Moving, young family looking for supportive community with good morals

[corgis]

I'm pretty sure that the Park Service has other areas that they serve besides Acadia - and I've known several people who got jobs in Maine while living in another state. You make Acadia seem very snobbish if they won't even talk to someone who lives out of state.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by lostmama

I do not find that to be rude. Thank you for explaining it in more detail. I am new to this site so I am still learning. I understand where you are coming from. I do need to do more research. Thank you for opening up my mind, I apologize for the inconvience. However, I really am interested in Maine. I have been to Acadia National Park and it is why I am interested. I do not have the money to explore the state on vacation though so that is why I am seeking advice from real people rather and websites trying to fancy up their towns and bring in business. I should probably delete the posts huh? I will do my homework first...

And I do appreciate the advice I have recieved so far!

Send as many questions out as you want. Thats what the forum is all about and people are free to ignore you if they so chose. You are looking for something special and you are not sure where it exists... I understand

Maine does get a lot of rain so I am not sure how you would handle that. I do not consider Maine to be a sunny state.

Also when start adding up what it your looking for you might find those communities are few and far between and are probably very expensive.. as many people would want to live there...

here is a website that you can take a quiz and find areas that match your desires.. there is no catch to it and it might be a good place to start.

Good luck!

just google my top spot quiz it wont let me link the address.. DM me if you cant find it

[Kristin85]

Originally Posted by corgis

I'm pretty sure that the Park Service has other areas that they serve besides Acadia - and I've known several people who got jobs in Maine while living in another state. You make Acadia seem very snobbish if they won't even talk to someone who lives out of state.

Zarathu is actually telling the truth about the difficulty of getting employed with the Maine government at a state/program level. I applied for a job with the Maine DEP as a researcher and although I received a 92 on the suitability/skill set test, I did not receive even a courtesy response back. This isn't an issue of the Maine park service being snobby: most state run programs won't waste their time responding to people from out of state for entry level or mid level jobs unless they have completely exhausted their local leads.

On a separate note, the OP will have an incredibly difficult time even finding a stable opening to apply for. When I checked a few months ago, all of the NPS openings for entry level jobs were seasonal. On top of THAT, my brother looked into becoming a park ranger and found that in most states you need to pass a law enforcement physical fitness test before even being eligible to apply. If the OP was interested in applying to that kind of job, she may have a problem if she hasn't been physically training.

[mollysmiles]

Kristin, that's not quite what corgis is saying.... she said she knows of people who got jobs in Maine while living "away", she didn't say they were with a National or state program. Also, her second reference to Acadia is more to the area of Acadia I think, not ANP. A post was edited by our mod, necessarily so! from a poser on here. But that post was what Corgis was replying to, and it had information in it that would make Corgi's post that you quoted make sense in a different way.

I don't know what getting work in DEP is like for every job, but I do have a friend working at DEP. She is currently taking classes for her Masters, after receiving her Bachelor's at Unity College. From her, it's my understanding that DEP is difficult to break into without a very specific background. As far as the National Park Service, National Wildlife Refuges, and our Maine park services are concerned, without a degree they are difficult to break into as well. My youngest daughter worked for the YCC this summer, and my oldest daughter has friends who are Parks and Recs majors at various colleges. Many a conversation around our table has been about how necessary college backgrounds are in breaking into these organizations. Many times, the initial contact is made with the organization by students volunteering during the summer for research, and even these volunteer groups have limited numbers and competition is great for positions.

Now, if we're talking about someone who just wants to work in the gift shop, this probably doesn't apply.

[lostmama]

Originally Posted by Kristin85

On a separate note, the OP will have an incredibly difficult time even finding a stable opening to apply for. When I checked a few months ago, all of the NPS openings for entry level jobs were seasonal. On top of THAT, my brother looked into becoming a park ranger and found that in most states you need to pass a law enforcement physical fitness test before even being eligible to apply. If the OP was interested in applying to that kind of job, she may have a problem if she hasn't been physically training.

You do not have to do the law enforcement tests unless you are wanting to be a protection park ranger. I am in the interpretation division. I have a BS in Rec Admin. I have worked 6 months for the NPS. I am having trouble finding a job because 1. I am not a verteran(which they do deserve the jobs) and 2. I do not have hands on experience since no one will hire me 3. like she said majority of the jobs are seasonal and therefore the perm. ones are really competitive and hard to get. However I am willing to work for the Forest Service or BLM or some sort of privately owned rec company or at a park district...but my dream job is with the NPS