caterer/server

food service associate

ice cream maker

distribution associate

area supervisor

Saint Louis Zoo

You work there because you love animals, you love the messaging, you love the idea they stand for. They take advantage of every bit of love you have until it grows to resentment. 

Most jobs are seasonal, part-time, and unless you do something worth firing over, you'll most likely be offered a position every season. Departments are very striated, and hourly employees are treated as disposable and replaceable. Yearly raise is $0.20--NO EXCEPTIONS and no chance at receiving a higher raise, no matter your work performance, skills learned, new certifications obtained, etc. Managers play strict favorites, and your only opportunity to advance will be through who you know, and how well they like you personally. Few advancements offered purely off of merit or work ethic. 

Animal Care positions have high turnover, very strict and demanding performance expectations with little room for error. Animal Care specialists wage is the same as STL County Minimum Wage--$10.00/hr with little to no benefits unless full-time, and year round. They know you are replaceable, and someone else will do your job for less. 

Workforce is incredibly segregated despite Zoo's public attempts to diversify. African Americans are almost purely in Food Services, with little representation elsewhere (3 black keepers throughout the premises). Hispanics are almost unseen, and custodial staff consists of migrant hires. Jewish friendly, but staff events still center around Christian holidays. 

Departments are cut throat. Do no trust anyone with any critiques unless done through HR. If you have a problem, management is not likely to attempt to solve your problem--YOU. ARE. REPLACEABLE. They try to maintain employee moral with bread and circuses, and a lot of events that used to be available only for salaried employees. There is a workplace development program, but management rarely encourages part-time or seasonal employees to participate, and rarely wishes to invest program funds in developing that work force into year round positions. 

Invest in great walking shoes, a re-usable water bottle (or you will be shamed by peers), a wide-brimmed hat, and all-weather gear. You will lose a lot of weight walking the grounds, and gain it all back eating ice cream funnel cake.

We would come in and start researching either on the computers or in the field observing Wild Donkey and Zebras. After observations we would input data and then work on other projects that either dealt with research or just maintaining data. I also had the opportunity to work on the Hellbender Ethogram, that had its first success in reproduction this past year. The directors I worked under were brilliant woman, some that have written books on their research. It was always interesting coming to work since you did not know what would happen that day. I made a lot of good friends through this internship, and we had a lot of fun time together going around the zoo and learning about different ecosystems. The hardest part was dealing with the weather, we still went outside when it was freezing or storming, those were some of the more interesting days though. the most enjoyable part about the job was helping to make a difference. We worked with endangered species, and learning how to preserve and produce these amazing animals made everything worth it.

I worked closely with the Zoo Rangers as a Public Safety Personnel.
Public Safety staff have a variety of duties at the St. Louis Zoo. The following is a list: 
Collaborate with the Zoo Rangers to assist with any type of animal, visitor or weather emergency.
Assist the Rangers with zoo closing procedures - clearing grounds and securing the Special Events Building which includes making sure all theaters, offices and classrooms were unoccupied and locked.
Special assignments in the butterfly house and penguin exhibit to enhance visitors’ experience and keep the animals safe; also patrol visitors’ parking lot for the safety of the zoo guests and their vehicles.
Assignments to private night events, wedding receptions, special zoo events and private parties to insure the safety of the guests and zoo animals. 

When you did not have an assignment you walked the zoo and helped visitors with questions, directions and small injuries.

I enjoyed walking the zoo and seeing the animals everyday.

I have many tasks at the zoo from cashiering and directing visitors to mediating staff concerns and and creating attractive sales displays. I learned that the customer is a major factor in keeping our zoo free and keeping it number one in the country by their purchases and over-all great experiences while at the zoo. I learned to lead being one the giftshop supervisors ,but also to follow with, when needed being put into a staff position. the hardest part of my job would definately be making sure everyone is happy at the same time. Now sometimes "Mr. elephant" would want to sleep and not pose for pictures. I would try my best to make these negatives positives. The best thing about working at the Saint Louis Zoo would giving people valuable and sometime funny or surprising zoo history and facts.


A typical day at the Zoo really depends on the month, if it's in March then it's a fairly easy day of just walking around collecting waste. If it's in June or July then it's very busy and it's fast pace.

I learned that collecting waste isn't just easy and it takes a lot of time to collect waste but it's fun.

Management was alright, sometimes they are rough on you for minor issues or mistakes. That's the only downside of management but most of the time they are okay.

The hardest part of the job was the smell of the waste, it's very powerful and it takes a while to get use to smelling it daily.

The most enjoyable part of the job is watching the children looking at their favorite animals or birds. There is nothing more amazing then seeing the pure joy of a child's face when they see a Polar Bear or Sea Lion up close.

I believe the zoo can be a great place to work if you’re just looking for extra money or need a summer job. Most employees are seasonal with no benefits. However, we do get discounts on food and items in the gift shops. If you have rent and important bills it can be extremely hard to live off such little pay. As far as the job itself it can be pretty fast paced. We greet and serve hundreds of people each day. Although most days are challenging my co workers always seem to help me get through the day with their positive attitudes and jokes. This job can be fun if you keep a positive mindset and laugh a little, have fun with what you’re doing. The work that you do matter even if all you’re doing is selling hotdogs to guest or cleaning a stall. You matter and you are valued. I wish anyone who applies to this job the best of luck. 

Working at the zoo gave me good job experience. We are surrounded by genuine and caring people. The moto of “great employees only” not only acts as a core value, but truly encompasses our expectations of each other. As a team, we use each other to talk through situations, to stay sane after a rough day, and to push each other to go past our comfort zones. Sure, there are perks like cooking in the kitchen on your birthday month, carpooling and lunch programs, manufacturer trainings, but we also have book clubs, coaching, mentoring, and mindfulness training. It’s not about the perks it’s about the people. Because of the fast paced environment there can be some tougher days, but I do believe that comes along with any career path.

Work days usually start about a half hour before the attraction opens, to give employees time to set up. This job gave me an opportunity to learn how to work with others, both general public and coworkers, cash handling, conflict resolution, leadership skills, and public speaking. The hardest part of the job is working through the language barrier with out of town guests. The most enjoyable part of the job was the sense of community in my department. The employees knew that the management team always had their back and were willing to answer questions to assist them or a guest.

Walking into work you are hit with people from all diffrent backgrounds. Little kids are running around having a good time laughing and enjoying themselves. I hae learned so much, I have been improving my communication skills ever sice I joined and all  my co-workers are nice and acepting they all took me in right under their wing they made sure I was comfortable with the things where ran and knoowing where everything was. The Most enjoyable part of the job is the people it's so much meeting and interacting with all the diffrent guest that visit the Zoo.

It is definitely a good place to work at as far as the environment equal friendly a lot of politics don't try to get too deep into it a lot of nice faces around a lot of people to help you in certain things and whatever Department you may be in there's always something different that goes on every day and the more you put into it is what you will get out of it if you come in as a hard worker dedicated motivated they do recognize those kind of workers

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Caterer/server 1303 salaries reported	$15.75 per hour
Food service associate 7 salaries reported	$15.29 per hour
Ice cream maker 4 salaries reported	$16.75 per hour
Distribution associate 3 salaries reported	$16.00 per hour
Area supervisor 3 salaries reported	$15.50 per hour

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