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A View From the Overlook: “How Do You Get A Permanent Job With The NPS?”

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A ranger's job, and how to get one, have both changed quite a bit since these ranger's posed for a photo at Mt. Rainier in the 1930s. NPS photo.

'œHow Do You Get A Permanent Job With The NPS?'

This is a frequently asked question, neighbors! If the National Parks are 'œAmerica'™s Best Idea,' then it logically follows that the agency that services the National Parks, that is, The National Park Service, is the best damn bureaucracy in the world, and (therefore) NPS rangers, including myself, are the best damn bureaucrats in the world. (There is a flaw in logic in there somewhere, but you get the drift.)

Everyone enjoys basking in the reflected glory of an elite organization; this is one of the many reasons for the popularity of both the National Park Service and the U.S. Marine Corps. (Admittedly, the Marine Corps is easier to get into.)

Another reason for NPS employment popularity is Positive Feedback: People actually like you and like what you'™re doing. Many of the federal agencies are regulatory, which means you have an established Enemies List, people that hate you automatically, even before you arrive at work at eight in the morning. Not so in the case of the NPS (except for Tea Party fanatics!)

Consider the Internal Revenue Service. Have you ever wondered why the IRS does not have a 'œJunior IRS Agent' program similar to the Park Service'™s Junior Ranger Program, in which aspiring juvenile IRS agents could conduct mock audits of the neighbors? No? I thought not. The same is true of the CIA.

A third reason for NPS job popularity is the physical setting.'œVignettes of Primeval America, at the point of European contact: Towering trees! Thundering waterfalls! Limitless vistas!"

No doubt about it, friends, the NPS is a feel-good agency that many people would like to join, and they are not easily dissuaded.

Recall the last cocktail party you attended. After the host has introduced you as a retired or active member of the NPS, you will be asked two questions: (A) 'œWhat is your favorite bear story? (Pretty difficult if you were at Statue of Liberty), and (B) "How can my (son, daughter, grandchild) get a job with the NPS?'

Now the answer to question B is complicated, ambiguous and fluid.

You might like to hedge, particularly if you are feeling a tad malicious.

'œDo you want your child to be happy?' you might solemnly inquire.

The answer will, of course, be 'œYes! Yes!' (America being the first country to be founded on the 'œPursuit of Happiness" as a goal.)

'œThen,' you reply, 'œYour child should get a job as a Federal Prison Guard.'

Your questioner will be appalled.

No, you have not taken leave of your senses due to Sequestration Frustration; you are merely alluding to a famous yearly study by The Partnership for Public Service in which they ranked the various federal agencies as 'œThe Best Places to Work.'

Now the NPS has never done particularly well in this survey, landing somewhere in the low middle. One notable year, the Federal Bureau of Prisons was found to be a happier place to work than the NPS.Why is this the case?

Actually, it is an unfair comparison. You see, there is a difference in expectations.

A person who applies for a job as a prison guard has rather low expectation of approval by the clientele he serves. Most federal prisons are located in rural, low rent areas with few permanent jobs. Our prison guard candidate will be looking for a favorable retirement and medical package rather than Spiritual Fulfillment. In addition, he/she will be pleasantly surprised that they were not murdered the first day on the job. Every day after that is an improvement.

The NPS seasonal acolyte, on the other hand, has high expectations. If only he/she can enter the Nirvana of permanent employment in 'œThe best job in the world,' our Newbie expects 30 years of blissful contentment. What they fail to realize is that the National Parks are not administered by 'œtowering trees or thundering waterfalls,' or even by a John Muir clone, but by rather fallible and ordinary human beings. There will be difficulties and frustrations.

When approached by young men or women desiring a career in the National Park Service, Roger Siglin, former Chief Ranger of Yellowstone and Superintendent of Gates of Arctic National Park, would ask, 'œWhat is your second choice for a lifetime career?' They rarely had one. One should have a back-up plan, unless one is wearing a suicide vest.

'œYes, I know that!' our acolyte exclaims irritably. 'œI understand that the NPS has some serious personnel management problems, but I am different! Once I become permanent, I will reform the organization from top to bottom (WASO is clearly shaking in its boots!), BUT FIRST I NEED TO GET A PERMANENT JOB WITH THE NPS!'

