Being a health and safety professional can be hugely rewarding. It gives you the chance to make a real difference to people’s lives by protecting their wellbeing on a daily basis. Getting your dream job in this field can be a challenge though. You may find yourself competing with lots of other people who are just as keen as you are to succeed. So, to help you get the attention of employers, here’s a brief guide to standing out from the crowd.
Get the best qualifications
You don’t need a degree to land jobs in this area, but you will need to have a suitable qualification that’s recognised by an industry body. If you’re just starting out in your health and safety career, a National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) National General Certificate could be a good introductory course. Meanwhile, if you want to be a health and safety manager, you could move up to the NEBOSH International Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health. As it states on the specialist website www.sheilds.org, this is a degree-level qualification that’s designed for anyone who wants to become an international health and safety practitioner.
It takes time and effort to gain the relevant qualifications, but this is an essential part of the process if you want to appeal to employers. It’s worth bearing in mind that many courses, including these NEBOSH qualifications, can be studied online at your own pace, making it easier to fit them around existing work and other commitments.
Find other ways to develop your skills
It also pays to develop your skills more broadly. After all, to thrive as a health and safety practitioner, it helps to have strong negotiation and communication skills, good organisational abilities and an aptitude for problem solving. Strong IT skills are beneficial too. If you think you may fall short in any of these areas, try to find ways to build on your abilities. One of the best ways to do this is to gain additional work experience. Even if the jobs you do aren’t directly connected to health and safety, they could help you to develop a range of useful skills and increase your confidence.
Keep your CV and online profile up to date
Being skilled and having relevant work experience isn’t enough in itself. You also have to be able to demonstrate these facts to potential employers, and this means keeping your CV up to date. Employers will have lots of these documents to wade through when they’re making decisions about who to interview for jobs, so ensure yours is flawless and focusses on the things that set you apart from the competition. Always take the time to tailor your CV to the individual positions you apply for, and get someone else to check it for errors before you submit it.
Also, make sure you regularly update your online profiles on networking sites like LinkedIn. Employers are increasingly relying on these sites as a means of finding the best candidates, so if you neglect your online presence, you could be putting yourself at a big disadvantage.
Following tips like these will help you to get noticed by employers and it could make the difference between you achieving your dreams or falling short.
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