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.
What is an Environmental Specialist?
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.
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 63.7% of environmental specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 11.6% 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.
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.
Average Salary for an Environmental Specialist
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Environmental Specialists
1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
2. University of California - Davis
Davis, CA • Private
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 • Private
7. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
8. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
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.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Environmental Specialist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Environmental Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Environmental Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Environmental Specialist Demographics
Environmental Specialist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among environmental specialists, 37.4% of them are women, while 62.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among environmental specialists is White, which makes up 86.8% of all environmental specialists.
- The most common foreign language among environmental specialists is Spanish at 60.9%.
Online Courses For Environmental Specialist That You May Like
This course uses case studies and seminars to explore the occurrence of and responses to major environmental emergencies both at home and abroad, such as the Rhine River pollution incident, the Songhua River pollution event, the London smog episode, the Beijing haze pollution event and the Tianjin explosion accident. The background, causes, ecological restoration measures, accountability mechanisms, emergency response measures and ecological and environmental impacts of major environmental...
The second course of the Impacts of the Environment on Global Public Health specialization will explore a number of different environmental hazards. These are: air pollution, water pollution, solid and hazardous waste, and two physical hazards (radon and noise). These hazards each have the potential to harm human health, and we will explore how you may come into contact with these hazards and how they may harm you, as well as what we can do to minimize these exposures and health impacts. We will...
How to implement an Environmental Management System and obtain ISO 14001:2015 certification...
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, Nevada, Colorado, and Texas. Environmental specialists make the most in California with an average salary of $72,998. Whereas in Nevada and Colorado, they would average $66,416 and $65,339, respectively. While environmental specialists would only make an average of $62,545 in Texas, 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. Nevada
$66,416
Avg. Salary
2. West Virginia
$59,851
Avg. Salary
3. New Mexico
$58,455
Avg. Salary
How Do Environmental Specialist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Environmental Specialist Employers
Most Common Employers For Environmental Specialist
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GAI Consultants | $76,792 | $36.92 | 22 |
| 2 | Arcadis | $76,042 | $36.56 | 37 |
| 3 | AECOM | $71,892 | $34.56 | 18 |
| 4 | Chevron | $66,870 | $32.15 | 25 |
| 5 | Stericycle | $57,163 | $27.48 | 38 |
| 6 | US Air Conditioning Distributors | $54,575 | $26.24 | 93 |
| 7 | Triumvirate Environmental | $54,193 | $26.05 | 64 |
| 8 | USAF Police Alumni Association | $52,312 | $25.15 | 51 |
| 9 | Ohio Enviro Council | $52,037 | $25.02 | 22 |
| 10 | Veolia Water Tech | $50,956 | $24.50 | 88 |
Environmental Specialist Videos
Becoming an Environmental Specialist FAQs
How long does it take to become an environmental health specialist?
Becoming an environmental health specialist takes at least seven to ten years. Environmental health specialists are expected to obtain at least a bachelor's degree in health, related health field, or occupational safety. They are then likely to get certifications based on their career path.
What qualifications do you need to be an environmentalist?
Qualifications you need to be an environmentalist include a bachelor's degree from an accredited school or training facility, experience gained while in training, and an entry-level position within a company. Those looking to go further down the career path should consider getting their master's degree.