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), etc. These are administered at specific locations and times, so make sure you complete these examinations prior to applying to graduate school.

The next several pages contain examples of recent job announcements from the USA Jobs website. These are all federal agency positions for which NREM graduates should have the skills and abilities to be competitive. We will be using these positions descriptions to create a set of academic planning sheets, including specialization courses, in the advising section of our website. Ultimately, you must make your own choices, with the help of your advisor, about specialization courses. However, we encourage you to provide feedback on course offerings either within NREM or UH-Manoa that are needed to fulfill knowledge and skill requirements for specific career opportunities.