
August 20, 1998

Demand for environmental professionals is picking up

By LUCY BODILLY
Special to the Journal

After a poor showing over the past two years, job prospects for environmental professionals are starting to take a turn upward. Many firms report recent hires, not just because of attrition, but because the overall market is improving.

"A few years ago things were slow, but now it starting to go full speed ahead," said Mary Irvine, president of Tech-staff, a service agency that provides technical staff to clients. Out of 70 employees presently working there, four are working in the environmental field, where none were a few years ago. "Things are picking up, but a turnaround won't happen overnight." Irvine sees a larger demand for laboratory technicians, lab technicians, site inspectors and wetlands work.

"The market was relatively flat, but has picked up over the past two years," said Paula Houston, human resources manager for Hart Crowser, an engineering firm which specializes in geotechnical and hydrology work.

Hiring at Hart Crowser has been in a variety of areas, from risk assessors to engineers who investigate and solve environmental problems.

Houston is currently looking for a person to fill a relatively rare position, that of environmental historian, to study the history of various sites and help determine which of its previous owners is responsible for pollution. "This is especially helpful for litigation purposes," she said.

At Hart Crowser, people with a background in compliance issues are especially in demand. And any with specialized experience have an edge when hiring. Starting salary for a new graduate from a master's program is $32,000 to $36,000 per year.

As in most fields, well qualified people are hard to find. "This year we have offered more signing bonuses than ever before," Houston said. Three new engineers, not all in the environmental field, will start work at the beginning of the month.

With offices in Portland, Anchorage, Long Beach, Denver, Chicago and Jersey City, N.J., Hart Crowser sees some staff movement internally. "Right now we are bringing people back to the Seattle office," she said. In spite of the area's reputation for bad traffic and increasing growth, she said most are happy to come.

The "Mount Rainier effect" may have been part of the reason the job market here was slow to begin with, according to Mike Morgan, Ph.D. head of the industrial hygiene and safety program at the University of Washington. "People come here and they don't want to leave."

In other areas of the state, such as Hanford, hiring is usually strong. Of the seven graduates per year in Morgan's department, all find jobs within a few months. "There are local jobs at Boeing for example, but people also get hired at Hanford and the Umatilla Nuclear Waste Site, near Pendleton," Morgan said.

Most jobs for industrial hygienists here are in the nuclear field, with a few going into the oil industry or pulp and paper manufacturing, he said, where hygienists work to minimize and eliminate health hazards at the job site.

Starting salaries for those with a master's degree are over $50,000 per year.

The UW has a strong program, which accepts about one-third of the people who apply every year. Candidates must have a bachelor of science in chemistry or biology, although some students with engineering backgrounds also attend.

For Entranco, which is working heavily in the transit and transportation area, most hiring has been for traditional engineers, said Elaine Jones, human resources manager. "We have 30 job openings now, but only a few are for environmental work." The hardest spots for her to fill are for water resource experts, who will work on water and wastewater projects. In the company's Phoenix office, such a job went unfilled for a year. Generally, most positions are filled within a few months.

Most firms advertise in local papers, by word of mouth and rely on their Web page, especially to alert current employees.

"We are looking at doing some other advertising on the Web," Jones said. Though a search of engineering firms may pull up Entranco, unless candidates already know about the company, they may not find the job listing.

Even engineers working on traditional design projects may be faced with doing some work in the environmental area. "A senior engineering person may end up doing some EIS writing," Jones said. "We may be hiring a full time planner soon."

Though all companies look for experienced personnel, particularly in specialty areas, "it is our sense that there are a lot of new people entering the field," said Mark Catlyn, training manager at Prezant & Associates, which offers all types of hazmat and safety training. The company also offers environmental testing and consulting services.

Since the first of the year, Prezant has hired a number of lab technicians and industrial hygiene consultants, Catlyn said. "We have been seeing a lot of asbestos and lead related work." The company is hiring workers new to the field as well as those who have more experience.

Another factor in the market is that companies from a wide variety of industries are seeing the advantage of having an employee with some environmental training.

"You'd be amazed at the backgrounds of the people who some to the training courses," Catlyn said.