By Alyssa Granato, ’16
I graduated in May of 2016, after spending two years at Paul Smith’s as a transfer student. As I look back on my senior year, I wanted to write about what I may have done a little differently based on what I know now. Like most seniors at PSC, my last year was extremely busy with getting Capstone done and finishing up the requirements for my degree. Like many of my senior friends, my free time was also filled up with job searching. I started applying for jobs in October of 2015 and soon became obsessed with it. I was so determined not to become a “statistic,” or one of the many unemployed college graduates in this country that we read so much about. Not only that, but I was determined to get a job in my field, which is obviously what most of us want after graduation. I had spent five years in college (yes, I was a super senior) working extremely hard for the grades I earned, and working seasonal jobs and internships related to my degree for most of that time. I had worked for three years with the Monmouth County Park System as an Assistant Naturalist teaching the general public about nature through tours and programs, and helping to run a nature center. I spent all that time growing a resume that would get me my “dream” job straight out of college.
Shortly after I started applying for jobs, my rejection letters also started floating in. This is inevitable, and I knew that, as I am sure most of the current seniors know. If you apply for jobs, you aren’t going to get interviews with every single application. Keep that in mind, but also do not let it discourage you from applying. In hindsight, October of your senior year (unless you are graduating in December) is a little too early to start applying for jobs. Anyway, as I was saying, job hunting became my obsession and the rejections that went with it brought a lot of difficulties for me on an emotional level. I became so obsessed with my future that I wasn’t enjoying the present and most certainly not enjoying what should have been an easy and fun time in my life. I did have fun, of course, but I also stressed out over something I had no control over, which is what I am trying to prevent for any seniors or lower classmen reading this.
The first semester of my senior year was by far the most stressful semester of my life. I spent a lot of time feeling guilty, feeling down, and just generally feeling useless because all the hard work I had put in was going to “waste” – or so I thought. Of course, taking 19 credits and being an RA didn’t help any of that. But I am not proud to admit, I did have more mental breakdowns than usual that semester. Come spring semester, I had two classes left that I needed to take (although I took four), and was a lot less stressed over schoolwork, so I put way more effort into applying for jobs. I would say I put out five to seven applications a week to various types of jobs and agencies.
In February, the first interview came with Disney Professional Internships. The interview was for the position of Education Presenter at Animal Kingdom. I was extremely excited about having an interview and it was an ego boost. The interview went really well, or so I thought. In the meantime, I kept applying for more and more jobs. My ultimate goal was getting a job with the National Park Service, and I kept applying for seasonal positions with the agency via USAjobs.gov. However, since all I was getting was rejections, I was almost positive that if I couldn’t even get a random job or internship, how could I get ever get one with my dream agency?
In mid-February or early March I attended a particularly engaging Forest Policy lecture about working for land conservancies. It sounded like a really interesting career to me, so I began focusing on applying to those jobs. I applied to a job with the Nature Conservancy in Keene Valley, which I later got rejected to. I was still waiting on Disney, and at some point I began just assuming I had gotten the position because Disney takes a long time to get back to you. At the same time all this was happening, I got a call for a National Park Service position in Seneca Falls, NY at the Women’s Rights National Park. The HR woman called me to determine if I was still interested in the position. At the time, I wasn’t sure, so I told her no because it was a seasonal position in a relativity expensive area so I wasn’t sure if I could acquire an affordable place to live there for the length of the position.
I wasn’t happy about rejecting a possible Park Service job, but there is a reason for everything. We were supposed to find out if we had gotten the Disney internship by April 1st (which was a Friday), but that very day I received an e-mail about how, due to the influx of applicants, they needed more time to choose and extended it for another Month.
If you have ever applied for a Disney job or internship you know they have a “dashboard” where they can update your status at anytime. They are also supposed to email you. But anyway, one morning I checked my dashboard only to find out I had been rejected. I had never received an email or anything like that. Needless to say I was pretty mad, but I also had been thinking about how this position wasn’t really for me, and what I would actually do if I got it. That very day (April 5th), I received an email from a woman regarding a seasonal position with the National Park Service in Rome, NY. She asked me if I was still interested in the position. Was I ever! I emailed her back immediately. The next week, we scheduled a phone interview for Thursday. The woman was incredibly nice and immediately made me feel relaxed. What was supposed to be 15-20 minutes turned out to be a 45-minute conversation. The interview went extremely well. She said she would try to let us know who got the position by that Sunday. She emailed us Sunday saying the decision hadn’t been made yet but would be by next week.
I was at the gym when I got the call that I had gotten the position. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I had gotten rejected by highly competitive employers like the Nature Conservancy and Disney, only to be accepted by the best, the National Park Service!
After I was informed I had gotten the position, I was understandably less stressed and I actually began enjoy the last few months of my senior year.
I wrote this long-winded story for a variety of reasons, but the main one being I am here to tell you that if you work hard in class, gain relevant work experience, apply to jobs you qualify for, etc. you will get a job. Once you have sent in that application, resume, and cover letter there is nothing else you can do but wait, so don’t stress about it so much. Don’t let something out of your control ruin your last few months of college. Those last months of my senior year turned out to be some of the best times in my life. If you have worked hard for your grades, gained work experience, have skills in your field – eventually some employer will see that. It’s okay if you don’t have a job before graduation; it’s okay if you don’t have your life together; it’s okay if you go back home to live with your parents after college for a while; it’s okay if all you get is a seasonal position… You will be okay if you have worked for it. It’s not always about “who you know,” especially in the natural resources industry.
My position is a Seasonal Park Guide position for Fort Stanwix National Monument. This job has been everything I hoped for and more. My coworkers are incredible people and I’ve learned an enormous amount in the six months I’ve been employed. I spent my summer interpreting the history of the fort and the local area to visitors, answering questions, helping visitors, assisting with special events (such as Honor America Days and the National Park Service Centennial Birthday party), assisting with kayaking tours along the Erie Canal, doing public outreach, and many other things. Recently, I even began developing some public nature programs including birding programs and nature walks for next spring for one of our sites (Oriskany Battlefield). If you had told me back in March that I would be working for the National Park Service (during its Centennial Year, even!), I would have probably laughed at you.
Your degree is not the defining key to your success, you are. The degree, however, will help you in reaching your goals. Your hard work will pay off if you have the right experience, the right work ethic, and the drive that most Paul Smith’s College students and alumni possess. I still don’t know what my future holds, but thanks to my degree and hard work, I know I am on the right track. As you get ready to move on from college, remember to enjoy life in the present, don’t let your ego get to you, and don’t let something out of your control wreck your day. Things will fall into place just as they are supposed to at the right time.
Alyssa Granto
