Getting a Job With Us

How to Get a Job with the Forest Service and Frequently Asked Questions

Amber Kamps, Northern Region Outreach, Recruitment, and Retention

Updated July 2023

We offer a variety of employment opportunities (both paid and unpaid) ranging from student programs to volunteer programs, and full time and temporary employment for people with skills in several hundred areas. There areseveral great websites to learn more about working with the Forest Service and careers with the Forest Service.

The best way to know about a particular job/location is to keep current with the Forest Service outreach database. The Forest Service uses a pre-announcement or “outreach” process first before we formally advertise jobs. This is an important step for us as the responses we get help us determine how to advertise the job. At least once a week check the outreach database that houses all the jobs we are outreaching for. If you find an outreach of interest, make sure to fill out the form and send it in to the hiring manager. Each job being outreached will tell you the duty station/location as well as the vacancy announcement number in USAJOBS if it is being currently advertised.

To apply for any federal job, including Forest Service jobs, you must apply through USAJOBS. To do so, you will need to create an account and this can take some time to set up. Your best bet is to do this ahead of when you think you’ll be applying for a job so you’ll have plenty of time to set up your profile and get your resume and other attachments ready/uploaded.

A suggestion is to check both the outreach database and usajobs once a week to see what new jobs are coming available. Once you start checking on a weekly basis, using the search parameters of your choosing, it won’t take you but a few minutes to get updated on the latest. Set a weekly reminder or appointment in your calendar each week, like Tuesday mornings at 7:30 and check.

Also be aware of hiring events which vary every year by date, type, and jobs offered. Find out more about Hiring Events

A resume suitable for corporate America is vastly different than one that is going to get you hired with the Forest Service. The Forest Service wants to see more detail in your resume regarding job descriptions of past work experience as an example. It’s also critical to include you salary or your hourly wage for each job you have held in the past. For more information on what to include in your resume, see resume template and more at our Northern Region Jobs website.

For a recent college graduate, it is much easier to keep your resume to one page. However, if you’ve been in the workforce for 10-20 years it is almost impossible. The Forest Service is more accepting of multiple page resumes for persons with a longer job history. And you most certainly do not want to cheat yourself out of including all your relevant work experience as well as knowledge, skills, and abilities by being too brief. A two- or three-page resume is quite acceptable to most hiring managers if you have the professional work experience to justify the length.

Call the Hiring Manager! This is likely the single most important thing you need to do when applying for a Forest Service job. Hiring manager’s contact information is found on the outreach for each job (see above). The Federal application process is highly centralized, and we can receive upwards of 200-400 applicants per job. If you don’t stand out, you won’t. Do not simply submit an application and hope for the best. Hiring decisions are still made at the local level and influenced greatly by the local hiring manager. You need to call or better yet, stop by and visit, with the hiring manager. Be prepared to ask questions about the job, the location, housing, specific skill sets they are looking for, etc. Also be prepared to tell them about yourself, why you want the job, what your future goals are, etc. Hiring managers are also great people to ask questions about USAJOBS.

It’s also important for your resume to speak to the knowledge, skills, and abilities asked of the job. Look at the major duties section of the job advertisement and tailor your resume to address each area you have experience in. Also, if the job includes supervision – make sure to include your experience in supervising. It is also good to be brief, but inclusive so to not over-generalize your experience. Don’t just state that you’ve been a supervisor for 8 years. For example, state that you supervised 5 employees over the last 8 years that included taking disciplinary action, conducting performance reviews, evaluated for promotions, etc.

The Forest Service doesn’t require cover letters. Some hiring managers like to see them. It doesn’t hurt to include a cover letter and it can be a fantastic way to accomplish a few things. First, you can reference the phone call you had with the hiring manager reminding them of who you are and your conversation. Second, it allows you a straightforward way to mention why you want this specific job and/or what it means to you. And lastly, it also allows you an effortless way to mention something personal about yourself and/or family. Keep your cover letter limited to one page.

The Forest Service offers jobs that are both professional, requiring a degree, and technical, that do not require a degree, in various natural resource fields. Having a bachelor’s degree does make you more competitive for a technician position but it is not required. Technician positions are typically more field based, particularly in gather data and monitoring. Professional positions also include field work but are generally more management positions and require more journey level knowledge.

There are several processes the Forest Service goes through from the time you apply. The first hoop you will jump through is for a Human Resource Specialist in Albuquerque, NM to review your application and determine if you meet the minimum requirements for the job. You will be notified if you do and be told that your application has been referred to the hiring manager. This is called “making the cert” or certificate. A certificate is a list of all the qualified candidates the hiring manager can select from. If you didn’t meet the minimum requirements, you will be notified of such as well.

After “making the cert” your name is on a list that goes to the hiring manger, who is likely the supervisor of the job. This is the person who will be reviewing/rating your application in detail which may include calling your previous employers for reference checks and possibly setting up an interview with you. You will get another notification if you did not get the job and of course, you’ll also know if you get the job too.