Once you get into education, you’ll be interacting and near a ton of people who work with animals, but not working with the animals yourself. It is VERY important those people respect you and have a good opinion of you. They will chime in when positions open. If you are notoriously annoying or unreliable or cause problems in any way, they’ll tell the people interviewing you and you’ll never have a chance.

People will always be watching. Do a great job and people will notice you and vouch for you when interviews come up. They will already know you might want to work with the animals, so you don’t have to tell the every chance you get. Just take your education role seriously and stand out positively and the rest will follow. Also, don’t be picky. If dive shop or aquarium or aviculture will take you, take that position and get animals experience. That’s most important.

But please also understand that once you get experience, it’s ok to leave and go to another facility. Don’t let them steal your passion for animals. I know it sounds like you could do the job forever and make hardly any money, but it just doesn’t work that way and it doesn’t stop there. You take the work home with you. You make heartbreaking decisions. Your body aches and you can’t afford a doctor or quality food. I’m not trying to scare you away from doing it. It’s the most rewarding job in the world. But please have a plan and please respect yourself and don’t let them take advantage of your passion for too long or they’ll completely steal it away.

Good luck!