National Ecological Observatory Network reviews

Imagine a start up but with the constraints of a government contractor...trying to get things done in the beginning was challenging (understatement). There were also a few people in prominent positions who made life miserable for everyone due to over-inflated egos and petty grudges and making decisions based on their own personal goals instead of in the best interest of company and tax payers (who funded). NEON was fired and Battelle took over. Most but not all the bad players left.

Although I thought that our local field (domain) office was well run, I did not interact much with the head of the domain. She didn't really take the time to get to know the seasonal field techs, though she seemed to have a good relationship with permanent field staff. So, I think depending on who is the domain office manager at a particular domain, the temporary staff may or may not have an easy path to advancement based on their frequency of interaction with more senior management. I will also echo here what I read in another review - Feedback is a little hard to come by other than going and seeking it out. We were given a self-evaluation form at the end of the field season and our supervisor said, "come and talk to me if you have any questions". We did not receive a formal, written evaluation from our supervisor. However, I found out later that the company keeps an employee record of evaluation which hiring managers can refer to when making future hiring decisions within the company. I got totally burned by this, when I got an interview at another domain and then got turned down for the job solely based on what was said in this essentially "secret" evaluation, which I didn't know existed. So, if you work for NEON, I highly recommend finding out what is in your employment file if you plan on switching positions or applying for future seasonal positions with the organization.