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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1982)
Portland Observer, August 11, 1902 Section II Page 7 Careers in the forest service Approxim ately 20,(XX) employees w ork fo r the Forest Service. The Forest Service has programs in four m ajor areas. One o f them is M a n agement o f 190 m illion acres o f Na tional Forest System (NFS) land for economic and social benefits. NFS lands consist o f 154 national forests and 19 na tio n a l grasslands across the country, located prim arily in the west. These lands, which belong to the public, include rolling hills, fo r ests, grasslands, deserts, mountains, streams, lakes and seashores. They are managed fo r a variety o f p u r poses. The public enjoys them fo r such recreational activities as camp ing, fishing, hiking, skiing and boat ing. They provide a home for w ild life ranging fro m tro u t to g rizzly bears and act as watersheds fo r much o f the n a tio n ’ s supply o f clean water. These lands also p ro vide grazing fo r cattle, sheep arid w ild life . The forest service also cooperates with state foresters, p ri vate foresters and woodland ow n ers, wood processors, and private and public agencies to increase the q u ality o f goods and services pro duced fro m non NFS land. The agency conducts research to support management o f its national Forest and cooperative forestry programs, as well as to aid in the management o f all the nation’s forests and range- lands. A ll o f these activities provide opportunities for careers in the fo r est service. Among the many jobs in the forest service are preparing and revising plans to grow and harvest tim ber, managing w ild life habitats and de veloping recreational facilities. So, you w ant to be a manager Youth from City's CETA program at w ork In Oregon's forest. CETA/Forest service offers youth employment nv Lanita Duke Grassroot News, N. W —The tra- d ilio n a l sum m er jobs fo r young adults in a static economy arc basic office help, fast food and yard work. The C ity o f P o rtla n d ’ s C E T A p ro gram in collaborating w ith the For est Service is breaking the pattern c u rre n tly w ith 40 in n e r-c ity youth whose duties range from brush dis posal to erosion c o n tro l. T h e ir workplace is the naked forest (C ol um bia R iver G orge, B u ll Run Areas) w ith the clean a ir, insects, bear and deer. D is tric t C o o rd in a to r Kenny W ashington explained the premise o l the program . " T h is is our ninth year w ith the C ity 's C E T A p ro gram. U nlike any other district we thrive on human-resource programs to accomplish our goals." The goals are erosion c o n tro l, tr a il b u ild in g Engineering offers ups and downs T h cU .S . has 1,500,(XX) engineers in 12 specialized subfields. Those in the greatest demand c u rre n tly are petroleum , mechanical, ind u stria l and electrical engineers. O f (his to tal, blacks represent only about I per cent, approxim ately 12-13,000. U nfo rtu n a te ly, engineering has al ways been a boom-and-bust occupa tion: aspirants rush into it when de mand is high and by the tim e they graduate, the government funds that finance most engineering re search and co n struction projects have often dried up. The usual and most lucrative s o lution is to move in to management or sale (usually helped by a night school M B A ) after about 5 years or so as a technician. This tra n s itio n can boost earning power trem endously since the me dian salary fo r engineers in their prime is about $33,000. Counseling offered Those o f you who w ould like to take advantage o f a low -cost jo b and e d u ca tio n a l p la n n in g service should check in to P o rtla n d State U niversity's vocational and educa tional counseling. The special service is designed for people who are n o t PSU students, and who want to make the most o f their interests and talents— whether or not they’ re currently w orking or attending school. I f you are asking questions o f y o u rs e lf such as, " W h a t are my interests, talents and career prefer ences?” " H o w can I tra n s fe r my ab ilitie s to a new career?” "C a n I im p ro v e my s k ills in my current jo b ? ” "S h o u ld I go back to school?” — then this service may be useful to you. and brush disposal. " W e th in k the p rogram is very cost-effective. W ith the cutback; we c a n ’ , accom plish o ur o bjectives. T hus, we rely heavily on this p ro gram and o th e r hum an resource programs in the district. I f we d id n ’t have these crews out here w orking fo r us the work would not get done as q u ic k ly w ith the pro g ra m . We would have to find someone else to do the w o rk.” District Ranger Gene Zimmerman concurred w ith this statem ent. "C om pared w ith the p ro je ct’ s cost it is cost effective. We have some o f the funds. But in some cases the w o rk w ould not get d o n e ." Z im m erm an believes that the young adults on these crews derive less d i rect benefits. "T h e y also learn the re s p o n s ib ilitie s o f an em ployee, such