Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health

People in this career often have these skills:

• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Science - Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.

• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Flexibility of Closure - The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

People in this career often do these activities:

• Provide technical information or assistance to public.
• Monitor environmental impacts of production or development activities.
• Advise others about environmental management or conservation.
• Compile environmental or climatological data.
• Develop environmental sustainability plans or projects.

• Assess compliance with environmental laws.
• Review environmental permits, plans, or reports.
• Research environmental impact of industrial or development activities.
• Advise others on matters of public policy.
• Prepare information or documentation related to legal or regulatory matters.
• Prepare research or technical reports on environmental issues.
• Supervise trainees.
• Supervise scientific or technical personnel.
• Plan environmental research.
• Direct technical activities or operations.
• Research impacts of environmental conservation initiatives.
• Develop plans to manage natural or renewable resources.
• Develop theories or models of physical phenomena.
• Develop sustainable industrial or development methods.

• Environmental Compliance Inspectors

• Conservation Scientists

• Hydrologists

• Environmental Engineers

• Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers

• Validation Engineers

• Range Managers

• Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists

• Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health

• Chemists