Allegheny County seeking seasonal park rangers
BOYCE PARK, Pa. (KDKA) -- Do you like nature? Do you like being out in nature and getting paid for it? Well, if you said yes to either of those things, you should consider being a part-time park ranger at one of Allegheny County's beautiful parks.
If you ask Braden Meiter, the lead supervisory park ranger of the Allegheny County Department of Parks, he will tell you that it can be pretty fun.
"I have to say, my favorite thing about being a park ranger is being able to work in the outdoors, work with natural resources," Meiter said. "I am a big fan of history and our parks have a rich history, so that's a great thing for me."
Meiter says that the Allegheny County parks are currently looking to hire anywhere from 12 to 14 seasonal rangers to help in all the county's nine parks. These seasonal hires will bolster the 10 full-time rangers the county already has, and he says you don't need any previous experience being a seasonal ranger, you just need to be willing to work hard, learn and have fun.
"What I look for is folks that really have a passion and desire to be in the outdoors, but are also great communicators, because that is one of the hardest things to teach," Meiter said. "So we are looking for those folks who can just naturally speak to a crowd, grab their attention and help interpret our natural and cultural resources."
The Department of Parks does prefer that part-time ranger candidates to have at least completed their freshman year in college. In addition to the part-time ranger jobs, there is one full-time ranger position that is currently open, and that full-time position does have a few more hiring requirements.
But if being a ranger isn't for you and you want to go out and do some serious construction on trails around the parks, Meiter says there are several openings for seasonal trail crews that anyone can apply for.
The seasonal jobs start at $15 an hour and the full-time ranger job starts at $45,000 a year. Positions are filling up fast, so apply now.