Surveying
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A Radical Approach to the Talent Shortage in Surveying
A shortage of surveyors is causing delays and disruptions in civil engineering and construction projects. The solution, says NSPS Executive Director Tim Burch, is a grassroots movement focused on advocacy. Imagine if someone 25 years ago had started a fun, engaging outreach program into elemen- tary schools that would inspire kids and their parents to see the opportunities in a surveying career. How would that have influenced the ability to complete today’s engineering and construction projects? We can’t change history, but we can rewrite the future. That’s exactly what Timothy W. Burch, PLS, executive director of the National Society of Professional Surveyors, endeavors to do through his advocacy of the Get Kids Into Survey program. “In the fall of 2017, [I noticed] this incredible poster that had been published by a young lady out of England by the name of Elaine Ball, who has a background in surveying. … She saw the need to be able to explain to not just students but to parents and to other interested parties what a surveyor truly does.” Tim was so impressed by the posters and Elaine’s initiative that he reached out to her to find out how to get the surveying community and educational systems in the United States involved. In 2018, the NSPS became the North American distributor for Get Kids Into Survey. Just five years after its inception, the program has almost 20 posters as well as coloring pages, lesson plans, quizzes and a comic book with six episodes and growing. Surveyors in North America have gone all in. “Most of the state af- filiates are constantly ordering posters for distribution at their state conferences,”Tim says. “To date, I think we’re just short of having distributed 70,000 posters nationwide. So, I’d like to think that it’s been a pretty successful initiative.” But – Is It Working? The global talent shortage has exacerbated a challenge that has faced surveying for decades: There haven’t been enough young people entering the profession to replace those who are aging out and retiring. “It’s holding up projects; it’s holding up progress on getting things done, whether it’s public infrastructure, private de- velopment—anything that requires engineering, planning, and the initial work that the surveyor does on the ground, construction staking, as-builts, all of that,”Tim says. “When there’s not someone in the field and in the office to create these surveys and plans, it’s not getting done.” Advocacy matters, he says. “We’re still going to have labor shortages. But I’m hoping to see that it’s going to be a less of a shortage because we’re going to make that connection with the younger generations.” Five years of reaching out to elementary and middle schools isn’t quite long enough to see a track record of success. And yet, as an awareness initiative, there are clear signs of progress. The Get Kids Into Survey program is inspiring the next generation of geospatial experts. Learn more and become an advocate at www.getkidsintosurvey.com.
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csengineermag.com
October 2022
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