The Next Step in My Career

Being in my junior year majoring in Biological Sciences, the next step for me in my career is doing an internship during the summer. Wanting to work at a zoo after I graduate, I needed to look for internships that dealt with working close with zoo-like animals. I found many internships, but specifically four of them were more of what I needed.
Two of the internships I found were on the job listings link on the Association of Zoos & Aquariums website http://www.aza.org/Jobs/ and the other two internships were on the job listings link on the American Association of Zoo Keepers website http://aazk.org/job-listings/job. Here are the links to the job postings:

http://www.aza.org/Jobs/detail.aspx?id=2292
http://www.aza.org/Jobs/detail.aspx?id=2338
http://aazk.org/job-listings/job/808/
http://aazk.org/job-listings/job/823/

Most of the qualifications for the internships are about the same. They require you to have are currently enrolled or recently graduated in a 2-4 year degree in zoology, biology, wildlife conservation, environmental science, veterinary technology, or other related majors. You really don’t have to have any skills, but they want you to work a certain amount of hours a week and a certain amount of months. It is, however, better to have some work with animals so that you are familiar with what you will be doing. Most internships require a participant to work at least 10 weeks to 3 months. Also, they require you to be able to lift at least 60 lbs. So basically no one with back problems or inability to stand for a long period of time should rethink apply to these kinds of internships.

I have many of the qualifications and experiences that are required to be in an internship. As I said before, I am a junior in college majoring in Biological Sciences. I also have some experiences with animals that would put me ahead of some of the applicants. I volunteered at an animal shelter for a summer and an animal hospital for a month. I got much experience in interacting with animals and dealing with them. I may not have experience with zoo-like animals, but I have a reputation for learning quick and working hard. I also know how to deal with customers because of my working at a dance studio for four years. My job at the dance studio also gave the ability to take direction and be able to work without being told to. These are important abilities to have in internships likes theses.

In the end, I decided to go with the Animal Keeper Intern at The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, MN, on the American Association of Zoo Keepers. I loved how they take in abused and abandoned wild and hybrid cats. I was also swayed to look more into this particular internship because of their housing situation. They are providing free on-site housing for interns. Most of all the other internships don’t have housing or is limited to the housing situations. To insure my acceptance to this internship, I will format my resume in a way that they would appreciate and would want to look more into. I would do some research on their founding and what they stand for. I would even find out who I will be sending the resume to so that it will seem as though I have done my homework. Also, I would call the organization and ask more about this internship and include the information in my cover letter. This will help me in getting ahead of the competition and show them I am sincerely interested in their organization.