Hey all, hoping someone out there can give me some life career advice as I'm kinda banging my head against the wall. I got a BS in Ecology a few years ago from UML and have worked three seasons in various field internships (2 with the AMC in NH, 1 with Nevada Dept. of Wildlife) in which I've done vegetation surveys, water sampling, and an assortment of data base, GIS, and report writing work. I certainly feel like I have a decent amount of experience doing field work and I'm pretty handy on a computer, but for the life of me I can't find any real jobs or get calls back from anyone. (As far as I know my resume is succinct and well laid out, I've been calling to follow up too.)

Whenever I look for jobs most of what I find is either consulting work which seems to heavily favor Engineering backgrounds which I don't have, or jobs with the state which all want 5 years experience in doing things like writing proposals, a forestry license, or some other bureaucratic stuff I've had no exposure to. I've got no doubt that whatever I need to know for most of these jobs I can learn on-the-job, but it seems like there's no such thing as entry-level or on-the-job training anymore. (Despite some depressing job requirements I've been applying for anything remotely beyond my experience anyway)

I realize in nearly any biology (/science) degree I should have a Masters, but Id rather not go into more school debt before I get out from of my undergrad loans, and I'm not quite sure what to get an MS in that would be relevant to Boston/New England. Ultimately I know I need a masters to really advance but at this point I just want a foot in the door to anything that pays more than $20k a year. I could go back West but I'd like to be in a day's drive from friends and family up here.

Anyone else around here working in ecology have any advice? Most of my experience has been with plants but I'm down to learn electro-shocking fish or mist netting birds, but again, most of that work is either seasonal low-paying gigs like I've been doing or requires me to have a PHD to run a department. I'd take an entry-level gig doing data analysis or GIS, but I'd imagine there are lots of actual comp sci and GIS majors out there gunning for those jobs too.

Also unrelated, but I'm so sick of seeing an unknown number, thinking it's a job calling back, and getting Rachel from cardholder services...

Thanks all for reading my jobless woes!

Edit: As far as a Masters if I got one, I'd think maybe plant pathology or something to do with wetlands? Are those practical enough to find work with around here? I'd love to do alpine ecology or something more focused on forests like I was doing for the AMC, but obviously that'd be a more limited field out here.