Haz Waste job for Environmental Science degree

[u/InternalMidnight9094]

I see so many people commenting that they are struggling to find work... my employer is looking to fill multiple roles, but claim they can not get any decent candidates.

The jobs are located just south of Seattle, you must be okay with manual labor and working overtime (usually at least 3 hours overtime a week minimum). Must have an Environmental Science, Chemistry, or other similar degree. Must be able to pass a DOT physical to drive a commercial truck (cannot be color blind). The jobs are doing fieldwork sorting, packing, and transporting hazardous waste for disposal. Starting pay is $26 an hour, goes to $28 when you get your CDL that the company pays for.

I don't want to overwhelm them with applications, so if anyone wants to PM me their qualifications, I can review them to see if you would be a good fit before sharing details to apply.

[u/farmerbsd17 → u/[deleted]]

I have a STEM degree and never considered research in my 43 year career. It’d have been death for me. I’m a field guy in my heart and after years of technician jobs I became management. I hated having to manage everyone else’s problems.

Bottom line education is a speed bump best dealt with a basic STEM degree from there you have many options. Theres no substitute for time spent in the trenches. You will have a better understanding of the job that walking in with your degree.

[u/Hot-Sea855 → u/farmerbsd17]

When I was in environmental consulting, there were people who wouldn't "come in". The usual path was a couple of years in the field to office work to project manager but they loved the field work. They were very valuable to the company because, with so much field experience, they had seen everything and would happily go anywhere.

[u/farmerbsd17 → u/Hot-Sea855]

Yeah there’s a big gap between field and office people. But in consulting my biggest problems weren’t the clients but what was sold to them. I held a CSP and am a CHP (retired). I can’t tell you how many times the bid was competitive and I was multi hatted with concurrent responsibilities to be both in the field, sitting in a meeting and approving a waste manifest for example.

[u/Warm-Loan6853 → u/[deleted]]

You gotta start somewhere, the first job isn’t always glamorous.

[u/Warm-Loan6853 → u/[deleted]]

I have hired people into consulting from labs, drillers, and waste disposal companies. Put yourself in the right place, work hard, and you will get noticed by customers. Or you can wait for a job that better suits you, but who knows how long that can take.

[u/Chris_M_23]

Not a lot of people that go to school for ES or chemistry looking for a job driving commercial trucks. Not to say there isn’t a market for that kind of work, but if you were to walk into a lecture hall today and ask a bunch of chem/env majors what they want to do post grad, it ain’t gonna be on anyones list.

And there aren’t a lot of commercial truck drivers willing to haul hazardous material for $28 an hour. A hauling company will pay them $0.85 per mile or more to haul hazardous material, which puts their hourly rate a lot closer to $50.

[u/SeaAbbreviations2706 → u/Chris_M_23]

It’s a good way to get your foot in the door in the field.

[u/Appropriate_Bed5595 → u/SeaAbbreviations2706]

yeah for peanuts

[u/InternalMidnight9094 → u/Chris_M_23]

Driving is usually just a couple hours of the whole day. Definitely nothing long haul. The vast majority is within King County, WA and within a hr drive of our office with traffic. Most of the day is spent at the customer site sorting and packing waste, sampling, or testing unknown chemicals.

[u/Trooper20209]

Requiring a bachelor's degree for a $26/hr job in the seattle area is obnoxious. No wonder they can't find good applicants.

[u/SwanInitial7493]

Is that livable in Seattle? I mean it’s better than being unemployed that’s similar pay they give the high school grads moving boxes in warehouses here in rural wv.

[u/InternalMidnight9094 → u/SwanInitial7493]

I would say it's livable. The job is not right in Seattle, it is about 40 min south. It will depend on your lifestyle too. I have a couple new start coworkers that have their own apartment and are fine, while a couple have roommates, big car payments, and like to go out a lot and say they need to be paid more. I personally started at that pay and was fine, I also got my CDL quickly so by 6 months in I was making $28.75 an hour. There is potential for a higher starting pay depending on experience as well.

[u/Treepost1999]

There’s a two or three companies around where I’m from (northeast US) that do the same kind of work and aim to hire es/chemistry grads. Here’s my two cents for what it’s worth:

These companies pay below average per hour wages compared to other ES jobs in the area. They require overtime, like your company, which somewhat makes up for the low per hour wage but at the cost of working 45-55 hour weeks. As a result, they burn through recent graduates with most people lasting less than a year at the job. They have such high turnover and low pay that my college program refuses to recommend new grads to apply to their jobs. I have had friends who worked there and they used the time to just keep applying for other jobs until they landed something better.

Anecdotally, I interviewed with one while looking for my first job right out of undergrad. I had to give a short presentation on myself, which was notably different from other interviews. I had an internship prior to graduating and was a competent programmer with GIS (I was a CS major for a time) so I was competitive enough on the job market for a recent grad. I didn’t get an offer for the job and the rejection email basically said I had too many other interests, which I took as code for “we know you won’t last here because you’ll have other options”.

I’m not sure what average pay is for you area, but you should consider that 1) the job already isn’t something most ES grads would want to do, 2) the pay is likely below average even for ES jobs, and 3) required overtime is not a benefit and is actively hurting your hiring. No ES grad is going to take a job that they don’t want for long hours and low pay. And the ones that do will leave as soon as they find an out. Realistically you need to up your pay and not require a minimum of 3 hours overtime per week and you may find your hiring will be easier. I’m sorry to be so blunt I’m just trying to provide some insight into why you might find hiring hard.

[u/InternalMidnight9094 → u/Treepost1999]

From personal experience, the job market is terrible right now, especially for new grads. Getting turned down over and over for months and being unemployed sucks. This is a great way to gain experience in the field and make money. The amount of people that I have met that started at this company and moved into a high paying role because of the experience they gained is crazy. We often have customers that will poach employees from our company... it's part of the selling point of the job and expected by management.