Attracting talent to conservation world and beyond

*The following are just some observations I have made in the last couple of years hiring, training and working with youth and volunteers. There is also a fair amount if ranting. My observations are, by no means, profound discoveries but they have been stuck in my head a LOT recently, so why not put them on paper (sort of)*

I would venture to say most people in the conservation world are not there for the  money. We (mostly) love our jobs and get real satisfaction out of the fact that at the end of the day we leave this planet (country, state, ecosystem, city, neighborhood) a better place. And that is an important part of our jobs that provides us with purpose, pride, mental health. All these benefits are great but at the end of the day we still have bills to pay and food to put on the table. And retaining talent in our field is hard, especially if working for non-profit organizations.

When we hired people for the summer - mostly college and grad school students and recent grads - we started them off at about $10/h and then I tried to bump them to $12 as soon as possible. This seems not too bad when you work the summer, live locally and just want to earn some money and get experience. I tried to reward good working with trips to remnant sites or good quality restorations. The non-profit I worked for did not offer overtime. Sometimes we did not work due to weather and the crew members did not get paid for those days. The work was also in a sort if remote location - when most seasonals had to commute for at least 45 minutes ( by car of course bc no public transportation was in sight).

My average seasonal, with a couple exceptions, was a fairly well off student, at least middle class, who relied on parents for some financial help. The parental help had many different faces: paying for a car, clothing for most, maybe rent, cell phone, a credit card for gas.

And the thing is the place where I worked actually paid industry standard or slightly above. If you did a similar job for a consulting firm you would work more hours (with overtime), but also might be out of work due to weather etc. You would make a similar hourly wage and maybe not get a chance for as much educational experiences.

Now, take a student who has little to no external financial help, has to work hard during the summer to be able to buy books, pay rent etc during school year where a chance for a full time job not as possible. Will s/he be attracted to a $10-12/h internship or maybe a construction gig? Who will get a better job out if collage? The student who had experience during summers doing something for little pay or someone who had to work other jobs? And with the move for fast food workers to make increased wages (which they should), how will the conservation world attract talent that does not come from a place of at least some privilege and/or mentorship?

Few things got me thinking about that. I remember my job straight out if grad school, where I had some good professional experiences, paying so little that had I not been in a double income household, I would not have afforded to work there (school loans, gas that was $4/gal, long distances, rent, etc).
As I am thinking of rejoining the workforce full time after spending 2 years at home with kids, some interesting jobs seem almost insulting. 35-42K a year for someone with 5-7 years of experience and a professional license? (This is what the job ad states). Really? I mean, i don't expect to make a fortune but if you want a qualified candidate with a graduate degree, 5 yrs of experience are  you really willing to pay them less than an internship for a marketing student just beginning to gain experience?! I realize some organizations are non for profits but do people who work there also have to be? This comes from someone who is middle class, has a spouse with a well paid job, and mostly does not have to worry about covering bills. What about other individuals? Why do we wonder why so many bright people leave this conservation field and use their skills in other fields (and most of us are good with numbers, project management etc).

I offer no solutions, but next time you ask why the conservation field is full of people who look similar and have similar experiences growing up, or does not retain individuals who are passionate, just think about this example i witnessed a couple years ago.

I had a good team of seasonals, most excellent crew members . We were sitting in a shade of the only tree on the prairie eating lunch when two of them started complaining how broke they were. They were both wearing brand name clothing, driving practically new cars their parents paid for and one had a pair of sunglasses that i probably could not have paid for with a week of my earnings. So they sat there complaining how 'broke' they are. Next to them set a very good, thoughtful seasonal, a vet, father soon to be of 3 kids for whom this job was a dream. I knew from some limited stories he shared that money was tight, sometimes his cell phone did not work bc he did not have the money to reload it. He just looked at them, said nothing. Few years have passed since then. Those two seasonals who complained about their cash flow have very good jobs that pay well forking for consulting companies. By all means they deserve them, they are smart and hard working individuals. The veteran though, he switched fields after getting out of college. It was either that or accepting another deployment to sustain his family... All this because working hard in the conservation field he would not be able to sustain a modest living.

This is a lot if ranting but as natural areas play an ever increasing importance in our world we have to think of good ways of sustaining it, and people who are involved in it...