Adventures of HG at NRTI

The last couple of days have been dry. Besides the usual class stuff, not much going on here. Today was a little different. From 1200 (12:00 p.m.) until 1430 (2:30 p.m.) our class had a long lunch break; the reason being that a job fair was taking place in the Student Center (a.k.a. the gym) and our Commander wanted to give us time to speak with some of the recruiters. There were several park systems represented at the fair, including state, local and the National Park Service (NPS), but unfortunately it seemed as though no one was hiring law enforcement park rangers.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) only had applications online and you had to fill them out in January. Thankfully I did, but why even show up to a "job fair" if you aren't currently hiring. That just doesn't make sense. Sure, they could try to get the word out there for future students, but it just doesn't seem fair for them to show up to a job fair where students are currently looking for employment and they aren't offering anything. It's like dangling a piece of meat in front of tiger's face but there's a chain link fence between you and the tiger. It's just mean. lol

Anyhow, there was one semi-promising organization-Hamilton County Park District located near Cincinnati, Ohio. They don't currently have any openings, but they are hiring two part time LE rangers soon. The good news about this park system-they seem to pay pretty well, promote from within and even have some benefits for part-timers. The Lieutenant from Hamilton County Park District spoke with our class as a guest speaker for a few hours after the job fair. He's a very nice, enthusiastic ranger who loves his job. I'd love to work under someone so passionate about their career!

In the meantime, I'm still applying for jobs under USAJobs, a government website that controls my life. Basically, the system works as such: you log in to USAJobs with your e-mail and a password that you can never remember, you fill out a form for each job and they are usually about 40-70 questions long. You can upload resumes and reference letters, but those will never see the light of day because the computer gives you a score based on the answers you gave in the questionnaire. I usually score about 86-94 which is pretty high, but unfortunately veterans get 10 extra points, so they are usually ranked at 100-110. If the computer doesn't like your score, you get a computer-generated e-mail the next day that says something like "eligible but not referred." So really no human will ever see my resume unless I score something like 110 and there's no way I'm doing that without lying. Since I don't lie on applications, I'm never getting a job. lol Sure, it seems overlly dramatic, but I've already filled out six pages of applications (at least 120 individual applications) and that doesn't include paper applications that I've sent out to parks and local police departments. Oh well, just have to keep on keeping on I guess!

Special shout out to my wonderful Grampy and Gail! I know you read the blog and I hope you are doing great. I miss you both very much and maybe I can visit when I'm done here in Ohio? There's one job in Maine I'd really love to have. It's an NPS Law Enforcement Horseback Riding position. Cross your fingers! Love you lots!