Career Escape
Moving from environmental scientist to health specialties teachers, postsecondary, by the occupational data
Both occupations are described by the same O*NET 30.3 rating system, which makes them directly comparable: the same requirements, rated for each. What follows is that comparison for environmental scientists and Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary, not an opinion about whether the move is a good idea.
Can an environmental scientist become a health specialties teachers, postsecondary?
O*NET 30.3 rates 62% of what matters to either environmental scientist work or health specialties teachers, postsecondary work as mattering to both, which is a real overlap with a real remainder. The requirements that carry across include Performing for or Working Directly with the Public, Providing Consultation and Advice to Others, Biology. It sits at Job Zone 5 against Job Zone 4 for environmental scientists, which usually means a further credential, a licence, or a longer runway of experience. BLS lists doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry education here, against bachelor's degree for environmental scientists. What would be new concentrates in work activities: Assisting and Caring for Others, Developing Objectives and Strategies, Performing General Physical Activities. BLS puts the 2025 national median wage for health specialties teachers, postsecondarys at $107,310 against $82,220 for environmental scientists, a difference of 31% upward at the occupational level rather than for any individual move. BLS projects employment in the destination occupation to grow 17.9% between 2025 and 2035, with about 24,900 openings a year on average. O*NET describes the destination as follows: Teach courses in health specialties, in fields such as dentistry, laboratory technology, medicine, pharmacy, public health, therapy, and veterinary medicine. This compares two occupations, not two people, and says nothing about whether any individual would be hired.
- Weighted overlap
- 62% of the requirements important to either occupation are important to both, with 2 of those shared requirements classed as distinctive rather than near-universal.
- Preparation level
- O*NET Job Zone 5, against Job Zone 4 for environmental scientists. Typically 2 levels of further education.
- Typical entry education (BLS)
- Doctoral or professional degree, against Bachelor's degree for environmental scientists.
- Prior experience typically expected
- Less than 5 years, with no on-the-job training category assigned.
- Where the overlap is strongest
- Knowledge, with 2 distinctive requirements important to both. Requirements that carry over include Performing for or Working Directly with the Public, Providing Consultation and Advice to Others, Biology.
- Independent corroboration
- O*NET does not list this as directly related to the source occupation; it appears one step out, related to a related occupation. The overlap measure and the relatedness file disagree here, and both are shown rather than one being quietly dropped.
Source and method
O*NET 30.3 Database, with BLS Employment Projections Table 5.4. Verified 2026-09-02. Importance ratings, Job Zones and occupational titles are read from O*NET. Typical entry education, prior experience and on-the-job training are read from BLS. The weighted overlap percentage, the distinctive-requirement counts, and the shared and new requirement lists are computed by RoleSprint from those inputs using the method published at /career-change/methodology.
Career transition data
Environmental Scientist to Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary
- Work activities overlapderived
- 62%
- Knowledge overlapderived
- 52%
- Transferable skills overlapderived
- 61%
- Essential skills overlapderived
- 100%
- Job Zone
- 4 to 5
- Median annual wage, 2025
- $82,220 to $107,310
- Wage differencederived
- +$25,090 (+31%)
- Projected employment change, 2025–35
- +17.9%
- Annual openings, 2025–35 average
- 24,900
- Typical entry education
- Doctoral or professional degree
Largest transferable capability: Education and Training
Largest new demand: Medicine and Dentistry
Source. Job Zone and requirement ratings: O*NET 30.3. Wage, employment projections, openings and entry education: BLS Employment Projections Table 1.2, projections 2025–35, wage year 2025. RoleSprint-derived. Overlap percentages and the wage difference are calculated by RoleSprint from those published values. Limitation. These are national occupational statistics for two occupations. The wage figure is not a salary you would be offered, employment growth is not job security, and overlap is not a likelihood of being hired. Fields BLS does not publish for an occupation are omitted rather than estimated.
What carries over
Requirements O*NET rates as important for both environmental scientists and health specialties teachers, postsecondarys, by domain. Most distinctive first, so the top of each list is the part that is actually worth putting on a resume.
Work activities
24 of 31 work activities important to either occupation are important to both.
- Performing for or Working Directly with the Public3.1 for environmental scientists, 3.4 here
- Providing Consultation and Advice to Others3.5 for environmental scientists, 3.3 here
- Coaching and Developing Others3.0 for environmental scientists, 3.7 here
- Developing and Building Teams3.1 for environmental scientists, 3.7 here
- Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information3.6 for environmental scientists, 3.1 here
Knowledge
11 of 16 knowledge areas important to either occupation are important to both.
