In January 2020, I was delighted to join a couple of fabulous marine conservation professionals on a Conservation Careers Q&A webinar on Marine Conservation Careers (see above☝️). Answering questions and giving advice for marine biologists and conservationists is something that has always been near and dear to me. Years ago, I started my personal blog Mad As A Marine Biologist, and have been answering questions from aspiring marine biologists for the past decade. In addition, some of you will know that Chloe, JJ and I also used to be involved in Reef-World’s sister company Zoox which ran professional development programmes for early-career or ‘switch career’ marine conservationists. In fact, I volunteered, that’s how they hired me! Zoox volunteers would go through an intensive training course on the who, what and how the marine conservation industry works. They would then move to the field and gain core professional skills by working on Reef-World programmes, namely Green Fins (which we manage internationally in partnership with UN Environment Programme). Whilst a lot of marine conservation work requires technical skills (GIS, policy writing, marine monitoring etc), Zoox also focused on the soft skills so rarely talked about like people and project management, creating a budget, or developing strong relationships with your stakeholders.
These core principles of skill development and professional coaching have permeated throughout Reef-World - from how we develop the team and the growth opportunities we are encouraged to take, to our 360-degree appraisals and how we recruit for new positions. It has become part of the fabric of the organisation. So It was great to put my Zoox hat back on and discuss the challenges and opportunities people find trying to break into a notoriously difficult and underpaid industry.
I think it’s testament to how ‘new’ the marine conservation sector is (compared to terrestrial conservation work) that the challenges faced by up and coming marine conservationists, and the advice we are giving hasn’t changed significantly in the last 10 years. It’s something I have been considering a lot recently. Last year, we hired two new staff positions (Mel and James), recruited for internships, and we’ve just closed the applications for a couple of rounds of recruitment for a Partnerships Development Manager. As we sort through the candidates, I wanted to share the experience from the organisation point of view.
It takes a significant amount of time and effort for small NGOs to recruit new staff. We don’t have an HR professional or department and so we all chip in to make sure the job spec, adverts, and social media promotion are on point. Then there’s replying to applicants, logging and sorting through applicants, and organising interviews. We plan our recruitment timings carefully to account for this workload. I love seeing the range of individuals who apply for positions at Reef-World but, naturally, we see a range in quality of applications too. Note I say applications, not applicants - however, your application is the only window a recruiter has to evaluate you and a poor application will not encourage anyone to dig deeper….or hire you!
There are more and more sources of advice for diving into marine conservation careers and I don’t want to repeat what’s already out there, but here are 5 things I wanted to highlight for those of you wanting a career in the sector, or are applying to a small organisation / Reef-World!
1) 📧 Add a subject to your email - seriously! It helps if you include your name and the position you’re applying for so you’re easily searchable in an inbox. A blank subject line is a wasted opportunity to show your organisation skills.
2) If the application asks for a cover letter then do 👏 not 👏 skip 👏 it 👏. Your CV tells a recruiter what you’ve done, your cover letter tells who you are and allows us to see if you’d be a good fit for the role and the team. Again, don’t miss this opportunity to make your case.
3) 🧥Tailor each job application to the organisation you are applying to. That means adjusting your CV to highlight the experience most relevant to the role and skills required. That means writing your cover letter having read the organisation’s website, any programmes they are running, incorporating evidence of your diligence, and pulling out relevant experience and skills to the job specification. It speaks far louder than simply stating that you are passionate - I’m sorry but we all are or we’d be working in a better-paid sector!
4) 📖 Read the skills required… in detail. For some roles you may not need every single skill, especially if you have shown quick learning, you plan to develop it before the role starts, or you have another skill set that can be transferable. However you do need to demonstrate you meet the core skills that role requires. I have read more than a few applications that stated they are confident they meet the requirements of the role when there is no relevant experience demonstrated. Don’t just say it, show it.
DID YOU KNOW? A study showed men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them.
5) 🤏 Keep it snappy. A professional CV should be two pages maximum. Employers are looking for accuracy (the devil really is in the details), your employment history, any gaps (you can explain these in your cover letter!), and relevant courses.
In your employment history, don’t just list your responsibilities - that only tells people what you were tasked with, not how well you performed. People want to know what you were able to achieve in your role. If you wrote proposals in your last role, how much money did you secure? If you ran workshops, how many did you do? How many people did you reach? How well were they received?
NB. This is particularly different for academic CVs which require a list of your publications. If you aren’t applying to an academic institution, don’t send the full list!
Don’t get me wrong - recruitment is a hugely important part of the work and it’s a chance to shape the team and look to the future, but when applying for a position don’t let your application become a drain of time and resources and you’ll be giving yourself the best shot at the career of your dreams!
