Without any doubt the health and safety profession has had a difficult time in this recession.
What many fail to realise is that many (and I mean Many) H&S professionals, some of which have decades of experience, BSc’s, MSc’s to their names are out of work and are in the same position as people trying to get into this profession.

It’s just as difficult for them as many employers have cut back and the ones that are offering jobs are looking to reduce financial output and consequently we are seeing jobs offered at lower remuneration than previously.

Many wont take the more experienced H&S professionals on with a view that they may not stay once the economic climate changes.

But its not all doom and gloom, there are still some jobs for people trying to get on the first rungs of the ladder and all I can say to you is keep trying!

I have to admit that with 12 years in construction safety 50/50 mix of on site safety and CDM, I'm moving more and more away from safety to another string in my bow.

At the moment the TechIOSH grade is being put forward by a certain professional body as having a recommended salary band of £15-20K, of course in this current climate it's great info for employers looking to knock wages down. I happen to think that this is very poor representation from a professional body who, I would have hoped would be better at representing it's members.

To put this into context I have three friends who are around 19 - 20 with minimal qualifications who are earning around £17k as trainee retail managers.

With this info in mind, you stand a fair chance of some prospective employers trying to get you as cheap as possible.

In the last year I've had four job offers, which have all been cancelled after the projects were cancelled due to a lack of funding or (as in two cases) the clients went bust.

From speaking to the agencies I'm registered with they are all talking about another 4-6 months before they really expect things to pick up.

If Mr Cameron's talk amounts to anything is anyone's guess but at present the HSE are underfunded and understaffed. Certainly with my CDM hat on the HSE have missed several major tricks to get cllients to take CDM on board, and with any potential cuts in funding or staff I can see that will get worse.

It's going to take some time but if you really want to move into safety, stick with it, be prepared to have to accept a drop in salary.

If you have another bow I'd keep that going for the meantime.

Regards

Brett

Salus

I think that I must have bucked the trend then, as I do not have the diploma but was put forward for a number of interviews. It is also dependent on experience, geographical location, ability and willingness to travel if required, having an eye-catching CV, etc etc. I agree that having no diploma stopped me being put forward for some jobs but that did not stop me being put forward for others, and I got a new job in the process, allowing me to remain within health and safety. Nothing wrong with having a fall back position if you have one though. Having the diploma is better than not having it when looking for a job, definitely, but is not the only factor.
The location thing is a double edged sword in some ways. By that I mean that I live thirty miles north of London, which means a potentially larger number of jobs on offer. It also means that there are more people applying for those roles. It took months to get a new job after I found out that I was being made redundant, but with two months notice I ended up being out of work for two weeks(first time in my life!).

Keep at it, it will get better.

Martin