In some fields, volunteering is part of career path
In more and more job fields, having the degree that says you're qualified is not enough. Potential employers also look at hands-on experience, and in many fields it's a requirement to land a paying job.
Which is why recent college grads, like Allison Evans, are spending this summer working, but not bringing home a paycheck: she's in a volunteer internship program at Syracuse's zoo. She's under the supervision of a staffer, but she works just like staff---we watched as she brought in some branches for reindeer to browse on, and had to fend off a tundra swan that thought its territory was being invaded. Allison knows the chance of getting a full-time job at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo is slim, but she says the experience she's getting this summer will pay off--literally---at another zoo somewhere.
Ted Fox, a zoo curator, says the competition for positions has gotten so intense that zoos can afford to hire only well qualified, experienced candidates. School is so competitive that often students don't have the time to go out and get that experience, which often comes as volunteers, or interns, after graduation. "It's good for us, and it's good for them," he says. 'So they know, and we know that this is the job for them.."
