Conservation internships and volunteering are often considered fundamental rites-of-passage to land a conservation job. But if you haven’t had much experience in the sector, how can you choose the best path for you? In this article we’ve compiled years of experience in the conservation sector, plus advice from conservationists from around the globe to help guide you.
Two volunteers observing macaws in Costa Rica. Credit: Macaw Recovery Network.
Before many aspiring conservationists attend the first class of their undergraduate course or degree, they’re already bombarded with this message: in order to land a paid conservation job, it’s necessary to work for free.
Long before graduation, many young conservationists already feel stressed about the idea of working with little or no pay for months or years after earning their degree.
Conservation internships and volunteering is often considered the single most controversial topic in the sector, because it tends to throw up a whole host of questions:
- Why do companies expect work without pay? Is this right, or ethical?
- Why does this happen in conservation and not in other job sectors?
- How can young conservationists from less-privileged backgrounds be competitive?
- Is it true that you can’t get a conservation job without taking unpaid work?
- Is it even economical to work in conservation, anyways?
Does thinking about conservation internships and volunteering make you feel like this? Then read on! Credit: Sebastian Herrmann/Unsplash.
It’s so bad that, with no real experience or first-hand knowledge of the conservation sector, many promising young conservationists are giving up, choosing alternate career paths, and walking away from conservation – before they even have a chance to put their skills to use.
And in a sector where we need every single ounce of help that we can get, that’s an alarm bell.
The topic of conservation internships and volunteering comes up so often in our webinars, social media channels, online courses and discussions that we dedicated this article to exploring it in depth.
If you’ve heard your friends, classmates, peers or even professors express concern about conservation internships and volunteering, this article is for you. If you’re feeling conflicted about the ethics of a sector that seems to expect unpaid labour, this article is for you. And if you’ve ever second-guessed conservation as a career choice because you’re worried about being trapped volunteering or interning indefinitely, this article is definitely for you.
We’ll explore the realities and myths about the conservation job market, and challenge some of the common opinions about conservation interning and volunteering. We’ll introduce you to information, resources, tips and ideas if you’re considering a conservation internship or volunteer opportunity. And we’ll guide you through finding the right next step for your career.
What’s the difference between conservation internships and volunteering?
Who’s who? Can you tell if these people are interns, volunteers or both? Credit: GVI.
Volunteering means giving your time and effort to help support a cause, usually without expectation of any monetary or other tangible benefit.
Interning implies a focus on training, where the intern develops specific skills and/or competencies through the internship.
To illustrate the difference, let’s take the example of a volunteer park ranger and a ranger traineeship (internship).
The volunteer ranger already has the skills needed to fulfil the duties of their role (or they act as an assistant who requires minimal training). There is less emphasis on training and more emphasis on simply getting the work done and furthering the cause.
The intern or trainee, on the other hand, receives specific training during their internship. They are expected to learn, develop and progress during the course of the internship, and have guidance from a skilled supervisor or mentor in order to do so. They may have specific learning targets to achieve and their training might even be aimed towards a paid position at the end of their internship.
We’ve summarised the main differences between conservation internships and volunteering in the next table:
| Interning | Volunteering |
| Primary goal: to develop your skills in a chosen area. | Primary goal: to help a cause (though it may help develop skills as a secondary goal). |
| A step closer to working as an employee for an organisation. | A step further from working as an employee for an organisation. |
| Often full time for a fixed-term employment period, embedded within a defined role, and longer term | Often part-time for a shorter or flexible employment period. |
| May be paid or provide other benefits (e.g. a stipend, accommodation, food, etc.) | Usually unpaid and without benefits. |
Keep in mind that there are always exceptions to the ‘rule’. For example, you can find part-time internships and long-term volunteer roles that have benefits. But keeping in mind your primary goal will help you decide which is best for you.
What types of conservation internships and volunteering are available?
We’ve summarised the different types of conservation internship and volunteer opportunities to help you decide which is best for you.
Skilled volunteering
- What it involves: Conservationists with specific skills donate them to a project or organisation.
- Costs & benefits: Usually unpaid, however some organisations provide support (e.g. a stipend).
- Who it’s for: Professional conservationists with specific skillsets that they wish to donate to a cause.
- Examples: CUSO International, VSO International, Vets Without Borders, etc.
- Outcome: Volunteer fulfills a very specific need.
- What’s in it for you? Helping a cause, career break, CV building, networking, challenge, etc.
Unskilled volunteering
- What it involves: Contributing to projects that require unskilled support.
