Five Traits of a Good Wastewater Operator

I’ve found that hiring good people is much easier than firing toxic people. Almost always the toxic person is going to cost you a whole lot more than just hiring a good person (easier said than done). Since we aren’t physic (if you are, you probably aren’t working in the wastewater industry), how do we gauge the good versus the bad? Often times people tell you what you want to hear in interviews, and rarely do organizations update their questions and hiring practices, so you’re likely stuck asking banal questions. My suggestion is to look for certain traits or qualities within the person during the interview and definitely during their probationary period. Remember, toxicity rarely gets better, so catch it as soon as possible.

Here are the five traits that I look for when hiring a new operator:

1) Coachability: There is nothing more frustrating than working with someone who isn’t coachable. I can’t teach you anything, if you already know everything. I’ve had a few cases of this in my career and each time it ended in the person either being terminated or going back to a previous job title. I had one person that I hired who wasn’t even licensed yet tell me they weren’t an “apprentice” when I asked them to do something they deemed beneath them. While we don’t have the same setup as the skilled trades, by definition the person kind of was an apprentice. I’ve also been responsible for training operators only for them to question every single process control decision or way of doing something. I’m not above doing things in a better way or innovating. However, sometimes things just work and when you’re new you probably should just do the task the way it has been done by far more experienced operators for years. There is a time to update SOPS, improve processes but when you’re brand new to an industry sometimes you just have to do what you’re told and learn along the way.

2) Reliability: Showing up on time and being able to respond to call outs is vitally important. I stress this with every operator that I hire. This isn’t me not respecting their time but if you sign up for an on-call operator position there are certain expectations that need to be met. When response time is important, having an unreliable operator is a nightmare. Scheduling projects only to have the operator not show up on time or at all is a sure way to have a poorly run plant. An operator who in punctual and shows up when you need them is incredibly important. We depend a lot on each other in this industry and having one bad apple really spoils the bunch.

3) Problem solving / Critical Thinking: Wastewater plants are very complex facilities with all sorts of specialized equipment and processes. Not only is it important to be able to solve problems but being able to critically think and break down components into baser parts is important. I’ve had some really sharp operators that can rebuild pumps with ease miss basic troubleshooting. I’ve had a few operators come up to me and ask what to do, only to find out that they haven’t even looked at the equipment panel to see what alarms were thrown. Taking a second to read what the alarm is telling you will go a long way into knowing where to start troubleshooting. You’d be surprised how many people can’t seem to understand that.

4) Calm demeaner: Being calm in stressful situations is very important as an operator. When things start backing up or flooding out due to a power outage you have to be able to remain calm and think through the situation. It is very easy to get paralyzed by fear when things go wrong. Getting upset and not thinking clearly will not help the situation at all and often time only makes it worse. I’ve been through several bad storms in my career and trying to manage panicky operators can be a challenge. This ties directly into the next trait of initiative. If the operator is trained and has some initiative, he’ll likely be able to handle the rain event without much direction by management. This is priceless when time is of the essence.

5) Initiative: I’ve never been much of a micro-manager. It just isn’t my style of management and I’ve never really liked that type of management. So, as an operator I always made sure to take initiative over my own career path. Whether that was signing up for classes out of pocket, seeking out information on exactly what I had to do for certain certifications, I always made it a priority to do the work. I’ve worked with a few great operators like this too. Always doing their daily tasks without being told, taking it upon themselves to find other things to do if there is down time, and actively seeking to advance their knowledge of the industry. I worked with a operator that was incredibly sharp when it came to mechanical, electrical and plumbing skills. But he had no initiative when it came to doing projects. He wanted to be told exactly what to do. This can be a challenge when you’re managing multiple people on multiple different projects. Sometimes, you just need to do the thing.

Those are the five traits that I’ve found to be in superior operators. The person who has one or all of these traits will be of great value to you and your team when you’re in highly stressful situations, which are very common in this industry. While it isn’t quite like finding a Unicorn, it is sometimes challenging to find people with these qualities. But then again, we work in a challenging industry where nothing is easy.