You Have the Skills, So Why Is Nobody Hiring You?

0:00 You've got the degree, maybe even have the skills. So why can't you get that first real job? You've applied, you've networked a bit, you've done what people told you to do. So why does it feel like you're stuck outside the door? This is the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, your weekly ocean news and career insight podcast. If you care about building a career that actually protects the ocean, hit that follow button so you don't miss this week's episode. Mondays and Tuesdays was all about building careers, whether you're networking or building your own skillset yourself. And then the rest of the week, we're going to be talking about ocean career builder stuff. So don't forget to hit that follow button so you don't miss any of these episodes.

0:42 All right, let's talk about the experience trap, the most frustrating part of this whole process. You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience is the conundrum, the chicken or the egg, right? And in ocean conservation, this problem is worse than in a lot of other industries. Why? Because funding is limited. Like teams are small and organizations don't have the time to train from scratch. So when they hire, they look for people who can contribute immediately. That's not unfair, but it's, it creates a bottleneck. And that bottleneck is where most people get stuck. So here's the shift you need to make. Experience is not just paid work.

1:23 Let me say that again. Experience is not just paid work. It includes volunteering, internships, side projects, content creation, research you do on your own. We talked a lot about this in yesterday's episode. And this is where a lot of people mess up. They wait for someone to give them experience, but the people who break into those first jobs, they build it. Examples, you analyze open ocean data and you post your findings online. You start a blog explaining Marine issues. You help a small NGO with social media. You create a GIS map and share it publicly. That's experience. And more importantly, it's visible. If no one is opening the door, you have to build your own door.

2:06 This is where most people hesitate. They think I don't want to bother people. I don't want to ask for too much, but that's the wrong mindset. You're not asking for a job. You're offering value for people. You can say, for example, Hey, I saw your project on color restoration and I put together short summary, a map or content piece that might help. Would you like me to share it? Now you're not a stranger. You're someone useful and useful people get remembered. You know, here's a here's a quick story about someone who unfortunately recently passed away. Billy Causey. I, uh, I, when I was younger, I was working for a private consulting firm and I want to do like a side project. I want to build a GIS database and I contacted him.

2:48 I want to contact him and I sent him an email and I didn't get anything back. But then when I contacted him again, I actually called them. This is the days when you can get phone numbers and I called them and he answered the phone and I said, Hey, Mr. Causey, my name is Andrew Lewin. I am a young, you know, marine scientist in Canada. I've used to do work in the Gulf of Mexico. I understand you work for the marine sanctuary and I wanted to help you organize a database for the marine sanctuary, like a GIS database. And he was like, wow, that's really great. He started talking to me. He's like, Hey, Andrew, can I call you back? I'm about to take off on a flight. We're in, I'm on the plane and they're telling me to get off the phone. Can I call you back when I land? And I was like, yeah, sure. No problem. Thank you.

3:28 And so like, I didn't think anything of it. I, to be honest, I didn't think he'd call back as soon as he lands, he called back and he was like sketching out stuff in on the plane. Now, am I saying that you have to call somebody up? No, you probably don't do that. This these days and you may not even get their phone number and they may not even answer these days. But the thing is, is Billy did answer and we worked for years together trying to put pieces together, you know, and, and I think that's just what it's like to work in this. And when you offer some value now, you know, that's a lot of free work. I took on a big project and you know, I helped out wherever I can, but I'm not saying you have to take on this big project, but do what you want to do to get the experience that you need. And that's what I was doing. I was getting the experience that I need.

4:09 Now let's talk about volunteering because it could go very, very wrong. Volunteering is powerful if it's strategic. It's not an endless line of free labor. Ask yourself, am I learning something valuable? Am I building something that I can show? And am I connecting with people in the field? If the answer is no, you need to rethink that opportunity. Also, you should think about there's a time to walk away. If you're not growing, not getting exposure or not moving forward, staying there could cost you. This is where things start to compound. One small opportunity leads to another. If you use it properly, this is what I call reputation stacking.

4:51 So you show up on time, you deliver what you promised and you communicate clearly. And suddenly you're the person people can trust and trust is everything in this field, because when someone hears, hey, we need help on this project, they don't go to job boards. They go to people they already know. And here's like a quick story again. I do a podcast with Dr. David Ebert and I called beyond jaws. And we talk a lot about careers and Dave is one guy like, you know, he's old school, right? He's been in the business for a long time, but he constantly tells people as he's as he's mentored graduate students for a very, very long time throughout his career, he constantly tells people. He's like, Hey, look, like if I have a graduate student that I'm working with, and they're really, really good.

5:35 I'm out there almost shopping them around to PhD programs or to people they know he knows in the business. He's got a lot of contacts within, you know, within NOAA or academic institutes or private consulting firms, because he's had a lot of students and, you know, all of his colleagues, they will say, Hey, I've got a student here who's really, really good. They're looking to do a postdoc or PhD or something like that. Would you like to take them on as a student because they're perfect for what you want to work on? When you when you show what you can do, whether you're doing it as a student, whether you're doing it as volunteering, people will back you up. Your reputation will proceed you and that will help you get opportunities. They may be paying jobs, it may be volunteer, there may be student jobs, or there might be a graduate opportunity, but those will pay forward for you for the work that you're doing. And, you know, there's there's a thing that we we've seen about volunteering around, you know, around the ocean and, you know, in the world.

6:31 And there's this sort of predatory type of volunteering where organizations are using people who can pay money to go and get experience, whether it's two weeks, a month, two months, three months, and that's fine if you have the money to in the means to do so. But not everybody can do that. Most people can't do that. And I feel like it's predatory because you're not always getting what you need. You're paying a lot of money for getting something little, but unfortunately, the people who get the experience will get opportunities to get jobs after because they have experience because they've shown they can work on a project, they can show they can work in team environment, and that's their volunteering. They're just paying to get it done. So they're guaranteed to get it done. So you have to be careful with some of those. I find some are using them for using people who have degrees as their profession. You just have to be careful. Some are really great. Some are not. But make sure you look up references of other people who have done the program. If they enjoyed it, make sure you you see like reviews online, make sure the people that have been through the program got what they wanted out of it. If they didn't, it's not well organized. Just be careful. Also, safety, safety matters in a big way. So if you feel stuck right now, you're not alone. Just know that.

7:44 But the next mistake is thinking that the next step is the perfect job. It's never going to be. It's not. It's the next step is this next small opportunity. You know, one project, one collaboration, one piece of work you can point to. And that's how people break in to their first real job, quote unquote, real job. So stop waiting for that perfect job. Create one small opportunity this week and turn into something bigger. And if you know someone trying to break into ocean conservation, send them this episode. Make sure that they are part of the community and that people know what they can do to break in to get that first real job. I want to thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew. And if you have a comment or a question, please feel free if you're really listening to this on Spotify, you can put a comment in. But otherwise, go to speakupforblue.com forward slash feedback.

8:33 Let me answer your question if you have a question or a comment. I'd love to see it. Speakupforblue.com forward slash forward slash forward slash feedback. Sorry, I had trouble doing that. But I want to thank you again for joining me. Have a great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy conservation.