- Costs & benefits: Usually unpaid.
- Who it’s for: Conservationists of all career levels (early career conservationists, career-switchers, mid-career and senior) who wish to support a cause.
- Examples: Conservation Volunteers Australia, habitat restoration work (tree planting, invasive species removal), canvassing, etc.
- Outcome: Volunteer contributes via unskilled labour or a role that requires minimal training.
- What’s in it for you? Helping a cause, career break, CV building, networking, challenge, etc.
Experiential learning
Experiential learning involves learning through doing – in this case learning how to use a camera trap to monitor wildlife with Fauna Forever. Credit: Douglas Sorin.
- What it involves: Often similar to ecotourism, this type of volunteering focuses on the volunteer’s experience and conservation outcomes combined.
- Costs & benefits: Usually fee-based to provide any or all of: transport, accommodation, food, training, special experiences, materials, etc.
- Who it’s for: Conservationists of all career levels, but especially early career conservationists and career switchers.
- Examples: GVI, Blue Ventures, Earthwatch, Operation Wallacea,
- Outcome: Depending on the opportunity, it may 1) help achieve conservation outcomes (e.g. through labour, data collection), 2) help fund conservation projects, and 3) create ambassadors for conservation.
- What’s in it for you? Test-driving a career path, gaining knowledge and/or experience, networking, getting a foot in with an organisation, transitioning to paid employment, etc.
Paid internships
- What it involves: Focuses on transferring skills, competencies and/or experiences to the intern.
- Costs & benefits: A salary or stipend.
- Who it’s for: Early career conservationists, career switchers.
- Examples: See our list of Top Conservation Internships
- Outcome: Career development and training for the intern; possible contribution to conservation outcomes.
- What’s in it for you? Experience, training, new skills, CV building, progression to paid employment, getting a foot in with an organisation, etc.
Save the Rhino International offers an annual paid internship (including a trip to Namibia!) to a top candidate – like 2014 intern Aron White.
No-fee internships
- What it involves: Focuses on transferring skills, competencies and/or experiences to the intern.
- Costs & benefits: No fee. May provide benefits (e.g. accommodation, board, transport, etc.)
- Who it’s for: Early career conservationists, career switchers.
- Outcome: Career development and training for the intern; possible contribution to conservation outcomes.
- What’s in it for you? Experience, training, new skills, CV building, progression to paid employment, getting a foot in with an organisation, etc.
Fee-based internships
- What it involves: Focuses on transferring skills, competencies and/or experiences to the intern.
- Costs & benefits: Carries a fee to cover any or all of: room, board, transport, materials, special activities, staff time and a contribution to conservation projects.
- Who it’s for: Early career conservationists, career switchers.
- Examples: Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation
- Outcome: Career development and training for the intern; possible contribution to conservation outcomes.
- What’s in it for you? Experience, training, new skills, CV building, progression to paid employment, getting a foot in with an organisation, etc.
Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation offers fee-based internships based in the Aegean Islands, Greece focussed on terrestrial, marine and multidisciplinary research and conservation. Credit: Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation.
Where do conservation internships and volunteering take place?
You can find conservation internships and volunteering opportunities in remote corners of the planet, in your hometown, online and everything in between!
How can conservation internships and volunteering help your career?
At Conservation Careers we’ve spoken to over 400 professional conservationists and shared their career stories, advice, tips and much more in our career advice article and in our Conservation Careers podcast.
Almost all of these often very successful professors, leaders and conservation heroes share a single piece of advice: volunteer, volunteer, volunteer (or intern).
Why? Why would anyone ever work for free?
Paradise Interns receive training in digital marketing and apply it at leading dive centres, restaurants, hotels and NGO’s (while enjoying paradise!) Credit: Paradise Interns.
