There are often posts about getting a first role in H&S, often by people who have just gained their NEBOSH certificate. What is often not understood, is that the NGC is not intended to equip you for a role in H&S! The NEBOSH website states "What kind of people take the NEBOSH National General Certificate? Managers, supervisors and staff from all types of organisations who need a broad understanding of health and safety issues. The certificate helps them manage risks effectively. Many people take the NEBOSH National General Certificate as a first step in a career in health and safety. It provides a valuable overview, and is a sound basis for further professional study. " In other words, if you want to be a H&S professional, then you need further study and / or experience. It amazes me the number of people who fail to apreciate this, or who have never looked properly at the NEBOSH website. I teach the NGC and hear lots of people telling me that they want to do the Cert "to be a safety professional". It is a starting point, not an ending point! Combine the Cert with experience in your main role, then you are ready for a first purely H&S role, in my view, and experience (having recruited safety officers in the past).

Just to add, the NGC also 'equipped me' towards achieving IOSH and APS Memberships - if I'm not mistaken!

Pikeman, With all due respect I find your post flawed. Where is the merit in telling people that the NGC is not enough (on its own) to being a professional? Of course it's not, but it can be enough academically! If it wasn't, IOSH wouldn't entertain TechIOSH (Professional Membership) to NGC holders. There are many out there that have based their H&S 'professional' career on the NGC, like me! As an aside, do your 'safety officers' take any interest in 'health' related issues?

But we wouldn't expect NEBOSH to say that passing the Cert would certainly equip/qualify one as a H&S professional would we? NEBOSH are simply a course provider. Ultimately, in the absence of any legislation regarding competence that specifically ties in any particular level of academic qualification, it will be employers/prospective employers who will decide what roles can be fulfilled by any particular person whether they hold a cert or diploma or NVQ or whatever. I am merely qualified to cert level, at this point, but am confident of my own competence to discharge my responsibilities and I do not need NEBOSH or anyone else to tell me that I do or do not need a diploma. The cert is a very good entry-level qualification that provides knowledge across a very broad range - one of the most important things that I learned on mine was that it is ok to simply 'not know.' Much better to recognise one's own limitations and know how/where to seek additional advice when necessary. Give me the cert qualified person who recognises when they need to consult and research rather than a diploma qualified person who feels that they might know it all. Once you get beyond a certain point - and I'd suggest that the certificate might well be that level - it generally is a lot more about the person than it is about the particular piece(s) of paper that they may possess.

Pikeman said "if you want to be a H&S professional, then you need further study and / or experience" but in my case I already had many years experience in safety management matters, risk assessment, COSHH etc., but only a science degree to my name. Post-redundancy I decided to become self-employed and I took the NEBOSH Cert to gain some knowledge of other regulations, and to become a member of IOSH, immediately accepeted as TechIOSH. I may be a target of Lord Young, but as I say the Cert was not my first step and it has not been my last. I now have several more years of experience working with engineers, builders, transport managers, process operatives, FLT drivers etc., as documented in my CPD. JohnW

Lexyboy, I couldn’t agree with you more. Many posts don’t require highly qualified H&S practitioners (MSc, post-grads, degree’s, diplomas etc). As a consultant I often question companies who are employing their first professional. Most come up with the term ’must be CMIOSH’ without understanding what they are actually asking for and both their needs and the potential new employees needs. I also don’t believe that its necessary for larger companies who have H&S departments to also make this a mandatory requirement. How are new people suppose to get their first role? For people looking for that first step in their health and safety career I’d say persevere, don’t give up even in the current climate. There are still jobs out there for new people who are driven and enthusiastic with the NGC. Check-out your local IOSH branch and make contact with them. Attend any of the meetings/seminars they hold and let people know that you want to work and ask for advice.

Things are very difficult at the moment I saw a trainee job here today http://hsejobs.proboards.com and try SHP online maybe you can get a foot in the door with a Cert.

I work in HSE in the oilfield - not the UK. I did the Nebosh General Certificate, Fire and RM Certificate, and am down for the Environmental course in November and hope to follow it with the new Oil and Gas certificate which has just been approved. All done, and to be done, in the UK. Can I remember all the details I learned ? No I cannot. What Nebosh did for me, and continues to do, is that it fundamentally changed my way of thinking. When I read our safety management system I now know why the guidance exists, where it came from, and why it should be applied. I believe I serve my company in a much more professional manner.

