Water Quality Specialist Trainee (Environmental Trainee)

Are you a seasoned professional eager to elevate your career in environmental protection? Join our mission to safeguard the health of Pennsylvania's residents and its natural environment. As an Environmental Trainee, you will play a crucial role in monitoring public water systems, ensuring compliance with departmental standards, and protecting public health. This is your opportunity to make a meaningful impact in your community while helping to conserve our state's precious resources. Become a part of the Department of Environmental Protection today!

As a Water Quality Specialist Trainee, you will engage in a comprehensive 12-month program that combines formal education with practical, on-the-job training to master the responsibilities of a Water Quality Specialist. Throughout this program, you will acquire skills in inspecting, surveying, and investigating individuals, businesses, and municipalities that discharge into the waters of the Commonwealth. Your training will include both routine inspections and specialized evaluations, such as compliance sampling inspections, compliance evaluations, and collaborative multi-media inspections of designated industrial sites and sewage treatment facilities, whether publicly or privately owned.

Interested in learning more? Additional details regarding this position can be found in the position description.

Work Schedule and Additional Information:

• Full-time employment
• Work hours are 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday - Friday, with a 30-minute lunch.
• Telework: You may have the opportunity to work from home (telework) full-time. In order to telework, you must have a securely configured high-speed internet connection and work from an approved location inside Pennsylvania. If you are unable to telework, you will have the option to report to the headquarters office in Harrisburg. The ability to telework is subject to change at any time. Additional details may be provided during the interview.
• Salary: Selected candidates who are new to employment with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will begin employment at the starting annual salary of $45,907  (before taxes).
• You will receive further communication regarding this position via email. Check your email, including spam/junk folders, for these notices.
  

QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Experience and Training Requirements:

• Four years of technical experience in environmental science, environmental engineering, environmental health, geology, biology, ecology, or a closely related field; or
• A bachelor’s degree in environmental science, environmental engineering, environmental health, geology, biology, ecology, or a closely related field; or
  
• An equivalent combination of experience and training.
• Applicants will be considered to have met the educational requirements once they are within 3 months of graduating with a qualifying degree.

Special Requirement:

• This position requires possession of an active motor vehicle license.

Other Requirements:

• You must meet the PA residency requirement. For more information on ways to meet PA residency requirements, follow the link and click on Residency Guidelines. 
• You must be able to perform essential job functions.

How to Apply:

• Resumes, cover letters, and similar documents will not be reviewed, and the information contained therein will not be considered for the purposes of determining your eligibility for the position. Information to support your eligibility for the position must be provided on the application (i.e., relevant, detailed experience/education).

• If you are claiming education in your answers to the supplemental application questions, you must attach a copy of your college transcripts for your claim to be accepted toward meeting the minimum requirements. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable. 
• Your application must be submitted by the posting closing date. Late applications and other required materials will not be accepted. 
• Failure to comply with the above application requirements may eliminate you from consideration for this position.
• All application materials and interview responses must reflect the applicant’s own experience, qualifications, and work. Applicants may use generative AI tools for preparation purposes only. Use of AI to misrepresent or falsify information, or to assist during interviews, is not permitted. Review the Guidance for Generative AI Tools & Job Seekers for additional information.

Veterans: 

Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS):

If you are contacted for an interview and need accommodations due to a disability, please discuss your request for accommodations with the interviewer in advance of your interview date. 

• Completing the application, including all supplemental questions, serves as your exam for this position. No additional exam is required at a test center (also referred to as a written exam).
• Your score is based on the detailed information you provide on your application and in response to the supplemental questions. 
• Your score is valid for this specific posting only.
• You must provide complete and accurate information or:
  • your score may be lower than deserved.
  • you may be disqualified.
• You may only apply/test once for this posting.
• Your results will be provided via email.