River Ranger Update
Good Afternoon y'all!
I just wanted to make a post updating anyone who did respond to or saw my last post. I interviewed for that River Ranger Position and felt like I absolutely nailed it. The interview turned into a conversation with the hiring team and was very friendly. They really liked my interpretive experience and were interested to hear a lot about the cave.
Unfortunately, I did receive a rejection about a week later, accompanied by a call from the Park Manager. He encouraged me to keep going and not give up. He even told me that I had "admittedly good interview" skills, they just went another direction. This was hard to hear, especially with how long my job hunt has been. I certainly don't hold any of this against them. If anything I was simply honored that I even got a chance to interview at the most prestigious river in my state. They have to make the best hiring decision for them after all.
I took this manager's advice and kept going and landed another ranger interview at a different state park. The process went largely the same as my last round of interviews, but this time I GOT THE JOB!! I know this subreddit is filled with more folks in the NPS or aspiring to be, but I was really excited to get the call and to finally be a State Park Ranger this summer. I'm excited to finally take on more responsibility and grow a career from this. I figured this subreddit would be filled with people who understood the relief of landing a ranger position for the first time.
Thank you to EVERYONE who gave me interview advice and the people who post their advice here. It really does make a difference.