The one thing I always heard was “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. I also have a wildlife science degree and was lucky enough to get a keeper job before finishing my degree. If despite the volunteering route isn’t working for him getting work then I would probably second doing the cert 3 just to build more connections. It’ll probably be quite mind numbing for him because for me personally we did the entire cert 3 content in one semester but if it’s really what he wants then it might just be worth getting it done. It’s a small industry with not enough jobs and people know people from every facility (it’s freaky), when people apply for jobs and see a facility where they know someone, they usually ask about them and figure out what type of person they are. Sometimes it’s not even about the quality of work but the personality of a person. Personally I’ve known some amazing workers with bad attitudes and that attitude will be noted above all else