as showing up to work on time. every day, and le a rn in g to w o rk with others." Jeanne Sun, 20, w orks w ith the erosion c o n tro l crew . " M y crew goes out and revegetates cut banks where logging was done. We inspect how much damage is done and later we send a crew out to co rre ct the damage done to the trail by men.” Jaime Santos, 19, tells o f his re sponse at meeting M other Nature on her level. " M y first few weeks were kinda hard. I had to adjust to the early m orning hours. But I ’ m sure the skills that I ’ ve learned w ill help me later on in life .” Chris Guinn, 17, defines his work experience on his crew as different. “ I ’ ve worked with little kids before as a C E T A em ployee. But this is more o f a w ork s itu a tio n . It w ill help me later on i f ever I get a jo b that requires physical la b o r." W ith the unem ploym ent o f black teen agers w ell over 60 per cent C hris plans to com bat the negative per centage with " E f f o r t . " Renee Breedlove admits her work on the brush disposal crew is a non- tra d itio n a l task fo r young women. " B u t I never did enjoy w orking in an o ffice . W o rking outdoors suits me. It is a lot o f hard w ork which prepares me fo r the real w o r ld . " Ms. Breedlove hopes to m ajor in sci ence and her introduction to nature w ill complement her interest in sci ence. Kenny Washington believes a new respect for nature w ill coincide with the basic employee skills. "W e hope that o ur example w ill in s till some appreciation fo r the environm ent. We also show our crews that their work and e ffo rt fits into the overall picture o f the Forest Service." There is more to climbing the cor porate ladder into top management than to have graduated from a pres tigious college or university. In a late 1980 survey o f 782 sm all, me dium and large companies by the H'aZZ Slreel Jo u rn a l and the G allup organization, executives comment on (he qualities that make good or bad managers. O f the 782 com pan ies polled, 282 were from the na tion's largest corporations, 300 were from medium sized, and 200 fro m small companies. Positive factors: According to the >urvey, the three most im p o rta n t personal traits needed to advance in to management are in te g rity , in dustriousness and (he a b ility to get along w ith people In a d d itio n , managers should demonstrate per sonal am bition, commitment to the goals o f the company, imagination, good judgm ent and the a b ility to motivate others. The fla w s: The most serious fault is managers’ "in a b ility to work with people and to understand th e m ." C h ie f executives also cite " in n e r ” character weakness, lack o f aggres siveness, in itia tiv e or com m itm ent to their jobs and employees as se rious deficiencies. Some other nega tive factors are failure to assume re sponsibility, acceptance o f the sta tus quo, narrow-mindedness and egotism. Personal insecurity, unw il lingness to take risks, in a b ility to make decisions, and the diminishing work ethic are also considered prob lems o f weak managers. A ccording to the W all Street Jo u rn a l, the strong consensus among chief executives o f compan ies o f all sizes is that " in n e r” char acter strength matters most for suc cess and advancement in business. Several pinpointed qualities such as honesty, good judgm ent, se lf-re li ance and hard work. Six o f every 10 executives o f large firm s mention at least one o f the afore-stated qu a l ities. More than one-half the execu tives o f medium-sized companies m entioned at least one, and more than 40 per cent o f executives from small organizations did the same. When asked about weakness in subordinate executives, the most frequent negatives include narrow mindedness and the in a b ility to work with others. "T h e lack o f con cern for people as human beings” is a m ajor shortcoming, one executive said. A board chairm an o f a large com m unication com pany said, " T h e salient p roblem is a ’ p rim a donna syn d ro m e ,’ and a lack o f team play.” Another saw some sen ior executive managers as " to o ego tis tic a l" and wanting "th e c re d it” only for themselves. There are few differences o f per ception between large and small company executives. One example is that executives o f large companies believe " c re a tiv ity ” is a prem ium trait necessary for managers in their organizations, while small company executives do not see it as an essen tial ingredient in their businesses. Safeway Grows with Oregon Sound Economic Growth Depends On. . . Good Government, Labor Relations And Management WHAT PART DOES SAFEWAY PLAY IN THE CONTINUED GROWTH OF OREGON? _ . w_ n I A A to P A Y R fll I ■ m H U LL Over $4,000,000.00 Annual Contribution to Municipal, State and County Governments. Over 568.000,000.00 Annually for employees throughout the state. Over S100,000,000.00 Annually for purchases of Oregon products to n i i n p U A o r p dis,ribu,i«n throughout the United r U n u M A o t o States and Canada. Everything you want from a store and a little bit more. V
