What Color Is Your Parachute? (44 page)

Have you used social networking in a job search?

LinkedIn is a great site for professional social networking. Many other social networking sites are unprofessional and should be kept private if you use them for social purposes.

Did you have an internship in school? If yes, was it helpful to your employment?

I did have an internship in school, but it was really my work experience that was more valuable to my career. One unusual decision I made that has made all the difference in my career was that I worked full-time throughout my education, so I built my education at the same rate with my experience. It has proved invaluable for standing out against others my age.

What is your ultimate career goal?

I would like to work for a government-run career center in a management role and to create more innovative programs that will educate people about the changes the job market and job-search techniques have undergone in the last five years.

What advice would you give a young adult who wants to work in your field?

Get some experience in the staffing industry so you really know what makes candidates stand out and get hired. Learn the practical knowledge that will allow you to better assist your future career clients instead of just using what you learned in school. Volunteering at a local job club is also a great idea.

Outside your job, what are your other interests or hobbies?

I play on a roller derby team, and I enjoy gourmet cooking, kayaking, and camping.

Additional comments:

Don’t be afraid to take risks and follow your passion. If you put in enough hard work, balanced with a practical approach to preparing yourself, you can succeed at anything!

Megan can be reached at
[email protected]
, or you can visit her website at
www.meganpittsley.com
.

(HAZARDOUS) WASTE MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST

Name:
Emily Wang        
Age:
28

Job Title:
Integrated waste management specialist

Field(s):
Hazardous waste management; environmental policy

Employer:
State integrated waste management board

Degree(s):
BS, biology

Cost:
$80,000 ($30,000 after grants and scholarships)

Training:
Mostly on-the-job

Cost:
None

Salary:
Starting $37,000; three to six years’ experience: $57,000–$68,000

What do you do?

I compile and analyze collection and cost data on various household hazardous waste (paint, used oil, mercury lamps) from local government agencies. I use this data to track statewide household hazardous waste trends and to identify areas that we can focus on to make our programs run more efficiently. The second part of my job is related to policy. I work with various stakeholders (local government, industry, and nonprofit organizations) to create new programs that will help with the future management of these wastes. This includes developing legislation, advising policymakers, and implementing new laws that are passed.

What are your most repetitive tasks?

I spend a lot of time compiling data and organizing it into charts and reports. The most repetitive task I have to do is double-checking and cleaning up data. I receive collection numbers from local government, but the data is not always given to me in the same format. I spend a lot of time going through and categorizing raw data, which means a lot of time spent going through Excel spreadsheets, making notes on each line. I must make sure everyone is using the same units, and also that there are consistent numbers being used when multiple sources are involved.

Do you supervise anyone?
No.

How long have you been in this job?

Almost two years.

How did you get into this work?

I originally started out in the field of biochemistry research, but I found it to be unrewarding. So I took some time off, and worked as a construction consultant for a year. I applied for my job at the Waste Board because it provided a great opportunity to use my background in research to directly impact and benefit the environment, which has always been a passion of mine.

What do you like about your job?

I love that my job gives me a chance to directly impact the environment in a positive way. Performing my job well means that I am helping to keep millions of pounds of toxic chemicals out of landfills and leaching into groundwater. I also like that my job provides me with a wide variety of tasks and subject matter to study. One day I might be poring over data, while another day I could be on the phone with other states to discuss nationwide policy efforts, and the next I could be assisting a local government agency that is trying to build a new facility.

What don’t you like about your job?

Part of my job relates to policy and legislation, and I find the political aspect of the legislative process rather opaque and frustrating. It is difficult to watch legislation sit in committee for reasons that have nothing to do with the merit or even the contents of the bill.

What are the main challenges in this industry?

There are two main challenges we are facing:
collection levels and funding. Household hazardous waste management programs are primarily run by government programs at the city and county level. They collect less than 10 percent of the hazardous waste being generated, which means that there is still a huge amount of hazardous waste that is not being properly managed. While it is very encouraging that collection numbers have been increasing steadily, local government programs are becoming increasingly unable to support these programs financially. The problem of funding the management of these materials grows as the amount of these ma-terials present in the environment grows.

What do you see happening in this field in the next five to ten years?

Traditionally, a manufacturer will make a product and sell it, and then it is up to the consumer to properly dispose of it when the product reaches the end of its life. This often means the product will end up in a landfill. Some products, like paint, consumers may realize should not be trashed and instead are taken to household hazardous waste facilities. Both the landfill and these facilities are mostly government run and operated sites. This means that the government (and by extension, the taxpayer) is the only entity financially responsible for managing these products at the end of their life. In the past few years, the idea of producer responsibility has been gaining a great deal of support. If a manufacturer is made to be in part responsible for the end-of-life management of their products, they are more likely to design products with less waste and fewer toxic materials. I expect to see multiple producer responsibility programs being implemented for various products around the country.

Have you used social networking in a job search?

No.

What is your ultimate career goal?

To keep working in my field and help to create meaningful environmental policies nationwide.

What advice would you give a young adult who wants to work in your field?

A solid science background is very useful, but building up connections to people who work in the field is even more invaluable.

Outside your job, what are your other interests or hobbies?

Scuba diving, rock climbing, reading, and wildlife conservation.

Additional comments:

It’s very important to find a field you find both interesting and rewarding. While I find biochemical research to be fascinating, I find the process of the work itself to be very unrewarding and tedious, so ultimately it could not be satisfying.

Emily can be reached at
[email protected]
.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGER

Name:
Nick Mitchell
Age:
25

Job Title:
IT manager / project manager

Field(s):
Information technology (private sector)

Employer:
Marin IT, Inc.

Degree(s):
BS and MS, information technology

Cost:
MS $40,000

Training:
Twelve levels of Microsoft certification, three levels of Cisco

Cost:
$13,000

Salary:
Starting $90,000–$110,000; three to six years’ experience: $150,000–$180,000

What do you do?

Technology consultant, project manager, and engineer for both public and private sector companies throughout the California Bay Area.

What are your most repetitive tasks?

Project design, client relations, site installations, and managing the company’s hosted services. (Marin IT manages customers’ IT services like email, data backups, disaster recovery plans, Internet services, and wireless services. By using our services, companies don’t need to hire in-house knowledge or resources to be able to get enterprise-level equipment or service on things like email, backups, and wireless.)