Thereupon hangs many a frustration, neighbors! There are many rumors abounding that 'œOne must know someone' before the Holy Grail of a permanent position can be grasped, or that certain jobs are 'œwired' for certain individuals or certain minority groups.

'œOutsiders,' those brave, noble souls who are not part of the 'œConspiracy,' are condemned to wander forevermore in the Twilight Zone of seasonal employment or working for free as a volunteer. Since the NPS is one of the more gossipy agencies of the Federal Government, rumors abound. Some of them are true.

It is true there is malfeasance and corruption in the obtaining of government jobs, but less so than in the rip-roaring, wide-open period after the Civil War known as the Gilded Age, when everything seemed for sale, even if seller didn'™t own it. Federal jobs were just some of the merchandise available. People worked for political parties and voted for candidates not because they were interested in Good Government and Progress, but because they wanted the postmaster'™s job in their town or the lighthouse tender'™s job, or wanted to be the lucky chap that handed out land to railroads.

This was called Patronage, and constituted a venality tax on just about everyone as the wheels of government ground slower and slower. The various presidents of the Gilded Age may not have been personally corrupt, but many of their appointees certainly were, and the country was shot through with graft from top to bottom.

How were we to get out of the Civil Service corruption trap that even today bedevils most of the poverty stricken countries of the Third World?

'œIf in doubt, ask a ranger!" So, I asked Ranger Todd Arrington of James Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio to clear things up for us. You see, in addition to being in charge of the tallest tree and tallest mountain in America, the National Park Service is in charge of American history. If you are interested in the history of the light bulb, you contact Thomas Edison National Historic Site; if you are interested in Civil Service corruption, you contact James Garfield National Historic Site. It seems that President Garfield died for our sins.

Here is what Ranger Todd had to say:

'œ'¦Civil Service Reform was something that was awaiting James A. Garfield when he became President in 1881. Garfield was inclined to agree that some reform to the civil service system was necessary to get rid of patronage and replace it with a merit-based system in which only qualified candidates who passed exams could receive appointments to federal positions. However, Garfield became much more adamant about this need after his election to the presidency, when he was almost immediately bombarded by letters and visits from people seeking jobs. Very few of these individuals had any real qualifications for the positions they sought and to which they felt entitled simply because they were Republicans or knew someone who knew a Congressman, etc.

Alternate Text
President James Garfield supported major changes in hiring practices for federal jobs in the 1880s. Library of Congress photo.

This continued after Garfield'™s inauguration when he unhappily spent hours each day receiving job seekers. One of those who tried to convince Garfield to appoint him to a position (American Consul to Paris) was Charles J. Guiteau, a mentally unbalanced stalwart Republican who had given a meandering, unimportant speech promoting Garfield in New York and wanted to be rewarded for it.

Guiteau didn'™t get the job, and he soon grew concerned about Garfield'™s intention to replace the patronage system with a merit system, as the new president engaged in a very public battle with New York'™s Senator Roscoe Conkling over who would be appointed to the most prestigious and lucrative patronage job in the country: Collector of the Port of New York.

Charles Guiteau eventually decided the best way to handle this was to murder President Garfield so that Vice President Chester A. Arthur, a New Yorker and Conkling acolyte, would be elevated to the presidency.

Guiteau shot Garfield on July 2, 1881; the wounded President lingered until September 19.Vice President Arthur then became the new president and, to his credit, immediately distanced himself from Conkling. It was President Arthur who signed the Pendleton Act on January 16, 1883. That law reformed the Civil Service, as Garfield had desired, by instituting exams and qualification requirements for those seeking federal jobs. This was the beginning of the end for the patronage system.'

Thank you, Dr. Arrington. You will note that Todd said that it was the beginning of the end, not the end of patronage.

Do we still have Patronage? Sure do, neighbors! Even in the National Park Service? Yup! These are called Schedule C jobs and are awarded to deserving, helpful people by the political party that won the last election. This is sort of a sanitized, 'œLiving History' patronage relic of the Gilded Age, as the Schedule C jobs are relatively few in number and mainly deal with policy. (Nothing secret, neighbors! The Schedule C jobs are listed in a handy little book produced by the US Government Printing Office. It is called 'œThe Plum Book' because, among other things, it has a purple plum colored cover. (Who says the Federal government has no sense of humor?)

