Great question James because ...
Published by Brett Hoffstadt, Hazard (Disaster) Mitigation Analyst, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
Great question James because I think everyone in the field needs to become a positive advocate and champion for the work we do and the positive impact we make in the world. Thanks for inviting me into this network by the way! Very happy to be here.
The work you are doing with your website, courses, and promoting the annual IWW are fantastic efforts to attract more people to these careers. It really comes down to marketing and sales. Believe it or not, that's what we all need to do. I'm a big fan of guerrilla marketing and online marketing. Online - because that's where everybody is now. Guerrilla marketing is being clever and "scrappy" with your efforts vs using brute force with mainstream advertising.
One more thought - my wife's career is in science museums. She has taught me that 95% of the science and engineering kids get exposed to happens outside of school. After-school programs, clubs, summer camps, meetup groups, science fairs, science museums, city parks, community events... all of these venues are opportunities for us to educate and attract future talent.