Re: Salaries

[roseb@smtp-gw.gdls.com (Boyd H Rose)]

     Hi Diane!
     
     You ask a good question.  I too have noticed that the salaries offered 
     for HP positions seem a bit low for the responsibilities and 
     experience required by the employment solicitations.  I have also 
     noticed that many of the offerings in which salaries are stated are 
     made by universities and state governments which seem to pay at a 
     lower scale across the board (the rewards must be in the public 
     service aspects).
     
     In my view, the lower pay scale for HP jobs may be due to the actual 
     or perceived market for HPs.  This is illustrated by the following 
     from a recent e-mail I received from a colleague:
     
          I am doing O.K., but academically, I am stagnant.  Courses 
          at Georgia Tech are expensive and future for Nuke is pretty 
          bleak (talk to Dr. XXXXX XXXXX and he would tell you all 
          about it).  I'm still pursuing certification though.  Will 
          take Part II next year.  I'm also taking graduate courses in 
          Environmental Engineering and contemplating on changing 
          job/location.
     
     There has also been considerable discussion in the past in the HP 
     newsletter and to a lesser extent in the HP Journal about how 
     overcrowded the HP profession is and how the job market for HPs has 
     declined since the end of the cold war and since no new power plants 
     have come on-line in the US for a couple of decades.  It seems that 
     environmental engineering/management, hazmat, combined 
     health/safety/environmental and other more generalized health 
     protection fields are more in demand these days than HP.
     
     The positions being advertised are most likely being filled by 
     qualified entry level as well as qualified and experienced individuals 
     who believe that they aren't able to command higher salaries at 
     present because of the current HP market as perceived in the previous 
     paragraph.
     
     What is the answer?  I don't really know.  I recently completed a 
     graduate course in industrial hygiene which was taught by Dr. Herman 
     Cember.  His advice to the class was to expand our knowledge and 
     experience beyond HP to encompass more general IH, safety, and 
     environmental aspects of occupational/industrial health.  That way we 
     make ourselves more flexible and valuable in the current job market.  
     From my search through employment adds, I find that Dr. Cember has 
     given us good advice.  Employers want to do much more with less and we 
     as HPs can't afford to be "one trick ponies" in the present employment 
     climate.
     
     Also, I believe that we as members of the HP profession and the HPS 
     could learn a lot from the IHs/AIHA (see http://www.aiha.org and the 
     Synergist), the SHRM (http://www.shrm.org) and other 
     professions/organizations as to how to be aggressively activist in 
     elevating, promoting, and protecting our profession in order to keep 
     the compensation commensurate with the level of qualification 
     professional HPs bring to the table.
     
     Henry
     
     alpha*beta*gamma*neutron*xray*alpha*beta*gamma
     
     Boyd H. Rose, CM, IHIT
     Radiation Protection Officer
     General Dynamics Land Systems Division
     E-mail:    roseb@gdls.com
     Telephone: (419) 221-8588
     Fax:       (419) 221-7026
     
     *xray*alpha*beta*gamma*neutron*xray*alpha*beta
     
     
     The opinions and comments expressed in this message are mine alone and 
     do not in anyway reflect those of my employer.


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Salaries
Author:  radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at Internet/Unix
Date:    8/20/98 7:24 AM


I haven't been keeping up with radsafe messages for a while, so forgive me if 
this has been previously adressed.  Several recent job postings on radsafe have 
described the duty requirements for large University programs, which require 
extensive responsibility, with salaries ranging from $40-$50,000 per year (40-45
more frequently).  Are these positions being filled, and are they being filled 
by truly qualified personnel?  These salaries are not commensurate with the 
education, experience, skills, and responsibilities owned by most Health 
Physicists.  How can we ensure adequate compensation and the professional 
respect that is indicated by competitive salaries?
     
My opinion only, not that of my employer.
     
Diane Case
dcase@exchange.nih.gov     
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