Do you mean employers ? To be honest I dont think most employers would even know there was a difference in how people acheived CMIOSH. I think this is something thats usually more in the mind of people who have done either the NVQ or the diploma in a sense that each wants to think theirs is the hardest and therfor most superior route. If I was an employer the fact they had CMIOSH would demonstrate their acheivement and committment but I would be more interested in how their past experience matched the job role on offer.

If you do a search of this forum you will find endless discussion on this subject. Your search results will show that usually those who have NEBOSH diploma or MSc are firmly of the opinion that their's is the preferred option of employers, and those with the NVQ are equally firm in their opinion that the NVQ is the preferred option. At no point in your search will you find any firm evidence to support either case, just deeply entrenched, intractable views based feelings of superiority and prejudice.

:o) I would add that you might want to look at the job adds themselves and see how many ask for each type. Chris

Hi Ashley, just to add to your confusion, I have worked in 3 -4 different industry sectors and never once has my membership level been the deciding issue over whether I got the job or not, for me it was my experience that usually got me through. However where I was pipped to the post, was by someone with a degree. With hind sight I wish I'd done the degree instead of the NVQ, and the NVQ will only get you to Grad IOSH, and to move on, there's more pain after that. Simon

Morning Ashley, I have interviewed and appointed a number of H&S people before now, these posts have usually been advertised as GradIOSH minimum. I have appointed people with both Dips and NVQs (never had a university graduate apply), and to be honest as far as employability goes I have no preference. Most of the interviewees have had diplomas, though that's more to do with the type of work I think than anything else, and the one succesful NVQ person turned out to be unsuited to the post, but that was more about their personality and experience than their qualification route. In short, as long as the candidate met the minimum spec and demonstrated the right aptitude at interview they got the job, whatever route they had taken to get the membership level. Can't speak for other employers, but for me NVQ/Dip/Degree are equivalent as routes to gain Grad/CMIOSH, John