FEATURE Review by Tonya Bronleewe
Invest In Recruitment To Support The Water Workforce As director of the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at Wichita State University (WSU), if I did not show up and do my job for a few days in a row, only a handful of my coworkers would be negatively impacted. The work we do for communities is important and valuable, but my absence would not cause ripples through the community that negatively impact schools, households, hospitals, businesses, industries, veterinary clinics and on and on. However, if our community water and wastewater operators decided to stop showing up for work, there would be some pretty big ripples that would disrupt all aspects of our community for days and possibly weeks! In today’s utility workforce, there are a number of factors – retirements, job transitions, infrastructure growth and investment, and new technical and scientific skill requirements – that leave more open positions than there are job seekers. These vacancies have the potential to risk the safety and reliability of our most important daily requirement: water. Therefore, we need to do all that we can to build a strong water workforce for the future. Current high school students and veterans are two groups that, with a little investment of time and effort for outreach and recruitment, could help us fill our water workforce vacancies and create a pipeline of talent that benefits water service in our communities for years to come.
High School Students Want to find the next generation of your utility’s workforce? Look no further than your local high school. Today’s young people are looking for jobs that are meaningful and provide good-paying, stable employment with the opportunity to advance and continually learn new things. Reach out to your high school’s career counselor to connect with students who have the right skills and attitude to be a public servant for the community. Counselors can direct you to students that might be good fits for internships or summer staff. You can use these temporary positions to get to know young people and see how they can help meet future staffing
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theReview May/June 2022
Amanda Curry, Garden City High School Work in Water Summer Intern at the city of Garden City Public Utilities-Kansas.
needs in your utility. Maybe some students are ready to transition from high school straight into a career in water. You can also start your own water utility outreach program to show high school students what water utility jobs are like and how they can develop a life-long career in the industry. An outreach program can provide your utility with the opportunity to get young people interested in a career in water. Check out all the great, free resources that can help you connect to local high school students at www.wichita. edu/workinwater. Do not hesitate to contact us to help you start your own Work in Water program. Another opportunity on the horizon to engage high school students is WaterCorps. The WSU EFC recently received one of 10 EPA Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Grants. The aim of this project is to build the water workforce by developing a nationwide network of high school and post-secondary students who will receive internship experiences, educational resources, guidance from professionals in the field, and facility tours.
