Career advice - Zoo management

[RatioTile]

For the zoo personnel here:

I have decided I want to pursue a career in zoos, with a goal of becoming a manager, curator, or zoo ambassador coordinating acquisitions and collaborations on conservation projects with other zoos. I graduated magna cum laude in Ecology, Evolutionary, and Environmental Biology from a prestigious university, but I need to know what additional degrees I'd need to be able to work my way up the corporate ladder. I am in the US but I could theoretically work in any Anglophone country.

During my time interning at a large zoo, I noticed many of the keepers started without a bachelors or a post-bachelors degree, and even some managers were going to night school at the same time. However I fear that without more degrees and training I would not be promoted to a managerial or administrative position.

If anyone here has done or knows of excellent programs in Zoo Management, please let me know. Due to coronavirus I'd prefer an online course, at least for the time being. Thanks!

 

[DavidBrown]

It sounds like you have some connections at the zoo that you interned at. The best advice I can give you is to informationally interview people in the zoo world who you admire and whose career path you would like to follow, and ask them for practical advice on how to develop the skills and experience you need to get where they are.

The zoo world is a highly networked world, and people often advance their careers through working with others and learning about opportunities via professional networks or being head-hunted as their reputations and reliability become known.

In order to become competent and capable in the zoo world you need practical experience, and getting a degree may or may not help you with that. Interning at a zoo and proving yourself helpful, reliable, competent, and enthusiastic and then finding an entry level position via the connections you make seems like a more likely path to getting into the zoo management world than formal course work would.