Have you been applying and applying to wildlife jobs or experiences only to hear nothing back? That’s exactly what happened to Dylan Karl despite having a degree from a prestigious university specializing in wildlife, a Master’s degree, years of experience, and a wildlife biologist certification from The Wildlife Society.
Listen to When Your "Dream Job" Isn't What You Thought
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Dylan’s story is even more unique. Dylan was one of my Successful Wildlife Professional students, and when I first started working with him, he was working in a wildlife job, but unhappy. He felt that although he was technically involved in wildlife work mitigating damage at airports, he wasn’t having the impact he wanted, and felt like he was spending a lot more time killing wildlife rather than saving it.
So Dylan decided to join the Successful Wildlife Professional program and get help. And it paid off almost instantly! Within two months of the program, he applied for and got his dream job of working with Mexican wolves. This was a huge win and we were both so excited for his future! Because of these incredible results, I knew I had to have him on the Fancy Scientist podcast to share.
But when I interviewed him, I was surprised he was no longer working there! It turns out that his story took an unexpected turn. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for reality to not match up with expectations in our field…
Dylan had always imagined himself as a bridge between wildlife and people, helping manage conflict and promote coexistence. But what he thought was a non-lethal position in Arizona turned out not to be so non-lethal after all, due to pressure from ranchers pushing for the lethal removal of federally protected wolves. This didn’t sit right with him, and that misalignment caused him to rethink what he actually wanted out of his career.
“For me, I didn't want to get into wildlife just so I could be…killing things all the time. That was not the reason I even wanted to get into wildlife.”
Luckily, he had the tools he learned from the Successful Wildlife Professional to lean back on. He used the trainings on understanding the jobs and workplaces and personal exercises to uncover his own desires and strengths to re-identify his dream job.
“What attracted me to the SWP program was like, ‘I need help focusing on what matters to me and…where I would be my best fit.’”
He combined this with the wildlife-specific protocols in the application section to write competitive cover letters and resumes for his new dream path.
“This strategy of just taking the first wildlife place that offers me a job is not working.”
He now works as a Preserve Management Assistant for the prestigious The Nature Conservancy in northwestern Minnesota, helping to manage approximately 300,000 acres of tallgrass aspen parklands through tools like prescribed burns and seed spreading. Every morning he wakes up feeling like he’s taking care of the animals he loves’ homes.
“I'm taking care of these critters' home. I'm making sure they have a place to be, a place to live, and a place where they can be undisturbed.”
Dylan also gives a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to work at the Nature Conservancy and what prescribed fire management actually looks like, including how burning 400 acres of land can transform a smothered wetland into one teeming with native wildflowers, frogs, fish, and water birds just a month later.
“You go back about a month later, and suddenly there's wildflowers everywhere… You would think that nothing's going to be here, and you go there a month later, and it's thriving with life.”
After the interview, I break down the key takeaways so you can apply them to your own path, including why “proven experience” beats just experience, why knowing your end goal changes everything, and why the workplace you choose matters just as much as the work itself.
“Show them your quality as a person, not just your quality as a professional, and that can create opportunities for you.”
Specifically, we talk about:
- Dylan’s winding path from watching Steve Irwin as a kid in Cincinnati to managing 300,000 acres with The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota
- His experiences with the Peace Corps, the Cincinnati Zoo, wind turbine curtailment, spotted owl research, and USDA Wildlife Services
- What it felt like to be in a position that looked good on paper but isn’t aligned with your values
- How you can still work in wildlife, but not feel like you are following your dream or having the impact you want
- The gap between the Steve Irwin version of a wildlife career and what most wildlife jobs actually look like
- Why sending 30 to 50 applications a season and taking the first offer isn’t a career strategy
- What caused Dylan to break through and land his dream job on Mexican wolves within a couple of months
- How Dylan used The Successful Wildlife Professional to get clear on what he actually wanted and land the Nature Conservancy job
- His tips for landing a job with The Nature Conservancy, including why seasonal positions are the right entry point
- How prescribed fire is used as a conservation tool, and what it’s like to return to a burned unit a month later and find it thriving with life
- The spotted owl courtship behavior story you didn’t know you needed
- And more!
“The work we do, to me, feels purposeful and cares about coexistence and conservation as a whole, and not just pest control.”
Resources and Sources: When Your "Dream Job" Isn't What You Thought
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Fancy Scientist Podcast #158: When Your “Dream Job” Isn’t What You Thought: Finding Career Alignment in Wildlife Conservation: Interview with Dylan Karl
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