By Ronica Stromberg
Randy Stutheit has a couple of words of advice for students seeking a career in natural resources.
Passion and persistence.
The 2024 winner of the School of Natural Resources’ Distinguished Service Alumni Award said the field was competitive even back in 1979 when he graduated from Nebraska and sought work with Nebraska Game and Parks. Now, for management positions in natural resources, he said many employers expect applicants to have a master’s degree. Still, he encouraged those who have a passion for conservation and the outdoors to persist.
“You really have to maintain your persistence, to continue trying and keep working at getting a job, and then that's where your passion also can shine through,” Stutheit said. “You know, someone would look at you and say, ‘Oh, you've been trying to get a job in the conservation field for five years. Well, you're obviously very serious about it, and you have a passion for that type of work.’ So, that works in your favor. But yeah, persistence and passion are the two probably biggest words that I would hang my hat on.”
Even back in junior high when he hunted rabbits and squirrels on his family’s farm near Cook, Stutheit had been telling people he wanted to work in wildlife management. So, in the first two years after college, when he worked at the Humane Society and then a place making the laminated beams found in churches, he never gave up on his dream.
Still, he knew that working such jobs, he was getting further from the time of earning his degree and had to make a move to get into his field. He applied for a position in operations and construction at the Game and Parks Commission to get his foot in the door.
“I laid out what I thought I had to do,” he said. “First, get on in some capacity with the Game and Parks Commission, get to know people and be available because a lot of the jobs early on were only open to internal candidates, people already working for Game and Parks.”
He took the position in the carpenter shop, improving facilities in state parks. While the state fair was in Lincoln, he worked as the nightwatchman at the Game and Parks exhibit.
“That was an example of where I was trying to show people my willingness to work and, again, the persistence to try and get into the profession,” he said.
His persistence paid off when an entry-level biologist position opened up at the Game and Parks Commission. Stutheit applied for the job and got it.
He never left it.
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