02.06.09
Professional Registration Headache
As a Geologist in the environmental arena, obtaining your professional registration (or PG) is probably one of the most critical steps needed to advancing your career. Aside from the validation ‘that you can do what you say you can do’, regulatory agencies require a professional designation to conduct groundwater assessments. Professional registration in most States is achieved through education (4 yr degree), experience (5-yrs post graduation) and passing a two-part exam administered by the National Association of State Boards of Geology (NASBOG). The exam requirements are supposedly accepted by all of the participating States via a cooperative agreement. It is this “supposed cooperative agreement” that leads me to writing this Blog.
In 1991, I graduated from an accredited university with a BS degree in Geology, and within a year, took the first part of the NASBOG exam. OK, I had to take it three times before passing. Six years and three companies later, I took the second part of the NASBOG and passed. These exams are brutal and involve the submission of a lot of paperwork before you are even eligible to take them. So, I passed and had essentially become a Professional Geologist in the State of Georgia. I practiced my profession with various companies until five years ago when I started my own business. With that being said, you would THINK that if you have a Professional Registration in one State (ie, Georgia), and you want to register in another State (let’s say Florida), it would just be minor formality along with sending a check? WRONG! Apparently, even though you jumped though the numerous hoops, met academic and employment requirements, you still have to fill out and submit gobs of redundant paperwork, original transcripts, and employment verification. Wait a minute? The exam and all of its requirements in the State where you already have a PG are the same as in the State you are trying to get registered. Most States offer reciprocity; especially, if the entire process is “apples to apples”, but apparently not this one. What is laughable, is that my first five years of Geology experience was split between two companies that are no longer in business, and the “new Board” was requiring me to submit employment verification. I called my local Board of Geology, and they were more than happy to dig up my original application and employment verification forms to submit to them on my behalf. It gets even more laughable as I began to see the inefficiency of the Government workers who process these applications with a checklist, because one Board obviously felt I met the requirements to be a PG (9 years now) while the other responded with comments about not using the correct Employment Verification Form and that they were rejecting my verification all together; apparently, my previous managers did not included their professional designations as part of their signature. Keep in mind that I have no idea how to contact former mangers of defunct companies, let alone who could verify I worked someplace 15 years ago. Numerous letters expressing the insanity and a threat to pull my registration fee, lead to the eventuality of a letter informing me that I should travel to this State with a four-day notice to attend the Board Meeting; in case I need to provide additional information. I did NOT travel 8 hrs to sit in a Board Room for a 10 minute decision. I did not re submit forms. I was hoping that common sense of real Geologists would prevail, and I was right. Yesterday, after a grueling 9 moths of emails, letters, phone calls, and rantings, I received my Professional Registration in State of Florida.
I won the battle, but was it worth it? When I started this process, my wife was promoted in her company and we were faced with a relocation. I was going to have to set up shop in another State and essentially start my busines over. Fortunately, the relocation has since been scrubbed. I still feel vindicated and I guess I can start marketing for some Florida business now.