- Biology3.9 for environmental scientists, 4.3 here
- Chemistry3.2 for environmental scientists, 3.1 here
- Law and Government3.5 for environmental scientists, 3.1 here
- Administrative3.1 for environmental scientists, 3.7 here
- Public Safety and Security3.3 for environmental scientists, 3.4 here
Transferable skills
9 of 12 transferable skills important to either occupation are important to both.
- Negotiation3.0 for environmental scientists, 3.0 here
- Instructing3.1 for environmental scientists, 4.1 here
- Persuasion3.0 for environmental scientists, 3.0 here
- Service Orientation3.0 for environmental scientists, 3.0 here
- Social Perceptiveness3.1 for environmental scientists, 3.3 here
Essential skills
10 of 10 essential skills important to either occupation are important to both.
- Science4.0 for environmental scientists, 3.3 here
- Mathematics3.3 for environmental scientists, 3.0 here
- Learning Strategies3.3 for environmental scientists, 4.0 here
- Active Learning3.8 for environmental scientists, 4.0 here
- Writing4.0 for environmental scientists, 4.0 here
Numbers are O*NET Importance, on a 1 to 5 scale. A requirement counts as important at 3.0 and above, which is the threshold the whole comparison uses.
What would be new
Requirements important for health specialties teachers, postsecondarys and not important for environmental scientists. This is the part you would have to be able to evidence, and it is usually the real obstacle rather than the job title.
Work activities
5 work activities rated important here and not for environmental scientists.
- Assisting and Caring for Others3.4 here, 1.9 for environmental scientists
- Developing Objectives and Strategies3.8 here, 2.8 for environmental scientists
- Performing General Physical Activities3.1 here, 2.7 for environmental scientists
- Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others3.1 here, 2.8 for environmental scientists
- Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People3.3 here, 2.8 for environmental scientists
Knowledge
5 knowledge areas rated important here and not for environmental scientists.
- Medicine and Dentistry4.2 here, 1.2 for environmental scientists
- Therapy and Counseling3.3 here, 1.1 for environmental scientists
- Personnel and Human Resources3.4 here, 1.8 for environmental scientists
- Communications and Media3.2 here, 2.5 for environmental scientists
- Psychology3.8 here, 1.4 for environmental scientists
Practical caveats for this move
Specific to this pair, and worth reading before treating any of the above as a plan.
- The preparation gap is real: Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary sits a Job Zone above environmental scientists, and Job Zone differences usually show up as a licence or a credential rather than as extra experience. Check the licensing rules in your state before anything else.
- BLS records "Less than 5 years" of prior experience in a related occupation as typical for this role. Whether your current work counts as related is an employer's judgement, and it is the single thing most worth testing against a real posting.
- O*NET does not list this destination as directly related to your current occupation. It reached this map through the requirement overlap, one step out. That is a weaker corroboration than a directly related occupation, and it is shown rather than hidden.
- None of this accounts for licensing, geography, pay, hiring volume, or whether you would want the work. Occupational data describes the job. It does not describe the market for it, and it does not describe you.
How this move compares with the alternatives
This page is one move. The Opportunity Atlas puts every destination mapped from environmental scientists side by side on skills overlap, day-to-day work, wage, projected growth, openings and the size of the training step.
It does not rank them, because the dimensions genuinely disagree: measured across every transition published here, how much your skills carry over and how much your knowledge carries over are close to unrelated. You choose which one matters and it orders by that.
Compare the alternatives in the Opportunity AtlasThe destination occupation, as O*NET describes it
Teach courses in health specialties, in fields such as dentistry, laboratory technology, medicine, pharmacy, public health, therapy, and veterinary medicine.
O*NET-SOC 25-1071.00. Full title: Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary. Where this page uses the shorter phrase “health specialties teachers, postsecondary”, that is a common name for readability, not a separate occupational classification.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. RoleSprint has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Analysis generated 2026-09-02 from the O*NET 30.3 Database. Entry education, work experience, and on-the-job training are reproduced from BLS Employment Projections Table 5.4, Education and training assignments by detailed occupation, 2024, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What to do next
Occupational data compares two jobs. It cannot tell you whether one specific employer would consider you, and this is the point where most people stop reading data and start applying blind.