HATFIELD:
As director of the Santa Barbara County Environmental Health
Program, you obviously play a major role in hiring new professionals
(hopefully some of our graduates!). What are some of the key things you
look for during an interview?
ERBECK:
Actually, I only get involved in the interviews for new REHS staff at the
senior and supervisor level. The qualities that we look for at that
level are much different, of course, from the entry REHS trainee or
journey level REHS. I do, however, instruct the interview panel regarding
the knowledge, skills and abilities we value in our REHS staff as well as
review the interview questions for content and their relationship to the
positions' responsibilities.
HATFIELD:
My next question, then, has to be put in a very careful context:
what kind of things do you instruct the interview panel to look for?
I'm not asking about specific scoring systems or interview forms
(I know that they can and do change), but instead I'm looking for the
most important professional qualities you seek in the applicants.
ERBECK:
At the entry level we look for people who first of all have a basic
understanding and appreciation for the field of environmental health and
its' inherent relationship to public health. Notice the use of the word
"understanding". Knowledge is not enough. Understanding is critical to
the success of the staff in the field. Without understanding there is
limited ability to exercise critical thinking and without critical
thinking it is impossible to exercise good judgment. We realize that the
elements of critical thinking and judgment can be learned and then
applied in the field and developing these traits is part of the focus of
our training program for entry level staff. So we look for individuals
who have a solid foundation in the basic environmental and public health
sciences and are eager to add to that foundation in order to develop their
critical thinking and judgment skills.
HATFIELD:
I'm especially happy to hear that, because one of my favorite answers to
student questions (as most any of my students can attest) is "it depends."
By that I mean that the ultimate answers to so many questions will depend
on a number of variables, and that one-dimensional answers must be
replaced with critical thinking and good judgment. With that as our
foundation, what other qualities do you look for?
ERBECK:
We also look for individuals who have good "people" skills. The ability to
relate to a business owner in a helpful and, to use a trite phrase,
customer service oriented fashion. Good communication skills, both oral
and written, are essential for success in the Environmental Health field.
This is a fundamental skill and is no less important than program specific
job knowledge. We often use a writing sample exercise to gauge an
individual's ability to analyze situations, identify issues and create
solutions.
We also look for candidates who exhibit traits of flexibility and
adaptability. Work in the field can be extremely stressful without them.
We value listening skills as well. The ability to truly listen to another
point of view and learn and integrate that point of view into problem
solving requires that one be flexible and adaptable. Of course, without
the basic understanding mentioned earlier, none of this is possible. That
is why we place so much emphasis on understanding vs. knowledge with no
understanding.
HATFIELD:
How does this flexibility translate into enforcement actions?
ERBECK:
The comfort zone for new field staff sometimes revolves around the use of
the word "NO!" when confronted with new and unfamiliar situations. This
is to be expected, but our efforts are directed at finding those staff who
know when to say "NO!" and when to say "Let's analyze this situation and
see what we can come up with that satisfies you and me."
HATFIELD:
That leads me to a question that we struggle with all the time at the
university: to what extent should we emphasize knowledge of specific
regulations over the more general critical thinking skills you've mentioned?
ERBECK:
People can learn laws, rules, regulation, ordinances. While it
is somewhat of an advantage to an organization to have trainees who are
conversant with them at the beginning, in my estimation it is much more
valuable to have a public health foundation that can form the basis of an
understanding of laws, rules and regulations. In the final analysis it is
a person's professional judgment based on this critical thinking
attribute that will be the difference between success and failure. Rote
application of laws, rules and regulation is not rewarding, not desirable,
and in most cases not effective in seeking the change in behavior that we
seek, known as compliance.
HATFIELD:
Many of our students are very concerned about the actual interview for
the job. Do you have any comments on the actual process?
ERBECK:
As I mentioned earlier, a key quality that we look for in our Environmental
Health Professionals is the ability to communicate effectively with the public
and the business community that we regulate. These communication skills
would include oral, written and multimedia skills. The interview format
helps to assess a candidates' oral communication skills. More and more
you will find that the interview format also includes the submission of a
writing sample or an exercise during the interview that requires the
person to respond in writing to a hypothetical situation. When one stops
to think about it, the communication interface is what we do most often;
it is the primary focus of our profession, not something that interferes
with our ability to do our job.
HATFIELD:
Gary, on behalf of all the students and faculty in the Environmental and
Occupational Health Program at CSUN, I want to thank you for your
insights and generosity in granting this "e-mail interview." I hope we can
continue experimenting with this new format and, even more, I hope that we
continue developing the kind of Environmental Health Professionals that
can best serve your agency. Thanks again.