Posted By Jim-F Namir, I would be shocked if you couldnt get a job, with those qualifications and your experience. Dont sell yourself short, you could do the job no problem (I would think) quite simply dont give up , anyone who puts a negative slant on your qualifications is not worth working for afterall you worked hard to get them.

Posted By Stuart Nagle Hi, Namir. With your FIOSH and 23 years experience you should be able to sail through an NVQ 4 in no time at all. If this is not what you want to do, you could update your previous MSc with a further PgC course that would enable your CV to be brought up to date. I would suggest contacting your local colleges/universities to see if an NVQ4 or PgC is available locally through them, which is usually the cheapest option. The vast majority of persons now applying for and obtaining MIOSH favour the Higher Education route or NVQ4 routes, as NEBOSH appears, in my opinion, to be gradually pricing itself out of the market. Personally I think its about time that training providers of merit got their heads togeather to offer, and get accredited, alternative H&S qualifications that are more affordable for persons engaged in the industry. All in all I would see little trouble with your CV, unless your 23 years experience is specifically focused in one area and you have little relevant experience in other areas of H&S..... Good luck... Stuart

Posted By Stephen Boardman NAMIR, I find this very disturbing, I have done the NGC and Dip 1, got Tech Sp and MIIRSM through experience. but have decided to do the Msc instead of Dip 2, because I understood the qualification to be much sought after. I started early this year distance learning 32 months. please do not tell me I am wasting my time. IOSH should give us some feedback on this one.

Posted By Roj Smith Namir, And prospective employers... An MSc in OH&S, FIOSH, 23 years of HS&E experience in a range of industries, and a set of other professional qualifications, memberships and skills would render the NEBOSH Diploma somewhat superfluous and certainly expensive addition to the portfolio. People sit the diploma in the hope that they may eventually be able to get to a level of professional competence like that. Someone, give this man a job, or at least get him in for a chat about a job. You will be hard pushed to find anyone else better and available. Roj

Posted By Lisa Eldridge From what I can gather as well, some companies are not sure what the qualifications are. One job I saw were asking for the NEBOSH diploma - when I contacted them the manager told me he didn't know anything about H&S (although he would be the line manager!) he just been advised that someone holding that qualification should have the right knowledge to do the job. What employers should do is leave it open and not just chuck out applications that don't meet the "Essential qualifications". In my opinion experience with some sort of qualification should be perfectly ample.

Posted By Hazel Harvey One of the things IOSH is strongly promoting as it moves towards individual 'Chartered 'status is the value of the professional practitioner to organisations. The major advantage of the 'Chartered' title is that employers recognise what level it represents and to a certain extent takes out of the equation what type of qualification was intitially undertaken. It is the sum total of the knowledge, skills and experience that are assessed for the CMIOSH that is critical not necessarily by which route it was achieved. It has to be appreciated, however, that any awarding body be it NEBOSH, British Safety Council Awards, an NVQ or a University will want to promote their qualification as being the best and so recruitment agencies often pick up on this rather than the broader picture. Also people leaving positions or their employer will often define the qualifications for the person coming as the same as they have which leads to the situation mentioned by Namir. I am very happy to write to any organisation who may be in need of education to understand the current system of qualification and IOSH membership.

Posted By MarkSMark Namir, Do you think it's because you are 'mature' that you can't get a job? I know a company that told their recruitment agency they wanted 'young and dynamic people' and so the recruitment agency fobbed off the fogeys with lame excuses. Marky

Posted By Paul Alan Robinson Hi Namir, Let me begin by directing you to the search section, where if you search for a thread entitled “Level Playing Field Please”, which I posted on the careers forum on the 01.04.2004, and highlights similar problems to those of which you are currently encountering. A couple of hours after I posted this thread, I received eight emails a mixture of both recruitment agencies and users of this forum. The general message I received from the recruitment agencies who contacted me, was that they were working hard to educate their staff as to the range of health and safety qualifications on offer to Employers (Clients). I don’t want to generalise, as there are some recruitment agencies around that are aware of the range of qualifications currently available. However, (in my personal view), it appears to me that a large proportion of recruitment agencies and employers, feel that unless you possess a NEBOSH Diploma you are not as capable a health and safety professional, as someone who holds a NEBOSH Diploma, regardless of their experience. Further more; I feel it is a sad day for Industry as a whole, when a person such as you with 23 years experience in health and safety, an MSc in OSH and a Fellow of the Institute (FIOSH), is told by a recruitment agency that you should do a NEBOSH Diploma in order to gain work. Is it any wonder that so many people who work in health and safety, are thinking of leaving it behind and retraining! Namir, I wish you the best of luck in finding a job soon, and hope that IOSH can one day educate the many recruitment agencies, which fail to understand our Industry, and dare I say, fail to provide a level playing field. Regards PAR

Posted By Chris Black Namir I would not take the word of a recruitment consultant as being definitive on any issue. In my opinion most consultants add nothing to the recruitment process, they are quota driven and will tell you any old bumpf to fob you off if they suspect that you are going to be hard to place. Please dont let them dissuade you or make you feel inadequate in any way, very few of them have any basic, never mind comprehensive, knowledge of the standards affecting the professions or industry sectors they claim to service, most of what they know comes from an article they read on the train last week or what they glean from looking at other job ads. sad to say, but the few discerning employers who recruit directly are also the ones most likely to value experience and accumulated wisdom.