2 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 6 From the PLSO Chair MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Tim Fassbender, PLS PLSO Board Chair As my year as Chair for PLSO comes to an end, it causes me to pause and reflect on what we as a Board of Directors have dealt with and accomplished. I won’t bore you with the typical highlights of the year as many can and will do, but instead I would like to focus more on what we as an organization are working on for the upcoming year. I have spent most of my year as Chair trying to encourage people to enter the surveying profession. We have two general areas to recruit from: younger school age people still learning what type of work is out there that may interest them and the people wanting to change professions because they found that land surveying seems to pull at their desires. At the Board of Directors meeting in early October, the board decided to hire a person who puts together short videos on subjects of interest. In our case, this person will put together videos on different aspects of land surveying that we will then place on the social media platforms with the hopes that school-age people will see them and come forward to learn more about entering the profession. These videos will also help in attracting those wanting to change professions but need more information before pursuing the move. We hope these social media outreach videos will do some of the recruitment that we miss from the “good ole days” of hiring people to be on the field crews during the summer. Technology has hurt us in that aspect, but hopefully technology will help us now in recruitment into our profession. Another program that the Board approved at the October meeting was the Emerging Leadership program that Jeremy Sherer has developed and launched. It is a simple idea: Offer the opportunity to our new members who wish to learn more about PLSO and the surveying profession through a series of lessons over a period of a year. The Board approved the waving of the Conference registration for those signing up and attending the beginning class to be held at the conference. Jeremy has worked hard on this lesson plan and has included some very valuable information that will aid in anyone’s career. I encourage those interested in learning more about the Emerging Leadership program to look at it on the PLSO webpage and touch base with Jeremy for more details. We believe it will help all that are involved and our profession. And now for something completely different. One of the benefits of being a land surveyor and a PLSO member, in my mind, is the variety of locations and types of survey projects you hopefully have the pleasure of working on. Let’s face it, there are not many professions where you can work at the coast one week, then work in the valley over the next few days, and then find yourself in the high desert in eastern Oregon for a few days. Now I know it doesn’t always happen that way, but the point is there are times when you can work beyond whatever small area is near where you live. That is also a great selling point for our potential new surveyors who like and appreciate variety. So, what is the downfall of traveling around the state to various areas for work? Researching the existing surveys and other related information you need to accomplish your project. In my experience I have found (and I’m sure you have also) that not all counties and cities have their survey information set up in the same manner. There can be many “potholes” that you can fall into when you think you have all the information and later find out you missed an important part. One of the benefits of being a PLSO member is the fact it’s easier to reach out to the city or county surveyor and ask about these potential issues and ask for some help. Through being a member of PLSO,
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