Career Resources
We’re already planning for your success
Virginia Tech’s Career and Professional Development staff works to empower all undergraduate and graduate students at Virginia Tech to discover and attain a fulfilling career. They are located in the Smith Career Center, so this should be your first stop when you are ready to start — or continue — your career planning.
Then, you’ll want to make sure you take advantage of all the help available to you in CNRE, from faculty mentors to the annual career fair to the director of employer relations.
Thinking about major options? Our Degrees & Majors page provides information about career options and employers for each major in the College of Natural Resources and Environment.
Meet your partner for career success: your faculty mentor
In addition to an academic advisor, all students in the college are assigned a faculty mentor to assist with career development needs and questions. It’s important to stay in regular contact with both individuals. Students are assigned a faculty mentor in the spring of their freshman year (transfers receive their mentors in the fall). To find out who your faculty mentor is, watch for an email or log in to Navigate. See your faculty mentor when you need assistance with:
- Choosing experiential learning opportunities such as internships, research projects, and overseas study trips.
- Making decisions about which technical courses and career-building activities to pursue.
- Networking and making connections with professionals.
- Requesting references and gaining referrals for positions and internships.
Mark your calendar for the fall CNRE Career Fair
Every fall, current students and their future employers attend the annual CNRE Career Fair. The event is open to all Virginia Tech students.
- CNRE Career Fair: September 21, 2021
Check out these quick links to career resources
Handshake is the platform used by Virginia Tech Career and Professional Development to help connect current students and recent alumni with employers. You can use Handshake to apply for jobs and internships, see career events, schedule advising appointments, interview with employers visiting campus, and more.
There are two online platforms that current students can use to locate job and internship opportunities: Canvas and Handshake. See the instructions for each platform below. Recent alumni seeking opportunities may continue to have access to the CNRE Advising Center weekly job announcement newsletter. If you have questions about your access to the Advising Center’s job announcements, please email cnre_students@vt.edu.
Locating job and internship opportunities on the CNRE Advising Center Canvas site:
- Login to your Canvas account.
- In your dashboard, click on the CNRE Advising site.
- On the left, click on the “Files” tab.
- Locate and click on the first file, titled “1. Job & Internship Opportunities.”
- Note that files are dated by semester and month. Job and internship opportunities are organized by the month in which they were posted. For the most recent opportunities, click on the current month. Some students may want to view opportunities in several recent months, as jobs posted early may still be accepting applications. Students exploring job and internship opportunities may benefit from viewing older opportunities to review company information and job criteria for their own searches.
- See job and internship postings in this location. Opportunities are listed with some basic information in the document title, such as company, organization name, position title, location, etc.
Locating job and internship opportunities through Handshake
Virginia Tech is now using Handshake to connect students and employers. This modern, user-friendly interface can be a great resource for finding professional opportunities, internships, and even student employment positions. Students are encouraged to visit Career and Professional Development’s Handshake site for more information.
- American Fisheries Society Job Board
- American Meteorological Society Job Board
- Association of American Geographers Job Board
- Ecological Society of America Job Board
- Environmental Career Center Job Board
- GISjobs.com
- Green Jobs Network
- Society for Conservation Biology Job Board
- Society of American Foresters Job Search
- Student Conservation Association Position Search
- Texas A&M Wildlife and Fisheries Job Board
- USAJOBS (all federal positions)
- U.S. Green Technology Job Board
- ZipRecruiter Environmental Science Job Search
The college is committed to building strong relationships with our forest industry and natural resources partners. As a central point of contact, John Freeborn, the director of employer relations, assists employers who are recruiting future employees as well as students who are seeking unique career prep opportunities and ways to connect with potential employers.
Contact John at 540-231-1138 or freeborn@vt.edu.
Connect with alumni and employers, learn about upcoming events, and build your professional network.
The college hosts a variety of informative webinars, many of which are designed to help students conduct a successful job search. Watch for announcements about upcoming webinars on the college’s social media accounts or watch past webinars by clicking on the button below.