MANAGING THE STAFF PROFILE OF AN INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANCY IN AN EVOLVING MARKETPLACE

ENVIRON is an international scientific consultancy with offices in 17 countries and a staff that speaks about 35 different languages, represents 45 scientific and engineering disciplines, and practices in 27 service areas. Although ENVIRON still has robust practices in traditional areas such as site investigation/remediation, groundwater hydrogeology, and waste water management, in recent years the firm has added capabilities in carbon and energy management, nanotechnology, an array of sustainability services, eco-design, and activities driven by EU Directives such as RoHS, WEEE, and REACH. Many of our projects are trans-disciplinary, cross-practice collaborations that draw staff from several countries. We need staff that write well, speak well, have well developed analytical skills, and can functionally interact with experts in a wide variety of disciplines other than their own.

The combination of all of the above presents a huge challenge with regard to recruiting and training staff who will fit functionally into the firm, its culture, and business model yet are the product of a wide range of educational systems in the various countries. The biggest challenge is often in finding qualified recent graduates with well-developed writing and speaking skills, and with any experience functioning as a part of an interdisciplinary team. We can quickly provide the “team” experience, but running remedial writing programs is not where we want to spend our time and effort. A skilled modeler who can’t write or speak well is of limited value.

Examples of recruiting methods ENVIRON uses to address these challenges include: an online recruitment database accessible to all ENVIRON offices; employee and client referrals; college recruiting efforts supported by alumni and relationships with professors; and outreach recruiting to minority and female engineering and scientific associations. We attempt to balance external hires and promotions from within. We also implement a number of staff development programs that include: mentoring junior staff; support for professional association membership and technical training programs; an educational stipend program; and leadership development training and coaching.