WASHINGTON, DC—In the earliest days of the global pandemic, favorite social pastimes got traded in for hobbies and interests that involved less interpersonal contact. Casey Sigg made the most of the challenges we all faced by tapping into a bevy of new knowledge. Sigg spent hours sifting curiously through treasured back issues of the Journal of Forestry. The magazines hadn’t been touched for decades.

For Sigg, a forester with the Forest Service, discovering the dusty stash of magazines was like hitting a jackpot of untold diaries; each magazine was packed full of hints of what life was like for foresters long before he had ever even started to dream of becoming one. An English literature graduate, he stitched together his observations to create his own article for the journal. Sigg’s story, “Lessons from Yesterday’s Foresters,” was published the following year.

In his article, Sigg highlighted excerpts from the magazines, including this one: “Clean air, clean water, and the wood that makes up our homes are all products resulting from forest management. The work we do as foresters is too important to remain unknown to most of society.”

“I was moved by how many topics are still relevant today,” he said.

Sigg might not have stumbled into the magazines, or the internship with the Forest Service Washington Office that brought him to the Bent Creek Experimental Forest in Asheville, North Carolina, where he found the publications, had it not been for the Forest Service hiring event at the Society of American Foresters National Convention in 2019. For years prior to that time, Sigg worked toward his goal of becoming a forester, and participating in the event made a pivotal influence on his career path.

At the time of the event, he was pursuing a graduate degree in forestry at the Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. The school got the word out to students about the event.

“Everyone who is in the forestry profession should attend the SAF National Convention at least once,” Sigg said. “It is amazing for so many people in forestry to come together in one place from across the United States.” 

At the hiring event, Sigg was able to meet with recruiters, which, for him, led to an interview for his Washington Office internship.

“It’s great to get that face-to-face interaction,” Sigg said. “A recruiter from every USDA Forest Service region was there.”

His internship provided work experience that he taps into every day now in his full-time position as a forester on the Huron-Manistee National Forest, where he works on contracts that go out to bid for timber sales.

Here are Casey’s 10 tips on preparing for a hiring event:

1. Get clear about what you want to do.
2. Study the job opportunities in advance.
3. Do the work.
4. Arrive early.
5. Mentally rehearse.
6. Create an informative, attractive resume.
7. Plan questions in advance.
8. Reach out to people.
9. Stay physically active.
10. Stay inspired.

This year’s SAF convention is in September, and we hope to find more enthusiastic employees like Casey, who said about his final tip, “Remind yourself, at the end of each day, that it is a privilege to be able to get to do the work that we do. Remember, day-to-day, we might get bogged down with the details, but understand that the most important thing is that we serve the public.”

The hiring event will be held in Baltimore, Maryland, Sept. 20-24. To learn more about the event, visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/forestmanagement/recruitment_saf/index.shtml.