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Young Professionals Corner development webinar series with Richard Brooks, L.S., who serves

as CST Coordinator for New York State to discuss the program.
The CST accreditation program relies upon self-study and tiered
exams, with the examinee bearing the responsibility of coordinating
examination and proctoring as well as mastering the subject
material. There are four levels, ranging from entry level to
Professional Development with the management level, with the complexity and rigor of the exams
increasing accordingly. Two main accreditation pathways exist,
YP Committee separating technicians by their work setting (office vs. field), with

by Jacqueline Dresser, LS, Young Professionals Committee Member the field track making accommodation for differentiation in
boundary vs. construction work. I encourage you to watch the
The Young Professionals committee met last summer to discuss our
strategic charges, the goals that guide our discussions and activities
for the year and beyond. One of these is to increase the surveying
profession’s workforce with educated and skilled individuals.
This begs the question: are “educated and skilled individuals” born
(i.e. they already exist outside the profession and are recruited into
it) or are they made?
If these workforce-bolstering persons orbit our ranks already
boasting the status of “educated and skilled,” then our efforts must
naturally be devoted to recruitment and retention. If, however, we
have individuals within our profession who cannot yet be described
as “educated and skilled,” then it is our collective responsibility to
provide (or provide access to) relevant education and skills-
development. During our meeting last summer, the answer to this
question was more of a both/and rather than an either/or. Thus, we
have developed our strategies to align with both of these scenarios.
On the recruitment front, members of our committee have
developed a shadowing program to expose students in K-12 to land interview for more information at the following link:
surveying and to build networks of professional mentorship. YP https://youtu.be/VCjaT2o9B5o
committee members regularly attend career fairs, conferences, and
other events designed to introduce job-seekers and the career- Some professional skills are harder to measure, and arguably
curious to the profession. Many of you are already familiar with our harder to master. One of those is Communication. Our most recent
annual Young Professionals Social, where we facilitate connection webinar, hosted by myself and Timothy Massi, L.S., covered this
between college students studying Land Surveying with prospective indeterminate topic in depth, yet barely scratched the surface. We
employers during the NYSAPLS Conference. Behind the scenes, our discussed how what we say (and don’t say) shapes our careers,
members have also provided support and mentorship for aspiring how our appearance conveys a message, tips for de-escalating
licensees as they prepare to apply to the licensing board for contentious interactions, and some general rules of thumb for
eligibility to undergo examination. These efforts are all in pursuit of phone, email and jobsite etiquette. We followed the structured
the goal of attracting new talent to our profession and supporting lecture with some real-world scenarios of where we had each seen
those who are ready make the commitment to the big L-S. the concepts covered in our talk play out in our real work-lives.
The training can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/FBlTUZe34v0
Let us presume, hypothetically, that our pursuits are fruitful. Our
profession sees a surge of entry of new practitioners, brimming with The third and final offering in our professional development
potential. How do we measure (let’s face it, we are obsessed with series will cover business management and other non-technical
measurement) the development of their professional skills and skills. This talk is scheduled to air in October, so keep tabs on your
knowledge? One metric comes in the form of a professional inbox for email notification from NYSAPLS headquarters to either
accreditation through The National Society of Professional Surveyors attend the webinar live or for the link to the recording.
(NSPS) bearing the moniker of Certified Surveyor Technician (CST).
The YP Committee recently sat down to kick off our professional

EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 59 • NO 5 2023 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 23