National Park Service reviews

-The hiring process is ridiculous. It's essentially a crapshoot. Twist your USAJOBs resume in whatever way you can to get past the automated review to get referred to a hiring manager, then hope like hell there aren't too many veterans applying for the position you're after. The best people don't get hired under this application system. Some do, but it's almost a certainty you'll have a co-worker who obtained their job via some type of special hiring consideration and not via their interpretive skills. -Pay is poor, advancement from a seasonal to a permanent position is unlikely and, again, a crapshoot. If you want a career with the NPS, it's likely you'll be working seasonally for 5 - 10 years before scoring a permanent position. -Upper level jobs are stuck at their desks all day under the yoke of bureaucratic wheels. -Organizational inertia and politicing between internal divisions. The park service, by and large, is not adaptable to the new and upcoming. Getting social media started at one of the parks I worked at was an effort, mainly due to the resistance of an old school manager. Communication between different park units is often terrible (for example, HQ not informing our park of a road closure for construction => no prior warnings => angry visitors). Upper level resource, interp, and protection don't always get along (depends on the park), politicing can get nasty. -Extremely difficult to fire inept employees.

I agree with those that wrote: "What a joke" and " Not as prefect as everyone thinks." I worked for good competent managers here before and now currently for bad managers who have no people and listening skills. These people in middle and upper management with their bad management style have turned operations upside down. They recently forced out many respectable, long serving staff under them. So it all depends what NPS site you are at and who your managers are. I would say, research the current managers at where you want to work. If you can, visit the site first and talk to the front line staff. Understand the current cultural working environment there and if you can live with it. But I would not recommend you come to my site now. Maybe in a few years when these people move on. Look for other parks that appreciate your service and let you do your good work.