Conservation internships and volunteering are highly recommended because they a great way to get on-the-job training and develop key skills in your chosen area. They can be an excellent way to fill key gaps in your experience for your target role. For example, if you’re working towards being a Communications Officer but lack social media experience, embedding yourself with a conservation organisation’s communications team as an intern could be the ideal way to develop your skills, accumulate great experience, grow your network of contacts within your chosen area of work and to test drive the job. If it’s close to what you want to be doing it should also be lots of fun! “Many of the Sustainable Development Goals call for long-term attitude and behaviour changes. Volunteers facilitate changes in mindsets by raising awareness or championing those changes and inspiring others” – UN Volunteers. Conservationist Holly O’Donnell celebrating Carnaval in Peru at Fauna Forever. Credit: Alberto Luis Garcia Ayachi. Valuable connections. From like-minded volunteers and interns, to organisations, researchers, local community members and more, the connections you build while volunteering or interning are often the web that can help support and grow your conservation career. It seems a bit backwards, doesn’t it? You’re giving your time, energy and skills to help a cause – and you’re paying for the privilege of doing so? Why doesn’t this happen in other job sectors and why does it happen in conservation? Let’s take two examples to illustrate this. First, picture an established law firm that hires a paid intern for one year. The company is for-profit – meaning that they aim to maximise their profits and share these with the company’s owners, shareholders (and employees). The intern is fresh out of law school, living in the same city and looking to establish themselves with a reputable firm. At the same time, the law firm wants a new employee that they can train from the ground up based on their needs, with the aim of them becoming a long-term member of their staff. It’s an investment by the company with future returns for the company. Now picture a small non-profit organisation focussed on marine conservation in the tropics. Their primary aim is to provide for society’s and the planet’s needs and this is where the vast majority of their funding goes, with just enough to cover basic staff salaries. They take on international volunteers who participate in their projects. In a few cases, these volunteers might turn into interns or staff members, but the majority spend only a few weeks or months on site, and staff members usually only stay for a year. Interns and volunteers releasing a green turtle. Credit: Ningaloo Turtle Program. On top of that, their staff are likely working long, hard days without much pay – and training brand-new volunteers can take several weeks or more just to get them up to speed. (Think about how long it takes to be proficient in a new job – depending on the complexity of the role, it can be anywhere from a couple weeks to a full year!) The non-profit organisation relies on funding from donors (and sometimes even volunteers) to operate and achieve their goals. Some grants fund volunteer hours, but the vast majority do not – meaning that these types of organisations simply do not have the resources to pay. But… if they can set up a two-way exchange – where they provide a valuable experience for a volunteer while helping support their mission and the greater good – perfect! It’s a potential win-win for the organisation and the volunteer. These two examples sit at opposite ends of the scale, and there are all sorts of examples in between them. But they do a good job of illustrating the basic difference between conservation internships (or non-profit sector internships in general) and internships in for-profit sectors. Interns assist with seagrass research off the Aegean Islands, Greece. Credit: Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation. Does it really cost that much? As a potential volunteer or intern, you’re probably all too aware of the investments of time, money and (possibly) international travel you’re making. However, it can help to put yourself in the shoes of a project or programme manager who also must invest in supporting you as a volunteer or interns. Depending on the project, getting a new person sufficiently set up might include housing and food; transport to and from remote project sites; resources such as uniforms, tools and materials; specialised health and safety training and more – plus the staff time to train and support you. For an organisation that operates on donations, this kind of investment may simply not be an option. However, many organisations do provide paid internship opportunities. These may be a result of a specific grant/donation to support volunteers, a logical investment for the organisation (e.g. future trained employee) or long-term temporary roles (e.g. field base manager). Check out our Top Conservation Internships | PAID or FREE Opportunities for 20 opportunities worldwide. For those of you who like taking shortcuts straight to the answer… yes! The vast majority of conservationists we’ve spoken to for our career advice articles and Conservation Careers podcast (to date we’ve spoken to over 400!) highly recommend conservation volunteering or internships to get started in the sector. But that doesn’t mean that conservation interning or volunteering is the only path for you. For example, in some sectors – like ecological consultancy and ecotourism – jobs are often less competitive and companies (who are sustained by profits rather than donor funding) tend to hire more early career conservationists for paid roles. In order to decide whether conservation interning or volunteering is right for you, it helps to understand the entry-level requirements for your chosen area within conservation and identify if there are any key gaps you need to fill to be employable. “Understand the entry-level requirements for your chosen area, and strengthen and fill any gaps you might have in a strategic way. You might need to do some specific volunteering or internship, go back to Uni and do a Degree or