Our people are at the heart of everything we do, so when one of us succeeds, we all do! Career development is a significant focus of our growth and we’re proud to help cultivate satisfaction and opportunity. See how we put this initiative into practice through one team member’s journey of becoming a burn boss.
Becoming a Burn Boss
Over the years, we’ve seen our employees reach meaningful milestones, from switching departments to stepping into leadership roles.
Recently, one of our Ecological Restoration [ER] Project Managers, Carolyn Villa, set her sights on earning her prescribed fire “burn boss” certification. This certification qualifies individuals to make safe, effective burn plans, obtaining all the necessary permits and approvals as well as monitoring and reviewing fire effects.
Becoming a burn boss was a logical next step for Carolyn. Since joining the team in 2014 as a Seasonal Field Technician, she’d participated in many prescribed burns under others, but earning her certification would strengthen her leadership and technical ability skills while adding value to the team as a whole.
She began her apprenticeship in fall 2022. V3 supported her carving hours out of her regular schedule for the necessary field time, which included five burns as the assistant burn boss and ten burns as the lead. She completed Wildland Firefighter Training and Fire Behavior courses, empowering her to successfully lead all necessary tasks and steps for safe burns.
This certification not only enables Carolyn and the ER team to accomplish more prescribed burns during the limited fall and spring windows, but it also positions her as a leader in an often male-led role.
“Earning my burn boss certification means I can contribute my experience and leadership to our ER group in a much-needed role. This certification also means that our crew has a female burn boss again. Representation is important, and it is one of my goals to be a strong leader for the ever-growing number of women in our ER group. I want them to know they can do it all – there is no divide among the men and women on our team.”
Carolyn Villa
Congratulations, Carolyn!
Investing in Employee Growth
As one of our core values, “dedication to employees” isn’t just something we say: We proactively invest in our team’s interests, passions, and skills to help them achieve their goals, both inside and out of work. Shortly after joining our firm, employees are asked to create a career charter which maps out personal and professional milestones for the short and long term. This collaborative exercise helps team members envision what they want out of their career and life while clarifying how management can support these ambitions.
Our Career Charter Program aims to:
- Facilitate career development
- Build and encourage employee engagement and sense of purpose
- Provide a framework for regular discussions with supervisors and mentors
- Gain an understanding of what job aspects make employees feel fulfilled
- Identify skills and training required to advance goals
- Provide feedback and coaching along the way
Career charters are not just about working at V3. We explore intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, digging into personal drivers and how job satisfaction plays into ultimate life objectives. By breaking down goals and motives, we set plans into motion for achievable growth.
Investing in our team helps us create an environment where everyone can thrive. Because of these efforts and more, we’ve repeatedly been named a Best Firm to Work For and a top Healthiest Employer.
Transforming Careers
Supporting meaningful careers is part of our story. Learn more about our career paths and how life at V3 is about more than just work.