Working as a Sanitation Worker: Is It a Good Career Choice?

Sanitation Workers

Sanitation employees are responsible for a variety of maintenance tasks to keep public spaces clean. They pick up trash from commercial spaces, playgrounds, and residences and dispose of it properly, as it is one of their duties determined by the city’s sanitation department. Workers are also required to assist people at waste drop-off sites and operate recycling plants. These departments also oversee wastewater treatment plants and provide cities with safe drinking water.

Residents of the United States compete fiercely for civil service employment in New York’s sanitation department. Every year, more than 90,000 people apply for positions in this coveted area. However, only 500 best applicants are given the opportunity to work. It means that this department has an admittance rate of roughly 1%, which is significantly lower than Harvard’s admission rate. This job is ranked 5th among the state’s most dangerous jobs as they’re in charge of garbage collection, street cleaning, snow removal, and other recycling chores.

Is It the Right Choice?

Not everyone is cut out to be a part of the sanitation department. However, several sanitation workers are part of large public unions with strong job rights, benefits, and compensation. A job in sanitation may be a good option for those who want to use their work and labor to help others.

NYC produces the most waste in the country, with around 11,000 tons of garbage. Sanitation employees keep New York clean while firefighters and judicial officials keep the city under control. These workers are of tremendous value as their casualty rate is two times higher than police officers.

They’re an important and integral part of society. Can you imagine going one week without having garbage collectors come and pick up the trash? No, right! Also, during the pandemic, their value skyrocketed as safety and sanitation became the state’s and the world’s top priority. NY sanitation department disinfects the workers’ clothing, gadgets, automobiles, and gloves, among other things, on a daily basis.

Reasons for Becoming a Sanitation Worker 

Integral Part of the System

You will be critical to the smooth operation of our system. Waste disposal and management are an important part of upholding a functioning society. Our system would collapse without adequate collection of waste.

Our lives would become considerably more unproductive because each individual would be responsible for their own waste disposal.

Keep Your Districts Clean

Although one of your major responsibilities as a sanitation worker will be to collect waste, you can also ensure that your neighborhood stays clean. If you get to serve in a location where you spent your childhood, you will have a strong internal incentive to maintain it and keep it green so that the locals could have the greatest possible lives.

Meeting all of those folks and chatting with them regularly would be a fun addition to your routine. You would always have friendly and familiar faces in the neighborhood that would be happy to see you for more than one reason. You would also have a variety of other responsibilities, including ensuring that your community thrives in general.

You Won’t Be Confined to a Desk Job

While several people in the world have office jobs, they spend their days in front of a computer and get little to no physical activity in their routine. As a sanitation worker, you’d be out and about and experiencing the world as it comes, away from the technological mumbo jumbo.

Of course, office employment can be intriguing and exciting at times. However, most of the time is spent attending meetings or making presentations that nobody is interested in and don’t contribute to the company’s overall success.

This may be quite aggravating, and it’s one of the reasons why so many individuals in office positions are dissatisfied with their careers. But as a sanitation employee, you’d be able to see the difference you make on a daily basis. Plus, you’d be happier than people who only work for money and don’t have a deeper sense of motivation to guide them.

Good Job Security

You won’t have to be as concerned about losing your livelihood. Because very few individuals see the importance of sanitation workers these days, there’s not a lot of competition. So if you’re in search of stable work and don’t want to be worried about losing your job, then a career in sanitation is just up your alley.

No Working on Weekends or Holidays

Civil service workers, for the most part, aren’t required to work on weekends or during the holiday season. This means you may go on fun weekend vacations with your loved ones or unwind in your yard while soaking up the sun. Some people are stuck on weekends completing projects and meeting deadlines. You’d be able to take some time off for your leisurely activities.

Nice Work-Life Balance

Very few sanitation employees will express dissatisfaction with their work-life balance. Thanks to numerous free weekends and vacations, they usually have a good amount of time to manage their personal lives. Many vocations don’t offer this sort of luxury, and employees are forced to work overtime and long hours every day with little time off.

If you feel inspired and motivated to serve your country, then you should definitely think about taking the NYC Sanitation Exam. For that, you’ll need to get some preparation classes. Civil Service Success is a private tutoring and preparation institution that provides course materials and workshops to individuals interested in taking the NYC civil service tests.

For more than 45 years, the New York-based institution has served the community by assisting students in passing their civil service exams. They offer preparation classes for NYC Sanitation Exam, NYS Court Officer Exam, Suffolk Police Test, and NYC Firefighter Exams. Register now and get a 5% discount on NYC Sanitation Exam classes.