But what of our original question: lacking patronage, how DO you get a permanent job with the National Park Service?

Again, James Garfield National Historical Site was most helpful. According to Ranger Arrington:

'œJobs with the federal government, both permanent and temporary, as well as paid internships, are advertised on USA JOBS.  You may search by the type of job you are interested in and the agency. National Park Service jobs are found under the Department of Interior. Be sure to read the announcement very carefully to determine what documents you will need to submit. On-line submittal of your application is preferred.'

Now is there any other way? (Aside from that of Charles Guiteau).

Well, yes, neighbors, at least for the protection ranger (law enforcement) there is something known as the Pro Ranger Program.

You see, the NPS, along with the rest of the Department of Interior, has a 'œDiversity' problem. That is, the Department of Interior is the 'œWhitest' of all the Federal Departments. (It is also regarded by some as the most corrupt, but any cause-and-effect correlation could be interpreted as racist.)

Anyway, how to solve the Diversity problem? Rather than trying to recruit graduates, it was decided to seek colleges with large minority populations and set up a program to steer undergraduates to a guaranteed career in NPS law enforcement.

Undoubtedly, there will be (or are) more colleges, but the ones that show up on Google are Temple University in Philadelphia and the very enterprising San Antonio College, a two-year community college in San Antonio, Texas.

According to the Temple blurb: 'œUpon graduation from Temple University and successfully completing the Pro Ranger Philadelphia Program, participants are placed in a permanent career tenured law enforcement park ranger position with the National Park Service.'

San Antonio College says, 'œRather than recruit or find the next generation of NPS law enforcement rangers, the Pro Ranger Program is a proactive approach to creating them.'

So, neighbors, I guess where your child goes depends on whether he likes Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches or Mexican food!

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Comments

ecbuck, there is no rational reason, it is more of an accident. Seasonal employees are employed under rules which were written for temporary employees, people picked up for a short term, one off job, and who are not considered employees in terms of eligibility for promotions. When the rules were written nobody was thinking about people working year after year, but not year round. The land management agencies have shoehorned their legitimate need for seasonal employees into the existing federal hiring rules. In the absence of congressional action to refine the rules, they have determined that they can hire temporary employees for recurring seasonal jobs, as long as those jobs last less than 6 months in a given year. In practice, this has meant that individual employees are limitted to working 1039 hours (1 hour under 6 months at 40hrs/week), even when the job they are working on is still going. People do this for years, sometimes decades, and are still not considered employees, and not eligible for promotions. There are things congress could to to fix this, but they are a roadblock because they would have to do something, and they get very little done. I don't think that anyone would object to fixing it if it were explained to them, but nobody cares enough to really push it through congress.


Ron: Thanks for the attaboy. As always, it's outstanding to see you involved.

For others:, Ron has the dubious honor of hiring me for my first backcountry job! Who knew it would turn into this??

And, yes, the Lodge (for others, the Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police which we organized in the mid 80s for law enforcement rangers) has worked with PEER -- especially during the shutdown. They're a terrific and very helpful organization with contacts we don't have.

Rick: ditto. You're right, of course, on ANPR and Lodge taking lead on retirement. Over the years, Lodge has tried to get ANPR involved more in seasonal and othter issues, but it seems like since the success of the retirement issue, they've moved away from mau-mauing the flak catchers (is that the second time I've used that phrase? Extra credit for anyone who knows its origin!).

Willj -- your comments are spot on. I hope you're younger and can carry on hassling this stuff. Someday it's gotta change.

Incidentally, all those backcountry years and miles have taken a small toll. I trashed my hip a year ago and now haggling with federal worker's comp to get a new one (arthritis). To the great entertainment of everyone, I worked dispatch last summer. So I won't be able to get back to backcountry until a year from now.

George


George--

It's hard to imagine you in dispatch instead on a trail gobbling up the miles with those long legs. Best of luck with worker's comp and may next summer be the best you have ever had in the backcountry. Speaking of hassles, how about trying to get Randy's wife her death benefits? I was proud of you. Thanks for taking that on.

