Progressing to Senior Positions
In the current climate it is unlikely that individuals will advance to senior positions simply because they have stayed with an organisation for a long period time. Instead, employers now look for a wide variety of skills and experiences that will benefit their organisation when hiring for senior positions.
There are two (or perhaps more) routes that candidates can take to reach senior positions, for example:
- A senior position in Business is likely to be someone who is required to involve the articulation of the organisation's mission and vision, set aims and objectives, offer direction and leadership to staff, support staff in the achievement of the set mission, vision, targets, aims and objectives, be ultimately accountable and responsible for the business for its success or failure; and
- A senior position within a specialism is likely to involve an exceptionally high level of knowledge in that particular field that doesn't perhaps require business-related support and leadership.
Whichever route towards becoming a senior professional is involved, job descriptions normally include:
- Substantial experience in a broad range of disciplines;
- Managing or engaging a broad range of both internal and external stakeholders;
- Professional body membership at Full member (MIEMA) or above, and Chartered (CEnv) or equivalent;
- PhD or MA/MSc qualifications are useful, especially in specialist positions;
- A broad understanding within the environmental arena; and a
- Business acumen.
Accumulating these skills and experiences will normally come by naturally progressing one's career from organisation to organisation, and from position to position as roles of responsibility become greater.
For environmental specific roles, such as Senior Environmental Consultant, it is likely that employers will be requesting extensive knowledge of EMS, EIA, Sustainability, CSR, environmental law and legislation, due diligence and Risk Management.
An example of an individual that has progressed from an Environmental onto becoming a Head of Department is Dr Ben Vivian, a Fellow of IEMA and Chartered Environmentalist.
Dr Ben Vivian FIEMA CEnv, Head of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility, Aggregate Industries.
With an academic background in Geography, Ben has worked in a number of roles including a period as a Technical Advisor for a law firm’s environment team.
“I don’t come from a communications background. I see myself as a physical environmental scientist who is keen to be heard, and working in this role is an exciting opportunity because I have the authority to take communications on environmental issues in a certain direction.
I have responsibility for the staff magazine, the website and the intranet. I am also one of the main points of contact between Aggregate Industries and the outside world and my job’s about being an environmental professional in a position to focus on the real challenges and take us forward as a society, rather than focusing on the negatives.
People don’t like being told what to do, and even less what not to do. Aggregate Industries is trying to shift from being a purely extractive industrial business to being one which promotes better construction methods, and a better built environment, which lasts longer and uses materials more efficiently.
We try to show our customers what they can achieve if they do things differently. For example, if they use what we call ‘thin surfacing’ – a layer of asphalt on a road surface, manufactured to a high specification – the environment will benefit because less raw material will be used and the road will be a quieter one. Although it is more expensive, the gains are worth it.”
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