ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE
DIRECT FROM AAS
Strategic Professional Development
Vince Radke, MPH, RS, CP-FS, DLAAS, CPH
protection of the public’s health (Gerding et al., 2019). Adaptability is often key to surviving emergencies and workplace chal- lenges, and to finding fulfillment in environ- mental health endeavors. To be motivated, satisfied, and successful in your career, it is crucial to chart a course based on your desired workforce goals. To assure adequate competencies for job eec- tiveness and for current and future leadership roles, environmental health professionals can benefit from developing a personal career plan, also known as career pathing. Career pathing is a process used to chart where you are in your work life, where you want to be, and steps to take to get there. It is a type of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportuni- ties, threats) analysis that helps one identify areas for personal professional improvement. In this column we share some strategies an environmental health professional can take to develop their environmental health career goals, skills, needed knowledge, and experi- ence. Thoughtfully considering a series of questions—and laying out an action plan based on them—can help lay a foundation for you to better progress through your career laterally or vertically through promotions and career benchmarks. This series of questions include: 1. Self-evaluation: Who am I? • Identify what you like and do not like about working in environmental health. • What are your priorities? • Name five things you want in a job. 2. Skills analysis: Where am I going? • Evaluate your KSAs (knowledge, skills, and abilities).
Editor’s Note: In an eort to provide environmental health profes- sionals with relevant information and tools to further the profession, their careers, and themselves, the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) has teamed up with the American Academy of Sanitarians (AAS) to publish two columns a year in the Journal . AAS is an organization that “elevates the standards, improves the practice, advances the professional proficiency, and promotes the highest levels of ethical conduct among professional sanitarians in every field of environmental health.” Membership with AAS is based on meeting certain high standards and criteria, and AAS members represent a prestigious list of environmental health professionals from across the country. Through the column, information from dierent AAS members who are subject-matter expects with knowledge and experience in a multitude of environmental health topics will be presented to the Journal’s readership. The conclusions and opinions of this column are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of NEHA. Vince Radke is chair of AAS and has been a diplomate since 2007.
E nvironmental health is a compelling career field. Environmental health practitioners are scientists who pro- tect our communities through the practice of identifying and evaluating possible envi- ronmental dangers and hazardous agents, and limiting exposures to hazardous physi- cal, chemical, and biological agents in air, water, soil, and food to reduce or eliminate risk (National Environmental Health Asso- ciation [NEHA], 2023a). We are valuable assets to keeping communities safe and healthy. We also see and find fulfillment in meeting the depth and breadth of the chal-
lenges in front of us. Sometimes, however, the job and life provide circumstances that cause a professional to pause and wonder about the place they are in their career, the direction they have come from, and where they are heading. New and evolving situations are challeng- ing environmental health professionals as they work to address routine and emergent community needs. The role of those profes- sionals working in environmental health is continually reemphasized by emergencies requiring rapid and eective responses to address environmental issues and ensure
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Volume 85 • Number 9
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