The Unseasoned Weekly: Dec 31
Make a 2025 career vision board, how to ask for PTO before you've accrued PTO, apply for an administrative coordinator position.
The Check In
Are you a planner, or a go-with-the-flow-er? No, scratch that. It’s not a binary and I know most of us fall somewhere on the spectrum.
I like to think of life like running a big whitewater rapid. Scout when your timing and environment allows, but don’t scout for too long or you’ll psych yourself out. At some point, you’ve got to just drop in. How you enter the rapid is just as important as how you react within it. Place someone in an eddy below the rapid with a throwbag if you’re trying something new. Don’t take stupid risks but be ok with meeting your own growth edge.
The new year is a time of intention and goal setting for so many of us. These days, I try to do most of my goal setting on six month cycles, starting in March and again in September. Spring and “back to school” are seasons that make most sense for my energy and goals. But in January, I always check in with my overall intentions and visions boards (yes, plural, ugh, I’m sorry, I’m a Capricorn rising).
In honor of that, find three ideas for your new year intention setting below. Is a new or updated career path in your 2025 sights? Make it real and reply to this email to tell me more, I’d love to cheer you on along the way.
Xx - Emerald
- An endorsement triplet from the other side of outdoor seasonal work-
3 Recs For When
…you want to build a 2025 vision board. I love vision boards, where the very practical project manager (the Capricorn!) and woo-woo girl (the Gemini!) inside me meet. A vision board is simply getting clear in your intentions so you can recognize opportunity (or self-sabotage…) when it arises.
Here are a few of my favorite methods:
With Friends: The old school method, but oh so cozy. Grab a stack of magazines, stickers, and printouts, add in colorful markers and glitter pens, turn on music, and invite a few friends over. Cut out images, or write words and phrases, or both. Sharing is optional - it’s mostly about feeling the good energy of people you love as you create.
As a Digital System: I have a decent design eye but not much of an artistic hand. For my vision boards, I like to use digital tools as they help me find more precise images and are easy to adjust throughout the year.
I start on Pinterest, saving images to (private) boards by month (ex: January 2024 Mood) throughout the year. From there, I’ll download my favorite images to my desktop.
I split my vision boards into five main categories: career, friends/family, self, relationship, home.
In Canva, I create a board for each category. I like to use the background remover feature, the transparency toggle, and the graphic elements to add texture and depth.
I then download and export my Canva boards into Notion, where it’s easy for me to reference them during my morning or evening reflection.
On Your Kindle / Spotify: If you’re looking for more of a “how to” manual, I recommend Roxi Nafousi’s book Manifest: 7 Steps To Living Your Best Life. As a bonus, she brings a delightful British accent to the audiobook.
Questions To Ask Yourself When Creating a Vision Board
What does success look like to me in 2025? / What do I want more of in 2025, what do I want less of? / Who or what inspires me? / What places, experiences, and adventures do I want to experience in 2025? / What kind of relationships do I want to attract? / Where am I “playing small” where I could go bigger or be braver?
- Questions for Your Next Journal or Hike -
On Reflection
- Dispatches from the Unseasoned Community -
Heard on Social
Last month on social, our community answered a follower question about requesting time off at the start of a corporate job:
@genowhat replied:
Echoing many above, ask! It’ll give you greater insight into the priorities of your boss and overall company culture. A good boss knows that happy and fullfilled humans makes for a better workplace.
Caveat, be sensitive to current workload and if you’re on a team, other peoples schedules. Is this the busiest time of the year? Is someone already on maternity leave or has a vacation scheduled? Doesn’t mean you can’t work something out but it shows your boss AND coworkers a dedication to shared success.Join us this week to learn from our community of over 3,000!
Note from Emerald: In 2025, the “How I’d Apply” section will be available weekly to paid subscribers and once-per-month (paywall free!) to all subscribers.
- Tips for your next application -
How I’d Apply
If you’ve held a leadership role in your outdoor seasonal workplace, you may have more administrative experience than you think. The Trust for Public Land is hiring an Administrative Coordinator in Seattle, WA (hybrid/remote).
Unique Value Proposition (UVP): To apply for this role as an outdoor seasonal, focus on your expertise managing logistics in a dynamic environment. For example, when creating a week-long meal plan for a hunting camp, you are showcasing your, “Excellent organizational abilities, attention to detail, promptness, and dependability.”
Sample Resume Bullet Point (Outdoor Educator):
Event Logistics Management: Planned and coordinated quarterly family site visit days for 50+ attendees, managing meal arrangements and activity logistics to foster stronger trust and transparency between the school and families.
Flags / Interview Questions to Ask:
"Can you share an example of a time when a team member didn’t meet expectations and how the situation was handled or resolved?"
Understanding internal culture from the outside can be challenging, but asking questions like this can provide insight into the supervisory style and team dynamics you may encounter.
Hiring Manager: The hiring manager is not listed. The job description does indicate, however, that the position supports the Northwest Director (Mitsu Iwasaki), contact information here. Need a script? Find one in the Job Application Checklist here.
Continuing Ed: Running a great meeting is a valuable skill! Reflect - in your outdoor seasonal job, do you facilitate a daily or weekly pre/post activity meeting? What makes this meeting effective? Then learn how to translate this skillset to an office environment.
Open Jobs Grab Bag
Get a Foot In: Salmon Valley Stewardship (Salmon, ID)* - Sustainable Food Systems & Tool Library Resilience AmeriCorps VISTA
*Interested in this job? Send me an email! I’d love to talk about living in Salmon and connect you with the SVS team.
Early Career: Alturas Analytics, Inc. (Moscow, ID) - Project Coordinator
Go Pro: WEST (Remote) - Project Manager, Environmental Planning Specialist
Emerald’s Free Resource Library
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