Fisheries biological technician skills for your resume and career

Writing clearly, demonstrating (and developing) responsibility, and anything even distantly related to your desired career is helpful. If you can do this for pay, that's obviously helpful and convenient, but you probably will need to do volunteer work, at least in part. For field and environmental biology students, get out hiking, fishing, hunting, botanizing, and managing the property. The more field experience you can get, the better. Use this time to sample and try as many options that interest you as possible. Figure out what makes you happy and what you are good at. Or, you may need to use that time to make some money so you'll have a cushion once you return to school.

Skills for upcoming graduates...I am a big believer in graduates having a firm foundation in liberal arts and sciences. Employers are looking for employees who can advance in the profession, not just entry-level work. That will be the future of the workforce. The liberal arts and sciences provide a solid foundation for long term employment and career success. It is an approach to college learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change.

This approach emphasizes broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g., science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth achievement in a specific field of interest. In terms of skills, they are lifelong learning skills that are non-subject specific. These skills include the capacity to think critically, communicate clearly (both written and oral), and solve complex problems. I mean, think about the current pandemic....understanding and communicating the science of the virus is absolutely critical. The need for rigorous, critical, engaged thinking to understand the challenge and be informed citizens. It is absolutely critical.