Richard started work after graduation at the County Medical Examiners office. It was low-paying, grim work but it allowed him to gain experience at crime scenes, meet the people in the profession and take the qualifying exams. This was a brief stint; he never "got stuck" in the job. This brings us to Note 5. Sometimes you need to take a less than desirable position to better position yourself for the future, but do not stay too long and become trapped or labeled by that position.

Richard was interested in forensics long before the recent wave of high profile criminal cases and television shows such as CSI, New Detectives and Forensic Files. There is currently a flood of students, majoring in forensics, who want this "cool" career. (There are direct parallels to environmental studies over the past decade.) He would have faced entirely different odds if he were searching for a job today. What no one may be telling these students is that open positions are relatively rare, and people who get into the system usually stay until they retire. Also, no one may be telling these eager students of the strenuous background screening, including polygraph tests that probe things such as drug use.

The barriers for entry are really quite stringent and Richard was greatly assisted by a timely grant to the state laboratory from the FBI that brought him on as an intern, which was then followed by a retirement within the lab. This brings us to Note 6. Thoroughly research the supply and demand plus the entry and exit dynamics of your career path. Talk to people currently in the position you ultimately desire. And to Note 7. Recognize that success is often dependent on being in the right place at the right time.

Note 6 -- entry and exit dynamics -- is extremely critical and has parallels to predicting the stock market. The most successful professionals are those who anticipate "where the puck will be" as Wayne Gretzky says. Individuals who enter four years of college based on what is hot at the moment can be very disappointed upon graduation. Anticipating trends cuts to the heart of career management; this was covered extensively in part two of this series.

Who are These "EHS Professionals"?
Jeanette faces a different set of entry dynamics. The medical and dental professions in the United States have barriers to entry based on the available slots at the universities, the extremely high cost of education Do I ever know this dynamic! and strict licensing controlled by powerful professional associations that can rival the Teamsters Union for their influence in Washington. EHS professionals have few such dynamics in their favor. Indeed, anyone can claim to be an EHS professional. My colleague, Robert Pojasek, runs an excellent four-day "The Environmental MBA" course helps transform individuals inside organizations to take over these responsibilities. ⁴

There are notable exceptions. Occupational health physicians need to be licensed. EHS attorneys need law degrees that you don' t get in four days. Not surprisingly, both have more optimistic job prospects than the typical EHS professional. It also is instructive to examine the background of the individuals who typically occupy the top slots in our government for the SEC, Treasury, Department of Justice, and the Surgeon General' s office. Compare this to the EPA, where the top spot has a recent history of going to individuals whose environmental credentials appear to be a history of politically correct photo ops with Mother Nature. Unfair? Sure, but do the comparison and you will see the disparity.

All this brings us to Note 8. As long as there are no stringent qualifications and licensing requirements for EHS professionals, the supply side will continue to be completely wide open. The EHS profession is too splintered and has no single, cohesive association such as the American Bar Association or American Medical Association to affect change. Non-career EHS professionals who have no interest in changing these supply-side dynamics often occupy the top slots. If anything, they would ensure that no restrictions continue indefinitely (while at the same time demand greater professional control over their personal physician).

The wide-open nature of the EHS profession impacts both salaries and job security. I' m a firm believer in capitalism and unrestricted supplies, but not at the expense of professional competency. Would you want just anyone representing your interests in a jury trial or operating on your brain tumor? I feel that the health, safety and environment of workers, the community and the environment also deserve skilled professionals.

What about the demand side? As described in part two, there can be specific areas where the demand could surge. Consulting services for small and mid-size companies may be one such growth area for EHS entrepreneurs, especially in the U.S.-based construction industry. Again, timing and positioning are everything. If there is a surge, the supply side could very quickly respond to fill the demand. On the bright side, there will always be pollution and natural resource pressures, just as there will always be crime and people getting sick. Within all three of these professions, the issues and the technologies to deal with them will shift continuously. My generation needed amalgam fillings; today' s generation needs composites.

This brings us to Note 9. It is risky to specialize, especially in areas that are technology intensive. On the other hand, these areas can offer the greatest promotion and monitory rewards. The trick is to anticipate and keep these issues and technologies at the leading edge. Nonetheless, there are sure bets. Few dentists do post-doc specialties. By specializing in pediatric dentistry, Jeanette sets herself in a better position, even if the supply/demand picture changes for dentists in general.

There are parallels in EHS. Getting a law degree will, without a doubt, better position someone to withstand life' s career ups and downs in the EHS regulatory and public policy area. Obtaining a PhD for someone wishing to enter academia may be a wise move. On the other hand, obtaining an MBA may or may not be as valuable as a high visibility work assignment in a respected corporation, NGO, university or government organization.

Does Experience Count?
As noted in part two of the series, opening up the supply side to "foreign competition" will have a major long-term effect on EHS professionals, especially in the technical areas. You had better be unquestionably world class and at the cutting edge of technology. Technology shifts also have profound implications on the value of experience. Who would you hire, a 55-year-old computer programmer with 30 years of experience previously earning $100,000 or a 26-year-old programmer with five years of experience and earning $40,000? In intense technology areas, "stale" experience can become a liability!

