Young Professionals Seek Shared Values & Purpose | WWD Weekly Digest

In the 2020 WWD State of the Industry Survey, more than half of the respondents were age 60 or older. Industry studies and leaders have for years expressed the inevitable shift to a younger workforce as one generation retires and the next fills their vacancies. But how should employers prepare and what will young professionals want when joining a water or wastewater organization?

Ji Im, CDM Smith environmental engineer and AWWA Young Professionals Committee vice chair, discusses the goals of the committee for 2021 and how it aims to bring more young professionals into the fold. She also explains the challenges that utilities face in finding, hiring and retaining young professionals, and what value structures they can put into place to make each stage of the process easier to accomplish. Lastly, she talks about the barriers young professionals face in the work place and what can break those barriers down.

Intro: (0:00)
AWWA Young Professionals Committee background & subcommittees: (0:49)
AWWA YP Committee at AWWA ACE: (3:30)
AWWA/WEF YP Summit empowers attendees: (5:36)
2021 goals for the AWWA YP Committee: (6:56)
Themes, issues, concerns & values of water industry young professionals: (11:24)
Young professionals’ increased willingness to try new things: (14:24)
How YP programs find & cultivate qualified workers: (15:15)
Aligning core values to young professionals: (19:26)
The barriers for young professionals & how to break them down: (19:58)
Showing how each individual’s contribution played a pivotal role in a project: (23:43)
How to get involved with AWWA YP programs: (24:40)
Outro: (26:31)