It's been forever (if ever) I have posted on this site. There is an old "dream" of mine which I just might bring back to the forefront. That is the dream of actually having a pool of individuals working in the field who actually "care" about what we are doing. I must admit I have been out of touch on this subject for some time. I simply know that in my area, the pool is dry. The pool disapeared when we implemented the education requirement. No No No, I am not against the requirement, I am just saying we did not forsee its' effect.
Everyone else may be doing fine and just be turning away people right and left who could almost do a completed "land" survey by themselves. But I seriously doubt this is true. Our problem, or at least one of them, is "we have settled". We have said "Well, you know you can't find anybody who wants to work and if you did I would have to pay them and I just don't have the money". Please feel free to critique that last statement and see how many falsehoods might be in it. I know I have been guilty of them.
I think it is time to stop settling for who we can find. Stop hiring Billy Joe's (I hope no one reading this is named Billy Joe) nephew just because he needs work-been fired three times in two months, and he will work cheap. You see the problem may not only be a "lazy" attitude in some of the work force, but it may have been we don't want any better.
Yesterday, I began to put my thoughts in my mouth by speaking to a group of agriculture students at a local high school. I expressed to them over and over how our profession not only teaches you how to survey, but also puts you into areas of other interests. In other words, if you don't consider surveying, there are many other areas in which you will be exposed. I have attempted to recruit high school and college age students into our profession in the past. As we well know there is an extremely small percentage which will actually respond. Nevertheless, by using a method which says "try this surveying thing" and you might find what you really want to do.
I would appreciate any thoughts on this matter. Maybe your area is pristine and your procedure(s) perfect, but not mine.
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