The Career Journey of an Environmental Engineer

The wide range of activities in the environmental sector, along with the presence of many companies that are not managed in a corporate-professional manner and the lack of competitors, leads us to face difficulties in finding qualified environmental engineers.

Environmental Engineering, defined as the profession of the future, is gaining more importance every day thanks to developments such as the increasing sensitivity of companies towards their environmental activities and sharing them in sustainability reports, the Zero Waste project, and the #25litre documentary.

Additionally, we can say that the advancements in R&D activities with Industry 4.0 have also accelerated the sector. As Artemis Treatment, we continue our efforts at full speed in the Technopark of Yıldız Technical University in the İkitelli region to advance our R&D activities.

The Profession of the Future Has Arrived, Are We Ready?

In my organizational development studies within the company, in the job and internship interviews I conducted for our open positions, in my competitor research, and through participation in university club activities, I believe that environmental engineers cannot find the right role models to develop their personal and professional competencies based on the knowledge, experience, and insights I have gained. When we probe this issue, we encounter the following reasons;

• Because a conscious choice of department has not been made,
• Because there has been no proper guidance regarding the competencies required by the department,
• We can list reasons such as not being able to gain experience in a visionary company that supports continuous development.

To address this need and contribute to the sector, we participate in the activities of environmental engineers' clubs with our Campus-A project. So far, we have been guests at 16 events of 10 different universities and have had the opportunity to share our experiences with thousands of environmental engineering candidates, and we will continue our sharing as much as we can.

We are working on it.

Environmental Engineering Department Data

In Turkey, there are 208 universities (129 state, 75 foundation, 4 foundation vocational schools) with environmental engineering departments in 52 undergraduate programs. Currently, according to YÖK data for the 2019-2020 Academic Year, 13,683 Environmental Engineering students are continuing their education, and looking at the graduation numbers for this term, 2,916 Environmental Engineering graduates have been reported. Again, when I looked at active environmental engineer job postings on job search platforms in May 2020, I could only see 212 postings.

The point I want to emphasize here is that we need to correctly define and analyze the segment we are competing with. Job postings have now transformed from “graduate of … university” and “having … GPA” to “having … competency.” For this reason, the name of the university you graduated from and your diploma GPA are no longer sufficient to make you special. It is now known that having competencies outweighs academic success.

Additionally, we may have some erroneous views during our student years;

• Thinking that school equals life success,
• Believing that the hardest part of life is school,
• Believing in success through shortcuts,

Job-Internship Search Platforms

Searching for jobs and internships has now become a profession. You need to be present on all job search platforms and stay updated for job and internship searching. Among job search platforms, the most important one is LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a professional social networking platform that enables people in the business world to communicate with others and exchange information. An environmental engineer must definitely be on this platform and be active. You can build your reputation through the totality of the relationships you develop throughout your career. LinkedIn will help you establish and maintain these relationships.

