916
December 2016
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
SECTOR
INSIGHT:
.
mil
already doing so. Finally, many service members attend job
fairs or/and use recruiters to find jobs upon their transition to
the civilian sector. As such, those companies, agencies, and
firms interested in hiring vets should consider participating
in military job fairs and working with the primary recruiters
who cater to veterans. Taking these steps would be just a
few ways that would likely grow the number of veterans that
pursue a career in geospatial information science.
I challenge those organizations that are hiring employees to
strongly consider hiring a veteran. Veterans may be better
prospective employees than a job application suggests due to
the way the application is structured. Consider some of
the attributes a veteran might bring to your organiza-
tion that may not be quantifiable on an application form.
Military service members understand the importance
of teamwork, meeting deadlines, professionalism, disci-
pline and respect. They have an abundance of real world
experience working with groups, often in a position of
leadership. In most cases they have copious experience
giving formal and informal presentations and a demon-
strated ability of being trained on new technologies. Vet-
erans also have first hand experience of conducting oper-
ations in the field and have engrained in them the need
to work as a team to accomplish the mission on time.
So, where can you find a qualified veteran looking for a
job within our industry? That is a great question! Cur-
rently, there does not seem to be a single established
place to look for a veteran or advertise to those with spe-
cific skills within our field. If you are looking for a grad-
uate from a service academy, Service Academy Career
Fairs are an option. If you specifically need a candidate
with security clearance, the website
is a possible platform to conduct a search. There
are several job recruiters dedicated to junior military of-
ficer groups such as
and the
.
In the future, perhaps the service academies would be a
good place to start. The academies could, and often do,
maintain contact with their graduates. The professors
at the Service Academies make contacts at academic,
military, and industry conferences where firms looking
for employees may reach out to them. We could certain-
ly maintain a webpage dedicated to our transitioning
officers at the West Point Geospatial Information Sci-
ence Program website located at:
Many of the groups
mentioned are specific to officers; however, the United
Services Organization (USO) has started
or Rally
Point 6 to serve as a national platform to connect tran-
sitioning service members. Without a clear “one stop
shop” specific to our industry, perhaps the ASPRS com-
munity should create a veteran’s committee. If such a
committee was established what division or committee
should it fall under? For instance, as a sub-committee
with any existing ASPRS Division or within the existing Ed-
ucation and Professional Development Committee (E & PD)
or Early Career Professionals Committee or a new stand-
alone Committee on Veteran’s Relations.
Lieutenant Colonel William Wright is a PhD Candidate at
the University of Florida’s Geomatics program. He was se-
lected by West Point to serve as an Academy Professor and
the Director of the Geospatial Information Science program.
ASPRS Certification validates your professional practice and
experience. It differentiates you from others in the profession.
For more information on the ASPRS
Certification program: contact
visit
STAND OUT FROM THE REST
earn asprs
certification
ASPRS congratulates these recently Certified and
Re-certified individuals:
RECERTIFIED PHOTOGRAMMETRIST
Douglas Johnson, Certification #R1512
Effective November 7, 2016, expires November 7, 2021
CERTIFIED MAPPING SCIENTIST/REMOTE SENSING
Amanda Grimm, Certification #RS233
Effective September 26, 2016, expires September 26, 2021
CERTIFIED GIS/LIS TECHNOLOGISTS
Jillian Rosche, Certification#288GST
Effective September 26, 2016, expires September 26, 2019
Nicholas Skinner, Certification #289GST
Effective September 28, 2016, expires September 28, 2019
THE
IMAGING & GEOSPATIAL
INFORMATION SOCIETY
