Environmental Specialists are responsible for monitoring the effects of pollution on our environment. They conduct research primarily in industrial areas and create reports on their findings, striving to advise stakeholders on creating a balance between industrial activities and sustainable living conditions.
Carrying out field investigations and analyzing test samples will be your primary duties. You might experiment with dying various materials to track areas potentially affected by toxic waste. You might create reports such as graphs and maps displaying various pollutants to inform key decision-makers.
Monitoring water quality and understanding the various ways in which human populations and activities affect wildlife may also be on your plate. If you are considering this position, you will need to obtain appropriate education and experience in the field. But rest assured, you will be heading towards a deeply meaningful career.
Environmental Specialist Overview
Working as an Environmental Specialist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an environmental specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.09 an hour? That's $52,189 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 7,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Environmental Specialist Do
There are certain skills that many environmental specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and problem-solving skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an environmental specialist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 11.7% of environmental specialists included procedures, while 11.2% of resumes included hazardous materials, and 6.8% of resumes included environmental compliance. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the environmental specialist job title. But what industry to start with? Most environmental specialists actually find jobs in the health care and manufacturing industries.
How To Become an Environmental Specialist
If you're interested in becoming an environmental specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 41.4% of environmental specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 21.9% of environmental specialists have master's degrees. Even though most environmental specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an environmental specialist. When we researched the most common majors for an environmental specialist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on environmental specialist resumes include high school diploma degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an environmental specialist. In fact, many environmental specialist jobs require experience in a role such as internship. Meanwhile, many environmental specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as cashier or environmental scientist.
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Environmental Specialist Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an environmental specialist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as environmental scientist, progress to a title such as project manager and then eventually end up with the title environmental services director.
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Average Salary for an Environmental Specialist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Hirelevel. Environmental Cleaning Specialist II Environmental Cleaning Specialist II | Hirelevel. Hirelevel. | 01/31/2021 01/31/2021 | $22,97801/31/2021 $22,978 |
Iowa Department of Administrative Services Environmental Specialist Environmental Specialist | Iowa Department of Administrative Services Iowa Department of Administrative Services | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $48,19401/29/2021 $48,194 |
Veolia Environmental Specialist Environmental Specialist | Veolia Veolia | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $35,47901/28/2021 $35,479 |
Florida Department of Transportation Environmental Specialist II Environmental Specialist II | Florida Department of Transportation Florida Department of Transportation | 01/27/2021 01/27/2021 | $36,46801/27/2021 $36,468 |
State of Iowa Environmental Specialist Environmental Specialist | State of Iowa State of Iowa | 01/27/2021 01/27/2021 | $48,19401/27/2021 $48,194 |
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Environmental Specialist Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming an Environmental Specialist. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write an Environmental Specialist Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Environmental Specialist resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Environmental Specialists
1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
2. University of California - Davis
Davis, CA • Public
3. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
5. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
6. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Public
7. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Public
8. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
10. Yale University
New Haven, CT • Private
Top Skills For an Environmental Specialist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.7% of environmental specialists listed procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.
- Procedures, 11.7%
- Hazardous Materials, 11.2%
- Environmental Compliance, 6.8%
- Regulatory Agencies, 6.6%
- Facility, 4.9%
- Other Skills, 58.8% See All Environmental Specialist Skills
Best States For an Environmental Specialist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an environmental specialist. The best states for people in this position are California, Colorado, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Environmental specialists make the most in California with an average salary of $67,959. Whereas in Colorado and New Mexico, they would average $61,959 and $61,564, respectively. While environmental specialists would only make an average of $61,103 in West Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. West Virginia
$61,104
Avg. Salary
2. Kentucky
$58,534
Avg. Salary
3. New Mexico
$61,564
Avg. Salary
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