Rick


George, willj, Pertpetual Seasonal, Tahoma, Ron, JT, and Rick, Thank you for contributing to this highly interesting thread of discussion.

George, you are right, some day it just has to change. I hope sooner than later.

I also hope that the injustices involved in virtually dismissing the experience acquired by and responsibilities assigned to longer-term seasonal and volunteer employees eventually will be given appropriate consideration if and when these temporary employees apply for career vacancies with the NPS.

Rick, I do not believe this is just a "personnel issue" affecting a few disgruntled individuals who've been passed over for conversion or promotion. It is a fundamental problem that appears to prevail system-wide. It needs to be addressed and rectified.

As a former seasonal park ranger-naturalist myself and a member of both organizations, I hope ANPR and CNPSR will get involved and make a positive difference. At present, ANPR does have one board member designated to address seasonal issues.

Meanwhile, your collective contributions to PJ's outstanding article shine much needed light into the darkness of this decades-old problem. I imagine that PJ's "View from the Overlook" and this extensive commentary is already attracting quite a large number of readers. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see the total number of comments exceed 100, surpassing previous NPT articles that featured such special interest code words as "guns" and "mountain bikes."


Willj said:

There are things congress could to to fix this, but they are a roadblock because they would have to do something, and they get very little done.

There were 72 laws enacted in 2012 big and small and over 70,000 pages added to the Federal Register. Things can get done. Someone doesn't want this done.


George, thanks so much for entering this discussion. As I read what you wrote about how ANPR and the retirees group have been silent on these issues it occurred to me how they seem to do more to advocate for rangers in foreign countries than they do for rangers in this country. Of course they haven’t taken on these issues because the active membership is heavily weighted to people who have carried out these violations or have relationships; working and otherwise; with those who commit the abuses. I believe the sympathies of those who run these groups are much more on the side of the park manager than with the park ranger. You can see in this forum the imperious attitude reflected in statements to the effect of ‘how dare you lowly seasonals take an interest in, and comment on, the affairs of your betters you are supposed to just stand there smile, be grateful, and pretend not to notice the corruption around you’ For those in ANPR aware there is a problem, they aren’t going to stand up at a meeting and advocate the group do anything about it because to do so would be destructive to their careers. I am a member of ANPR and have been to a few rendezvous. They are fun, and you can learn, and make connections, but the group isn’t anything like a watchdog on the agency --they pretty much are the NPS power structure. It is a private democratically run organization so it has a right to do whatever it wants. Maybe some of us will be able to recruit others in who will able to steer the group in another direction. I think only a couple hundred voted in the last board election so maybe it wouldn’t be too hard to swing it the other way. But as it is they are firmly in the back pocket to the current director. Maybe as people come together to stop pro ranger a new group will be fostered more in line with cleaning up the agency.

I can understand a professional organization not wanting to get involved in individual personnel issues but that is not what this is --we are talking about wide spread system wide abuses directed by or at least with the complicity of those at the very top. The last few years has seen a 1000% increase in the use of 1-2 year temporary hires. These are supposed to be used for things such as when a permanent employee is deployed in the military or is away because of a long term illness. Instead they have been used as a way to keep a site staffed without paying benefits. Would it be too much for the NPS retirees group to issue a statement condemning this practice and calling on hiring officials to adhere to regulations and refuse to certify such appointments? How about maybe a comique from CNPSR calling for the OPM to automatically investigate any park (other than places like Everglades or Death Valley) who is hiring seasonals in the winter. Any park that is employeing seasonals in the summer and winter is likley violating regulations. Is the fear that if audits were done wrong doing might be found? In the next year there will be many who reach the end of their two year limit and will be shown the door and the next creative way to bridge the gap will be put in place. It is a time bomb of discontent the agency has planted in dozens of people. The same goes for all these Pathways “interns” currently being hired. What will be the reaction when they realize there never was much of chance of them being converted to permanent status? What will be the result of the NPS engaging the hopes of so many most of whom will inevitably be disappointed? How tenable will it be for the federal government to keep people going in jobs without health insurance as they impose that mandate of the rest of society?

