Hi All,

Little bit of background.....I have been invloved in some shape or form in H&S for 10yrs , 6 years ago I decided to go for my qualifications and make this my career.

I had a fantastic job in H&S which expanded to cover Auditing, Environmental, Training and Wellbeing, unfortunatly after 5 years in this role we were all made redundant, I was lucky enough to obtain another job with in a few weeks but as a H&S assisstant and I really stuggle with not 'doing' the role, I have been searching for new jobs for the last 9months but struggle to get an interview?. Any advise will be appreciated.

I have the following qualification and compedent in them:

H&S diploma

BTEC MH Training the trainer

Train the trainer Evacuation chair

DSE assessor / trainer/rehabilitation

Environmental auditing

Train the trainer AED

Mental Health First Aid

First Aid

I have working on litigation cases and implimented inititves that even N.I.C.E contacted me and used.

Please help a despreatly seaking professinal get back in the game of doing not assisting.

Thank you

What you are lookin for is advice, not advise.  And incorrect spelling of competent is just comical.

Originally Posted by: Spacedinvader

What you are lookin for is advice, not advise.  And incorrect spelling of competent is just comical.

Well aren't you just a special little cookie. Helpful stuff there, well done.

Whilst I appreciate that perhaps Spaceinvader might have been a little more subtle in his response, maybe he does just have a point nevertheless ? 

The original poster states that he has struggled to get interviews and asks for advice.  Sadly, and whether we agree with it or not, people seeking work are still initially judged and screened by their application letters and/or application forms (and arguably more so when accuracy and attention to detail is required which is undoubtedly a prerequisite in the field of Health and Safety).  In the case of the original poster, there were a total of 8 spelling mistakes and a few grammaticial errors in his posting.  Please take this in the manner intended - I'm neither being judgemental, nor defending Spaceinvader - but maybe errors such as these when applying for positions could be the reason why the OP isn't getting interviews (and why the "advice" given may possibly be relevant after all) ? 

I'm now donning a tin hat and retiring to a safe place !  :-)   

Originally Posted by: Spacedinvader

What you are lookin for is advice, not advise.  And incorrect spelling of competent is just comical.

Picking someone up on their grammar and spelling whilst misspelling the word looking... humiliating.

I have some resources I have put together over time, some of which I would hope are useful.

I will pm you, if you email me I will forward a link to dropbox.

There is a book called "great answers to tough interview questions" by martin john yate - currently in 9th edition, and also what colour is my parachute - there is a main book and a "workbook" each year there is a new edition. 

If you are an reader, I would advocate reading - excercise 1 from great answers... is as follows:,

I would suggest a list of 10 things you have done 6-7 work 3-4 home related

what did you do,

how would you do again,

challenges, successes, change  what anger/successes did you have etc

these then can become your competency examples for cv highlights and interviews.

aparently its called star in interview circles - situation, task, action, results 

practicing examples, presentations etc is key to smooth delivery and looking at different angles of where you added value with 5 whys. 

within those books, and another, "build your own rainbow" by barrie hopson are tools, structures and ways to help articulate - to self as well as others, what you want and a path to getting it. 

In addition, for assisance, National Careers Service offer help to people, and the assistance offered seems very good. their main number is 0800 100900, nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk and facebook/nationalcareersservice 

I hope you get to where you want, over time, and that you can see a progression for what you want to spend time doing. 

i would however say it's better to look for the right thing that spend time doing wrong thing and hating it.

look for the right team that you want to be associated with, and also people you want to work with, as you have to spend lots of time with them. 

Finally, if you ask at current employer ref opportunities coming up, they may find they have requirements that they hadn't discussed or identified yet that could progress into what you are looking for.  I would hope that they would try to accomodate a path for you, however if not, then at least it assists in your future planning processes. 

speak to manager and hr people as they talk to each other, and a reference at some point is going to be needed- what it says is down to how they find you and so it's worthwhile developing your network through iosh and other organisations, as the best jobs are through a phone call/referal, once already part of the team rather than an advert.