The fast-growing, technically advanced geospatial industry is confronting a severe workforce development challenge. As such, electric utilities, the government, the private sector, academic community and professional associations must prepare workers to take advantage of new geospatial job opportunities.

As a general rule, electric utilities hire geospatial professionals to acquire, manage, analyze, integrate, map, distribute and use geographic, temporal and spatially based information and knowledge. These workers — who are in high demand but short supply — are also involved with research and education, technology development and applications to address the planning, decision-making and operational needs of utilities nationwide.

Hiring the Best Candidate for the Job

To effectively recruit, train and retain qualified geospatial professionals, electric utilities must first pinpoint what skills they are looking for in job candidates. It's challenging for utilities to recruit without a clear definition of requirements, and there is no “brand” to entice young geospatial workers into the profession.

Electric utilities, however, can ramp up their recruiting efforts by investing in what's called a geospatial competency model. By establishing clear expectations and standards for geospatial jobs within their companies, utilities can develop realistic job descriptions that drive job postings. In addition, they can use competencies to create a standard branding message for future recruiting efforts.

While geospatial competency models may at first seem an abstract concept, they are not only practical and useful, but critical to an electric utility's success. Imagine hiring a new person in a key position, but only having a vague and general idea of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for that position. What impact would that have on the chance for success for the new hire? And yet that is exactly what utilities are doing every day.

Putting the Plan into Action

Developing a competency model is often a rigorous and time-consuming process for electric utilities. By relying on their available framework as well as standardized templates, however, the process doesn't need to be cumbersome. Once a utility establishes a geospatial competency model, it sets the foundation for the following critical processes.

Job design

Establish geospatial job duties, qualifications and standards of performance.

Recruiting

Provide a clear picture of the geospatial job to prospective applicants to make the applicant screening process more efficient.

Employee selection

Design interview questions, assessments, skill tests and other methods to identify the best candidates for geospatial positions.

Employee development

Identify career paths that include jobs with related competencies and provide that information to employees so they understand their options for growth within the organization.

Training

Develop geospatial training programs (classroom, online and on-the-job) that are targeted to the skills needed for each position, making the most efficient and effective use of training expenditures.

Performance-based coaching

Provide a clear basis for setting expectations and performance goals, establishing standards of performance and providing tools for managers to deal effectively with job performance issues.

Confronting Challenges

Recruiting new geospatial professionals with the right technical and managerial skills is not the only challenge faced by utilities. The majority of companies also aren't taking a systematic approach to geospatial workforce planning. As a result, these utilities are not satisfying the future need for workforce sustainability.

Defined geospatial competency models can help to ensure success during the employment lifecycle. In addition, they can improve the efficiency of workforce planning by defining key knowledge areas for training and development, workforce succession and continuity, knowledge retention and management, and career planning. Utilities can use competencies in these practice areas to understand the workforce's challenges and opportunities. In turn, the companies can leverage the strengths and fill the gaps in the geospatial industry.

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Dave DiSera (ddisera@ema-inc.com) serves as the chairman of the research committee for the Geospatial Information and Technology Association and served as a board member from 1997-2003. He is a vice president and CTO with EMA Inc.

Editor's note: Visit www.doleta.gov for more information on the Geospatial Technology Competency Model and the report on “Defining and Communicating Geospatial Industry Workforce Demand.”