One Day, One Job » historic preservation

National Park Service

Willy Franzen — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:37:02 +0000

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays—not only because it signifies the start of summer, but also because I love small town patriotism. My hometown always has a fantastic parade that is often accompanied by a fighter jet fly over. Now, today’s employer may not immediately make you think of Memorial Day like last year’s did (it was Weber-Stephen, the manufacturer of my favorite charcoal grills), but you’ll realize pretty quickly why the National Park Service is a great choice for today. Not only are some of the parks that they manage great places to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend outdoors, but they’re also responsible for quite a few memorials including The Marine Corps War Memorial, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Korean War Veterans Memorial, and The World War II Memorial. Memorial Day is really about our fallen heroes, and the National Park Service is constantly working to honor them by maintaining and managing our memorials.

Celebrate Memorial Day All Year Long

If you love Memorial Day as much as I do, then a job with the National Park Service might be something worth thinking about. Whether you love the outdoors and want to be at Yosemite, love history and want to be at Lincoln’s Boyhood Home, or love our country and want to be at one of the memorials, you’ll have plenty of options. The NPS is constantly working to preserve “unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.” So, how do you land a job with them? You can start at the NPS Jobs page (it has some awesome photos from the 70s), but that will dump you into USAJobs.gov—use this link so that you only see jobs posted from the NPS. There are 163 jobs posted right now, and many of them are entry level, so we’re not going to wade through all of them for you, but you should know that the NPS typically hires in the following areas: Administration, Health and Safety, Archeology, History, Architecture, Human Resources, Biological Sciences, Landscape Architecture, Community Planning, Maintenance and Facility Management, Concessions, Natural Resources, Contracting, Park Police, Cultural Resources, Park Ranger (Protection), Engineering, Park Ranger (Interpretation), Financial Management, Park Site Interpretation, Firefighting, Physical Sciences, and Fire Management. That should help you direct your search on the USAJobs.gov site a little better. Applying for government jobs can be tricky, so be sure to pay very close attention to the details before you send in your application.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite National Park/

National Trust for Historic Preservation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:00:20 +0000

On many college campuses there’s a constant battle between the old and the new. We’re not talking about Senior-Freshmen rivalries – that’s so high school. We’re talking about the state of constant construction that is as much a part of going to college as wearing flip flops in the shower. Administrators and trustees are left to decide whether it is better to make do with the quirky inadequacies of a building from a century ago, or to knock it down and build a new monstrosity in the latest architectural fashion. There is a fine balance that needs to be achieved between architectural and historic integrity and function. Unfortunately, it seems more and more common that campus decision-makers are deciding in favor of state of the art facilities built atop the graves of their obsolete predecessors (I guess you know what One Day, One Job’s stand on this issue is).

Although they don’t focus on college campuses, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is a non-profit organization that is saving America’s diverse historic places through leadership, education, and advocacy. Just what many of our college campuses need! If you love history, architecture, and good taste, you might truly enjoy working for the National Trust. Their jobs are all over the place; you can be an interpreter at President Lincoln’s Cottage or an Accountant in their Community Investment Subsidiary. An Assistant Business Manager in the Center for Preservation Leadership or an IT Training & Staff Support Coordinator (the links to these jobs are now dead, for current opportunities visit the National Trust’s Careers page). The jobs get even more interesting as the experience level goes up. There are some really cool opportunities that require 3-5 years experience, which means you can either try to really impress them with your cover letter and resume or work your way up through the ranks.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has an excellent website with simple navigation and very clear job descriptions. Applying for a job is as easy as sending a cover letter and resume to a position-specific e-mail address. This is definitely an organization to keep a constant watch on. You never know what kind of opportunity will show up next on their jobs page.

Note: On April 27th we revisited entry-level jobs at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite historic building on your college’s campus? Leave a comment and tell us about it!