Masters, or take an online course. But know exactly what skills or knowledge you need to become employable for your chosen niche in the first place, and then focus on finding the best way to get it”, said Conservation Careers Director Dr Nick Askew. With all the information (and sometimes even misinformation…) available online, looking for conservation internships and volunteer opportunities is nearly as complex as conducting a job search. If you go about it unprepared, it can feel a bit like looking at a very complex Where’s Wally book after several pints of beer (we’ve not actually tried this, but you get the picture). Searching for a conservation internship or volunteer opportunity without knowing what you want is like searching for Wally in a sea of Wallies. Credit: William Murphy/Flickr. Imagine you open a Where’s Wally book (or Where’s Waldo, depending what country you’re in) and start searching – but you’re not quite sure what Wally looks like. What happens? You get distracted by hundreds of characters who aren’t Wally, you your search takes far longer than it should, you give up partway through, or, worst of all, you end up with an opportunity that isn’t what you’re looking for. You don’t benefit, other conservationists don’t benefit and conservation as a whole doesn’t benefit. So to help save you time (and sanity!) and get on with your career and the business of saving the planet, you need to know what your own personal Wally or Waldo looks like before you start your search. Does yours look like Jane Goodall at a remote field station in Africa, gaining hands-on experience in chimpanzee research techniques to prepare for a master’s or PhD? Is your ideal internship observing chimpanzees in Tanzania? Credit: Kaitlin Wellens. Or is yours joining a community of enthusiastic volunteers through a local marine conservation organisation, contributing to beach clean-ups while test-driving environmental education for youth groups as a potential career path? Or maybe your Wally is running a remote research station in Ecuador with next-to-no resources, taking on responsibility for a field research programme and the health and safety of and international team of volunteers, interns and staff – to give you the experience you need for your next career jump? To help figure out what your own personal Wally (aka ideal conservation internship or volunteer opportunity) looks like, it can help to ask yourself a few questions: Try to visualise your ideal experience, and come up with a short, prioritised list that you can use as criteria to evaluate the opportunities you come across. Your ideal internship experience might be based in at a remote research camp – or it might be helping to organise and participate in a global wildlife conference. Credit: Mark Mackenzie / Foreign and Commonwealth Office Once you know what your own personal Waldo looks like, so you can start filtering opportunities, here are a few useful places to start looking for opportunities: Need more ideas and inspiration? Check out these articles written by Conservation Careers and our team of Conservation Careers Bloggers: Volunteering – Overviews & Advice Volunteering – Career stories & Advice Interning – Overviews & Advice Internships – PAID & No-fee opportunities Internships – Fee-based programmes Before you start, make sure you’ve read section 7: How to choose the right opportunity for you. Once you find a promising role, there are four important questions to ask to help determine if it’s the right opportunity for you. Also keep in mind that any given opportunity is unlikely to fulfill everything you’re looking for, but you need to make sure that it ticks off the top priorities on your list. What if I suspect that an organisation is unethical? It’s an unfortunate reality that some organisations exaggerate conservation impact greatly in order to attract volunteers and interns. The opportunity to experience exotic species and places while contributing to a meaningful cause is attractive (as it should be!) but it means that occasionally it gets abused. If you suspect an organisation is not representing its conservation impact accurately or isn’t operating ethically, you can: If you’d like more, Moving Worlds, Verge Magazine and Idealist all offer great advice on volunteering ethically. Conservation internships and volunteering can be incredibly rewarding if you join a quality programme and organisation. Credit: Piers Brown/Flickr. Applying for a conservation internship or volunteer position can be much like applying to a conservation job, especially if it’s longer-term, in-demand, requires specific skills or linked to career progression. The good news is that, if you’ve done your homework and really identified the ideal opportunity or opportunites for you, it should be much easier to articulate your ‘fit’ in an application. If you want your application to have the best possible chance of being successful, check out our guide ‘How to Apply for a Conservation Job: A complete guide to producing successful CVs, Resumes and Cover Letters by Conservation Careers. The guide covers the 10 key steps in the application process, from deciding to apply through to submitting your application. It has real-life examples of before and after applications to help you craft an application that stands out. And it has a series of templates and examples to help you choose the right CV style for you. We know that when you’re studying or job-hunting, money can be tight, and paying for a conservation internship or volunteer placement can be out of the question. These tips and resources can help prevent money from becoming a major barrier to your career goals. There are countless ways to fundraise for a conservation internship or volunteer placement if you’re creative and determined. Credit: Dominic Nicholls/Save The Rhino. Want inspiration and ideas to think outside of the box? Check out How to Fund a Conservation Expedition for examples and advice from conservationists who’ve successfully funded their way around the planet. You can also check out James Borrell’s article on Sponsorship and Fieldwork Grants and GVI’s Fundraising ideas for volunteering abroad. Much like doing a master’s degree or training course, conservation