Keeping an eye on the "end game" is essential in this regard. Experienced dentists typically build a client base and achieve a level of financial security where they can open their own practice and bring on junior dentists. Experience is a positive. The same holds true for forensics. The real value of a forensic scientist is in the credibility of his or her court testimony. Forensic specialists who have built reputations over the years can retire with full government pensions and sometimes operate as consultants providing expert testimony. It' s a lucrative practice, but they can only do this based on decades of experience in the field.

For EHS professionals, decades of experience do not always work in their favor. Because of the nebulous view of what constitutes "an EHS professional," the highest-paying, top slots often go to non-career professionals. This is a source of enormous frustration among career professionals who are passed over for top positions that are filled by people who cannot even spell EHS. Note 10. Improved technologies and management systems have had the net effect of allowing lower- level (read: less expensive) employees to do EHS work.

Career professionals over fifty are particularly vulnerable, unless they have achieved a level of financial security and competency that permits them to say those magic words to their employer, "You can take this job and shove it!" This is the exception rather than the rule. My consulting colleagues are able to thrive on their own because of their widely recognized competency. Experience helps under these circumstances, but because of supply/demand pressures, only the very best can survive. Thoughts of "I' ll be an EHS consultant," may sound like an end game to a career EHS professional, but it is totally unrealistic for most.

The bottom line is that experience can both add to or detract from your planned end game. Ask yourself the question, "Are people 55 sought out and considered more valuable than someone 45 on my the career path?" Technology experience is valuable as long as the technology remains valuable. Experience in one field is valuable as long as it translates smoothly to another field you are entering. Lots of experience in one narrow field can "typecast" you, limiting your chances in another. Which brings us to Note 11. Map out the value of specific job experiences in determining your chances for success at the end of your career.

Developing a Career Strategy
Your overall strategy will depend on your ambition level and your tolerance for risk and need for job security. Government jobs generally pay less than industry, however, the security and benefits at retirement may be better. Jobs in academia were once relatively secure but now, security comes with tenure, an elusive goal for many. Even the concept of tenure may evaporate over the next twenty years.

There is no universal formula for career success, and as Note 7 indicates, a sobering portion depends on sheer luck. Part one and two of this series plus the preceding eleven notes may help build your strategy. Putting all these pieces together, I offer the following career strategy assessment that, while specifically for industry, has relevance to all organizations.

The professional EHS expert has to work with all the departments in a company, especially on business expansion (or contraction) activities. They must have access to the big picture and many of the details and problems of operations. They must also field complaints and concerns from stakeholders outside the company. More and more are working on social issues. Environmental impact assessments used to be a technical evaluation but social impacts can be pivotal. These added dimensions will require more ongoing management than traditional EHS issues.

Safety issues can get the EHS professional involved in labor relations and tough negotiation issues. This drives professionals to help find solutions to problems far outside their normal technical realm. Their roles can expand greatly into public relations, communications, investor relations and dealing with the most senior managers in the company and the board of directors. It is this broad exposure to people and issues across companies that attracted me to the profession in the first place.

Savvy EHS professionals are always working to improve written, spoken and computer skills. They move mountains of paperwork, respond to e-mails and correspondence, spend hours on the phone and in meetings and develop skills at managing people and budgets. Most of all, they solve problems and keep the process moving forward. Problem solvers who consistently improve every day will always have work and be in high demand. Which brings us to Note 12. While the entry barriers are low, the exit barriers are also lowering for top EHS performers.

This is the exact opposite situation for Richard and Jeanette, who faced strong entry barriers but will face thorny career consequences if they choose a different profession later in life. EHS professionals face stiff competition, but their background and skills make them ideally suited for a myriad of opportunities that may shift them in and out of the EHS profession.

Taking on opportunities outside the traditional EHS area may be a good career move, but for this to happen you must constantly develop your technical and business management skills. Additionally, you will need to have your radarscope permanently on at maximum sensitivity. All this takes effort and courage, but the rewards are potentially there, maybe more so than for many other professionals in industry.

Concluding Remarks
My colleagues and I have extensively discussed current career dynamics facing EHS professionals. Our collective advice for those who wish to make a career in this field is the following: (1) hone your skills at communicating with key decision makers both inside and outside your organization; (2) read the latest technical and business literature to keep abreast of emerging business, societal and technical issues; (3) take maximum advantage of professional development opportunities, including assignments outside the EHS field; (4) carefully listen to the concerns and problems that come your way, probing what is really going on; (5) stay focused on finding solutions, not fixing blame or hiding information; and finally, above all else, (6) view the world realistically, as it is, not as you wish it to be.

This kind of EHS professional will be in front of senior managers in short order. In time, these are the very people that should be the CEOs, chief administrators and on boards of directors because they understand how the entire organization works, who all the key management people are, who the key stakeholders outside the organization are and how to get people to work together to solve problems and achieve targets and goals.

Best wishes and good luck.

References
1. "You have a career: Now you need an agent," Fortune, May 12, 2003, Page 138.
2. Daniel Kadlec. "Where did My Raise Go?" Time, May 26, 2003, Page 50.
3.Robert Mathews. "A Retired Steelworker Struggles With a Health-Insurance Crisis -- The Ailing Industry Breaks Promises of the Past To Stay Afloat Today," Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2003, Page A1.
4. www.pojasek-associates.com/Events/events.html