Moreover, a lot of responsibility falls on university career centers. They should guide students in preparing their CVs before graduation, iYou must definitely learn to apply for a job and prepare for the interview.**CV – Cover Letter Preparation**We should see preparing a CV as an art. A CV does not get you hired; it allows you to be invited for an interview. Therefore, the care you show in your CV will be the most important point for HR officials in the initial evaluation stage. Considering that the review time for a CV has dropped to around 9 seconds, we can better understand its importance. The cover letter in your application will add seriousness to your application. You can mention topics you want to address in your cover letter, your special skills, or recent developments related to your situation.The behaviors you exhibit during the application process can determine your fate. In other words, when you want to send your application via email, adding a brief and concise message in the subject and message sections, as well as naming your CV, is a simple yet small detail that could affect your fate. Failing to show sufficient care at this stage of the application may give the impression to HR that the company/position is not being taken seriously.**Selection and Placement Steps**Organizational growth, the emergence of an open position, or reasons related to a backup program can lead to the opening of a job advertisement. Applications are accepted until the planned time after the advertisement is published. Suitable candidates are contacted via phone or email to invite them for an interview. In every positively progressing interview, meetings with upper management can take place. As a result of the interviews, candidates deemed suitable undergo an inventory assessment and/or an assessment center application is conducted. Subsequently, the process is completed by reaching an agreement with the candidate whose qualifications, organizational culture, and mutual expectations align.These processes may vary according to institutions and organizations. It is also beneficial to be informed about these processes of the company you are applying to.**Preparations Before the Interview**Receiving an interview invitation indicates that you are one step closer to the process. Public-private, field-officeIt is beneficial to know your working conditions, strong competencies, and personal characteristics in advance. The company/position you are applying for will be the place where you will spend the most valuable and longest time of your day. Therefore, knowing what kind of company you will work for and what type of job description you will have will be your choice towards being a happy employee.Companies allocate time for interview organization in their busy work schedules, and managers revise their intense programs; therefore, it is advisable to be present at the company before the interview time and plan your transportation in advance. The highest rate of negative outcomes in interviews can often be attributed to the person's energy, desire, demeanor, and behavior at the time of the interview. For this reason, if you want to go through a successful interview process, I recommend that you do not neglect the above processes.**Career Planning**To become a qualified environmental engineer, you must possess certain competencies, skills, and personal characteristics. While it may not be possible to have all of them, you should at least have some knowledge or ideas about certain ones, but you must be the best in one area.- Programs: Ms Office, Ms Project, AutoCad, 3Dmax, Revit, etc. - Software: Delta, Siemens, GMT, Allen-Bradley, etc. - Legislation: Environmental Law, EIA Regulation, Environmental Permit / License Regulation, ISO14001 – ISO9001, Carbon Footprint – Green Port, etc., Water Pollution Control Regulation, Wastewater Treatment Plant Technical Procedures Communiqué, Wastewater Treatment / Deep Sea Discharge Facility Project Approval General Communiqué, etc. - Laboratory: Jar Test Studies, Treatment Methods According to Wastewater Types, Equipment Information (blower, aerator, scraper), etc. - Social Skills: Effective Communication, Teamwork, Problem Solving, Creative Thinking, etc.You should not graduate without having competence in AutoCad. Because the world has undergone an evolution in project processes and is transferring its projects to Revit, and our project team actively uses the Revit program.**Formula for Gaining Experience Before Graduation**8]

The most common complaint among students and recent graduate environmental engineer candidates is the lack of opportunities due to the demand for experienced candidates in job postings. Remember that the jobs you take on and the responsibilities you assume during your student years equip you with life skills that you will use throughout your lives, and these acquired skills contribute to your successes in life.

The skills that this experience will add to you;

• Knowing yourself,
• Understanding what suits you and what doesn't,
• Making decisions and seeing the consequences,
• Recognizing your potential by stepping outside your comfort zone,
• Building relationships with people of different ages and cultures,
• Improving collaboration as part of a team,
• Recognizing and managing your emotions.

Your To-Do List

I try to share my experiences through case studies when invited by environmental engineering clubs. A sustainable world is possible with you valuable environmental engineers. If I were to give a few recommendations to become a qualified environmental engineer;

• Know your personal characteristics, confront yourself to understand yourself, take time,
• Identify your strengths and weaknesses by conducting a SWOT analysis and create action plans to strengthen your weaknesses,
• Obtain your driver's license before graduation and practice driving,
• If you have phobias, try to overcome them. For example, fear of flying, heights, etc.
• Don't settle for your mandatory internship and graduation thesis,
• Be active in clubs or create working groups to produce projects, write a blog, participate in social responsibility activities,
• Stay updated on programs and regulations,
• Don't lose your drawing skills that you have gained, practice to gain speed,
• Pick up a hobby. Hobbies help balance your work and social life.

In this context, with our social project Mentor-A, which will support the development of personal and professional competencies of environmental engineers, environmental engineer...We aim to ensure the development of our candidates by sharing both personal and professional growth within a specific period and process framework. The Environmental Engineer Development Program; I would like to ask our Environmental Engineer candidates who wish to participate in the Mentor-A program to read the relevant blog posts below and follow us on our social media accounts.