Only H&S "qualification" I have is the Nebosh Certificate. I am employed full time as the health, safety and environment manager for a multi site, multi national company and have been for many years. I do however have other qualifications and experience, but as to the original post, the certificate is all I have ever needed.

Having the NGC was my only H&S qualification before taking on the HSE duties at my last place of work, my only experience before that was my business\management Hons degree (which i attained a 2:1) and 2 years as a Document controller as my first "real" job after part time jobs whilst studying etc. I basically lucked into the HSE role after the current person moved to the emirates with a better job, and the company promoted internally, me!, and i was very much a person who took the daily mail's line about HSE etc. However the Nebosh Cert showed what was involved in HSE, the massive variation in roles a HSE practitioner is involved with, construction, healthcare, offices etc. I got to like it, and passed with credit, i also completed ISO 9001 internal auditing courses and COSHH assessors course, all green areas for me, and i was a little overwhelmed as i had to take on the whole companies HSE for both the Aberdeen site and Malaysia's, this was a great learning experience. However the recession struck, and our american parent company basically told the MD to get rid of 6 people, and i was one of them, however they found that the HSE role was necessary, so they tried to pass the tasks about amongst the staff, they found very quickly that i did a lot of work and it would be stupid to get rid of me, however my views about the company changed when i was asked to complete a handover training pack for a replacement, even though i was being made redundant, as in the role was no longer required, lol. at the 11th hour i was offered my job again, with my promised pay rise that had been deferred for a year, but tbh, i felt like i was only another bad finacial quarter away from being job hunting again, so i took the offer i had received from my current workplace. This is a heavy fabrication site, where i was again a rabbit in the headlights, the sole HSE person once again, training myself with experiences and trying to get training courses as and when i can, but as its still the downturn, getting the company to fund training is hard, but the HSE is offering subsidised traiing for medium manufacturing sites, which i am attending in a fortnight, and it is an iosh approved course (Safe and Sound at work, in case anyone is interested, "Introduction to workforce involvement for health and safety representatives") I am still to get my IOSH membership sorted, which i am doing today, however i have no idea what the benefits of this are, as i am led to believe CPD requires training to be completed, but if the company is unwilling to pay for this, how will i ever improve from a Tech IOSH, which i assume i will attain as i have the NGC, a degree and 3 years experience in a HSE role. However, many are leading me to believe that unless i get a Nebosh diploma or a masters in occupational HSE, i may aswell resign myself to basic HSE roles, and never growing my career and prospects, which, TBH after 6 years of higher education, slogging away at crappy jobs, getting good expereince, it would seem to be all for nothing, as i will never attain the sacred CMIOSH status, which all companies now expect along with 30 years in the job, and are willing to take £30k a year and be happy. Obviously, thats an exageration, and i know i am lucky to be in a job, but tbh, i am looking to get a role where i can learn from a person who is an experienced HSE practitioner, where i can see how its supposed to be done, rather than simply going by what i have learned myself over the last few years, as i am always worried i am doing it horribly wrong, and if something does go wrong, i will be the person the axe falls on, after the HSE is finished with the company etc. Ho hum :)

The last sentence of the last post says it all for me. I've just gained my NEBOSH NGC and may go and gain other qualifications in the future. The 19+ years experience I have should see me alright as well.

Holding the NGC should not preclude you from applying for a role in H&S. I obtained my first full time role without any formal qualifications in H&S. Fortunately my employers at the time had the foresight to see my potential and were willing to invest in that potential albeit over a number of years. Part of that potential was that I had nearly 25 years experience in light engineering as a safety rep. Since becoming full time I have achieved a distinction in the NGC, a pass in the L6 diploma, completed IPD and successfully navigated PRI. I have since gone on to achieve CMIOSH. I can honestly say that all of the important things that I have learnt about H&S has come through experience not from sitting in a classroom. All the academic stuff has done is allow me find other employment and only then because formal qualifications are expected nowadays. So no the NGC does not equip you for a role in H&S but neither does the diploma in isolation, It's the university of life more than anything else that does that.

Unfortunately, that is the norm these days. I know of many professionals who have applied for jobs and even after further chasing don’t get any response. It’s not correct im my view, but that is just the situation at this moment in time!

sean ive had the same these people are just ignorant and rude a simple email would do although the ones that do reply normaly say that they will keep your details on file for 12 months but do they check them if a suiteable job comes up!!