Water Resource Specialist
Career Area: Planning and Analysis
Occupation Group: Energy and Sustainability Specialists
Salary
Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.
An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.
A typical Water Resource Specialist earns the following wages (national and state):
State
The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $33,793
National
The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $37,708
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Samples water, analyzes samples and provides information on environmental or health risks. Assists local and state governments with planning and watershed resource management. May specialize as an environmental scientist. May work as a water or wastewater treatment plant operator.
Employment Trends
The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.
Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:
| Location | Growth | |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 88 | +11% |
| Nationwide | 2580 | +5.9% |
Skills
A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:
Baseline Skills
The following are baseline skills every Water Resource Specialist is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:
- Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
- Physical Abilities: Physical Abilities, which refers to the ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs. These abilities often require strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and coordination.
- Detail-Oriented: A detail oriented person is someone who pays attention to the details and can make a conscious effort to understand causes instead of just the effects, and that does this in a second nature type of way.
- Organizational Skills: Experience with a systematic process of structuring, integrating, co-ordinating task goals, and activities to resources in order to attain objectives.
- Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
Specialized Skills
These skills are specific to working in this career:
- Cleaning: Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment.
- Demolition: Demolition is the tearing down of buildings and other man-made structures.
- Customer Service: Working experience with the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.
- Repair: Restoration of a broken, damaged, or failed device, equipment, part, or property to an acceptable operating or usable condition or state.
- Lifting Ability: Requires Lifting Ability, which is the ability to raise and object to a higher position or level, or pick up and move an object to a different position.
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills:
- Water Heaters: Working experience of Water Heaters, which appliances that provide a continual supply of hot water - called water heaters, hot water heaters, hot water tanks, boilers, heat exchangers, geysers, or calorifiers. Typical domestic uses of hot water include cooking, cleaning, bathing, and space heating. In industry, hot water and water heated to steam have many uses.
Experience
This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Experience Required | % |
| 0 to 2 years | 83% |
| 3 to 5 years | 12% |
| 6 to 8 years | 2% |
Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.
Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.
Common Job Titles
It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:
- Water Restoration Technician
- Water Damage Restoration Technician
- Water Restoration Technician/General Labor
- Fire And Water Restoration Technician
- Lead Water Restoration Technician
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