internships and volunteering represent an investment of your time and – potentially – money. Here’s how to make the most of them. Doing your research thoroughly and taking ownership of your conservation internship or volunteer placement can make or break your experience. Credit: Daniel Thorton/Flickr. If you’ve read section 1 of this article, you know the difference between conservation internships and volunteering. So why is it still difficult to differentiate between conservation volunteering and interning in practice? There are a few reasons why this can happen: In practice, the definitions of conservation internships and volunteering are often all shades of grey or even misused. The best way to avoid confusion is to be as clear as possible about what type of opportunity (section 2) you’re looking and what you want to get out of it. That way you’ll learn to quickly recognise whether an opportunity is a good fit for you, regardless of what it’s called. If you take the time to decide what you’re looking for, you’ll help avoid common conservation internship and volunteering issues. Credit: Discovery Park Staff and Volunteer Naturalists via Seattle Parks/Flickr. Chances are, if you’re asking this question, you’re already there! We’ve seen CVs from conservationists who have spent several years in conservation internships and volunteer placements. And as hiring managers, we have sometimes bypassed those candidates. Why? If you have only training experiences on your CV and you’re applying for more, it raises the question, does this person know what they want and what they can offer? It’s a huge problem in conservation – a sector full of people focussed on helping a cause – that we often undervalue ourselves and don’t give ourselves enough credit where it’s due. Of course, if you’re fresh out of university with no real-life experience, you’ll need to build some up to become employable. But if you’ve already got an experience or two under your belt, make sure you take the time to reflect on and recognise the skills and knowledge you’ve gained. Chances are you have more experience than you realise that is relevant to a paid job. The real trick to knowing when you’re ready for paid work is identifying the right job to target, the entry level requirements and any key gaps to fill – something we review in ‘How to get a conservation job’ and cover in detail in our online course The Kick-starter for Early Career Conservationists. When we enter a job sector where the apparent ‘norm’ is being unpaid, underpaid and/or working overtime, it’s easy to assume that we have to do all these things and more in order to be competitive. Let’s think about this for a second from the employer’s perspective. Does an employer want someone who can’t plan and manage their time realistically, who does not maintain a healthy work-life balance to maintain productivity over time, who isn’t motivated to advance to greater responsibility in paid roles, or who burns out after weeks or months? Probably not. So, what is the right amount of ‘going the extra mile’? While it’s true that you need to be open to learning, available for some extra hours (especially in field-based work), flexible and adaptable, there’s a big difference between this and saying yes to everything. A good employer will know that you need a healthy balance in order to maintain productivity, do your best work and stick around. When you interview for a conservation job, internship or other opportunity, be conscious about promising that you’ll work weekends, evenings and overtime whenever the employer asks. While you may need to show that you’re willing to do this occasionally for important deadlines or events, if you go overboard you might even make the employer second-guess you! Make sure you know and set your boundaries and do your best work within them. Remember that just because you may see others working chronic overtime hours, what you’re probably not seeing is the detriment this has on their productivity, happiness and health. The last thing we need is to perpetuate the unsustainable idea that to be a conservationist you must give up everything – including your mental, physical or emotional health – for your career. We’re here to help each other achieve shared goals, and that means respecting our and others’ boundaries, speaking up if a work environment becomes unhealthy, and making sure conservation is a sector that is challenging, inspiring and rewarding to work in. Macaw volunteers in Costa Rica. Credit: Macaw Recovery Network. Conservation doesn’t usually draw people who are motivated primarily by financial goals, but that doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice all financial security in order to work in the sector. You’ll need to be prepared to make less money at the beginning, but once you’ve built up the entry-level requirements for your chosen area, you can certainly make a decent living in conservation. If you work for a well-established charity or university you should be comfortable, while if you work in an area like ecological consultancy or ecotourism, you may even be paid very well. To help you navigate your options, please select which best describes you:12 things you stand to gain for conservation internships or volunteering
Why don’t all conservation internship and volunteer opportunities pay?
Is it possible to get a conservation job without an internship or volunteering experience?
How to choose the right opportunity for you? | Where’s Wally?
Follow / Flickr.How to find conservation internships and volunteering opportunities? | Paid, no-fee and fee-based roles
How to review conservation internships and volunteer opportunities? | What to look out for
How to apply for a conservation internship or volunteer opportunity?
How to fund conservation internships and volunteering opportunities that are fee-based?
How to make the most of conservation internships and volunteering?
How to avoid common pitfalls with conservation internships and volunteering?
How to know when you’re ready for a paid conservation job?
How to help yourself (and other conservationists) | Setting boundaries and creating balance
Is it economical to work in conservation?
Useful links and free stuff