Chester Zoo Biodiversity Trainee Job 1 year Contract - closing date 7th Jan 2011

If you're not familiar, Baldur, Google 'Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen Sketch' - I'm sure you'll find it.

 

I used to dream of being nostril-deep in boiling asphalt. Just FYI.

 

Before this descends into a Parrot Sketch too, I'd just like to add that any and all jobs in the zoo sector are so sought after, literally hundreds of people apply for every single job advertised, and a damn sight more that aren't. My point being, anyone looking for a zoo job, even if they are already in a zoo job, is your competetor. I'd be lying if seeing the vacancy didn't pique my own interest and open the thread.

One thing of note about this post is the advertisment is a little vague on what the job actually is. As pointed out it doesn't actually mention that the work is around the zoo, it says around Cheshire - hence the need for a driving license and own car. As an ecology post it does imply field work if there is travel around the county. So people applying expecting to be working at the zoo and with the animals may well be disappointed. As a Biodiversity post you may end up counting moluscs or chironomid larvae in the estuary or how many dor beetles there are in a field of cows.

But if you want to work in a zoo don't let the competition/qualifications/experience/cost put you off. If you want something enough, you can do it. Don't even let the advertised job requirements put you off. If you want it enough, you try, try, try, eventually you will get there.

While my own experience is sadly lacking in nostril-deep boiling asphalt, I self funded my way through college and university, working as a cleaner in a care home, a supermarket, an iron foundry, however many days a week my course workload would allow, then all through every holiday. All extra days were spent volunteering for WWT (train 12 miles, cycling remaining 3). Yes two years of college (I went back as an adult student to do A Levels) and four years of university was a long time to go without much money for myself - but eventually I got through and eventually I got a job as a keeper (mostly because I had by then gained 6 years experience from volunteering for WWT). You know what? I still have no money for myself, but I have such job satisfaction it was worthwhile.

Incidentally I have never gotten an interview for any of the posts I've applied for at Chester, despite having a BSc Hons and now 16 years experience lol. Getting an interview there for me is as rare as that Norwegian Blue Parrot so far it seems, but one day who knows?

The basic truth though is that qualifications and experience are all nice, but they still don't mean a quaranteed job. An employer will look for the right person for the job and for the team the postholder is to work with. They will look for the person that fits in, is eager, willing to do the dirty work when needed. That person might not have all the edumacation or time served as other applicants, but they would be more willing to take that person on because they think the person will fit in and work well. That person might be you, hell it IS you, you just have to go and tell them that!

If that doesn't work, do what I did; tell 'em a few Billy Connolly jokes.

 

Just remember; you need to work your way up a chain of experience to zoo keeping, say via banking.

 

Thanks for all of the encouragement. I'm sorta working out a plan in my head, and the first section involves getting any job I can get my hands on, have a little bit of fun spending with maybe a holiday, new TV (while I have no bills, I want to make full use of a wage that is ALL mine ) - but for the most part save, and learn to drive. Oh, and get 1 or 2 days a week volunteering

Due to where I live, transport links are VERY poor, so driving is near-essential. Then, hopefully with some of my saved money I can plan for college.

 

I've got to say that I was a little disappointed when I read the final trainee applicant requirements. The initial teasers seemed to imply that anyone with wildlife experience would be considered, and as a result it would be a golden opportunity for all the dedicated people who spend hours volunteering across Cheshire and in the zoo, to apply for training and a formal position, especially as the scheme is lottery funded.

The requirement of a "BSc in a biological, conservation or environmental related discipline or equivalent" immediately rules most of them out (a great many RECORD and CWT members don't have such qualifications) and what we end up with is a temporary zoo job like all others; one that requires a raft of qualifications and pays peanuts. Ironic as most of the work won't be in the zoo and won't involve exotic species and there's no guaranteed job at the end of it.

Just once I'd like to see someone open up one of these schemes to the sort of people who spend countless unpaid hours counting buttercups in hedgerows (or fishing coins out of ponds), many of whom are far better qualified in real terms than those fresh-faced graduates who arrive clutching their certificates.

 

One of the things that adds greatly to the tedium of recruitment is wading through all the dozens of applications from people who applied because of one or two words, in my case 'data' in this case 'Chester Zoo', without bothering to read the job spec!

Just don't mention the escaping rabbit, zoos hate that!

 

It was pointed out to me today that this position was actually organised by RECORD, not Chester Zoo itself, so if I was going to have a moan about qualification requirements then it should've been aimed at RECORD, not the zoo.

In fact Chester have no problems choosing "animal people" for their keeper positions, and only ask for more realistically-attainable qualifications in order to separate out those who have real experience with animals from those who have just kept a pet guinea-pig.

Bottom line for someone like Javan Rhino is not to give up and to find a way to gain some experience in wildlife management, be it through a recognised establishment or via one of the many wildlife organisations. That way, there's a good chance of being considered for a keeper role without having to spend the next ten years in a classroom.

 

Seems to me this job is a better 'rung on the ladder' for someone who's interested in ecology/field study/conservation rather than someone who wants to work as a zoo keeper. While those roles may overlap, I really think they'd be better taking on someone with that background/interest rather than someone who's looking towards working with animals in a captive setting. No harm in applying, but I'd only do it if you are genuinly interested in what the role can teach you, not in it as a rung towards zoo work.

Bit of advice from someone who's in their forties and thinking of going back and doing a second degree to get where I want to be: don't dismiss spending years doing training. When I was young (LOL) I didn't know what the heck I wanted to do. I've spent years unemployed and doing a variety of jobs which I got bored with and which got me nowhere. If you know where you want to go, then don't be put off by a long road to get there. Better to travel it knowing where you are going in the end, even if you don't know the entire route, than hang around aimlessly hoping for a shortcut to mysteriously turn up. Trust me, they won't: you are always going to be beaten by the person who's already done a little more than you. Don't reject anything because it takes too long.

 

PS: when I was young I'd have been glad to live in a hole while having hands on contact with a dead parrot...

 

Aah a dead parrot I used to dream about working with a dead parrot!

Stop mazfc yr being childish!! ;-)

 

Did somebody just watch 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' ... or is this something I'm just not getting!?