George, you mentioned what you see as a problem of low pay but for me pay isn’t a problem I always thought it was fair for the work I did. My main requests are simple and not outrageous:

Management needs to simply stop violating regulations. (I worked my first several years in the NPS at one park 12 months a year . Some of those appointments were almost eight months in length. Acceptance of this and the everyone does it attitude in the leadership has to end. One large urban park once kept a group of people working year round for eight years in “temporary” appointments!

Merit needs to once again be considered in hiring. (For the decreasing number of positions still filled through the so-called competitive system old timers may be surprised to learn that after President Obama ordered that KSA essays no longer be used to rate applicants it is all done by a computer. No human really looks at most applications before the get to the selecting official. Candidates are asked to rate themselves. Those who don’t rate themselves as experts on every question stand little chance of being referred. For lower level positions this means there are hundreds of candidates who all tie with perfect scores. You could be someone like George with decades of experience and you could get the same score as an SCA. Or you might be bumped by a veteran or even just be culled from the list at random. I heard lots of stories of people who’ve worked multiple seasons at a park who couldn’t get referred for selection at places they gotten superior performance appraisals. This all puts much more of the hiring process on already over burdened field level supervisors to sort though these hundreds of resumes. . This greater flexibility in hiring might be a good thing for the supervisor who has the time, and is willing, to do the work of evaluating all those candidates but it also opens the door wide for people to get jobs for reasons other than merit.)

Clear and objective standards need to be enforced. One thing I like about the way Resource and Visitor protection is run that there are requirements that can’t be fudged. However in Interpretation things are way too subjective. Too many supervisors care little whether an interp ranger is truly reaching and having an impact on the visitor or are they just getting by. Unfortunately factors such as whether someone is the cousin of the local mayor ; the son of a “park partner” or who they are married to etc. is the most important qualification. Meanwhile people with certification from the NPS Interp Development Program or the National Association for Interpretation go without jobs. Applicants with those credentials should get credit for them and they should be required of supervisers who want to remain in the organization. Similar objective standards should be applied in other disciplines.


Rick: What about this thread tells you that retirees should stay out of this issue? It really should be telling you the opposite.


Rick, I think you are deliberately being a bit obtuse on this subject. Saying “a former senior manager” to refer to the director's brother in this context is a bit like saying “a former park superintendent” to refer to the director himself. Absolutely true, but not entirely accurate. Anyone should be able to see that those remarks coming from him are much more serious, and ominous for an existing employee, than if they had just come from a retired blowhard trying to express his low regard for seasonal employees, or idly theorizing about different ways of doing things.

About the legislative fix: do you honestly believe that the system is fair or effective when people can work for decades and still be ineligible to apply for higher level positions? If not, what about a proposal to give status to seasonals would not work to fix that? You obviously see things squarely from management's perspective, and that's fine, we need everybody to make a park run. So please tell me: what downside does management see to this proposal? I really want to know. I don't see why they are not falling all over themselves to get status for seasonals. It is much easier to find good employees when you don't disqualify most of your long term field staff from the start. Seems like a no brainer to me.

As others have pointed out, this is more than just a “personnel” issue. This is a systemic problem that is currently one of the most significant barriers to the NPS providing more effective visitor services. It is without doubt an issue that the retirees should get involved in. Who else is going to push it? Any current or former manager who has ever given a permanent job to a status candidate knowing that there was an existing seasonal employee who would do the job better, or who was already doing the job, is honor bound in my opinion to do whatever they can to make status for seasonals a reality.

For the record, I have never been passed over for a permanent job. I've never applied for one. I work in the blue collar side of things, and there aren't many permanent jobs coming up. I don't want to bounce around every couple of years trying to advance, I want to dig into the job I have (which was done by a permanent employee, sometimes two, until I took it) and do it well. I have seen other people passed over in recent years though, and the park is badly suffering for it. Someone on your listserv said that he wished the “angry seasonals” on this thread would give some background on how they got in. I got in because I grew up in the woods and had skills the NPS wanted. I got where I am now because I work hard, I'm very good at what I do, and I've been lucky to have mostly had good supervisors who have looked out for me. I'm very lucky to have got those woods skills early, but I don't think anyone would call my background, or that of any other member of the rural working class, privileged. Really, the privileged people who I see in the NPS, of all races, often come in through the SCA or other volunteer programs that people are always talking up. Poor folks can't always work for free.


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