Environmental Monitoring Officer - Parks Victoria

Role and tasks:
Tasks include monitoring water quality of wetlands, groundwater monitoring around selected wetlands,soil salinity monitoring, vegetation monitoring, macroinvertebrate monitoring,organising contracts and tenders for consultant works, extension duties (water watch, salt watch, student forums), community education of environmental issues, bird counts, inter-agency meeting and consultation.

Qualifications and experience:
Three year bachelor of Science degree at Monash Uni with a biology major and geography minor, one year of Honours at La Trobe University with the Department of Environmental Management and Ecology. Work experience and summer scholarships with Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre and casual field work with Department of Land and Water Conservation. You need to prove that you have the ability to conduct independent field research with little or no supervision. Need to be aware of OH&S issues.

What do you look for in job seekers?
If I was hiring somebody tomorrow I would be looking for someone who could demonstrate an ability to work alone in the field, 4WD and dirt road driving experience would be a plus, someone who is aware of water quality sampling procedures and protocols and a basic understanding of inland water ways and their biology.

What is your advice for job seekers?
The more experience the better, so try and do volunteer work. It is who you know a lot of the time not what you know, so try and network a bit with people that you already know of in the field. When you write applications, make sure you cover all selection criteria as comprehensively as possible.