Posted By Andrew Gordon It's nice to see a company willing to give a chance to someone without the certificate but of the right calibre. There are a lot of us out there looking for positions like this where we can put our studying into practice. Shame your not in Yorkshire.

Posted By KEVIN CHARLES BRADBURY do you have a telephone contact number so i can have a chat with yourselfs before sending my c.v.

Posted By Michael Miller Rob I accept that your comment's were both witty and correct. But please do not knock companies who are prepared to employ none qualified persons who are obviously willing to train. Whoever gets this post will no doubt gain qualifications at some time in the future, when they do they will not have to face what most of us have. Lack of experience. If only more employers would be willing to take on and train or facilitate training, surely this would kill both the chicken and the egg.

Posted By Dave Wilson Dont want to turn this into a debate as this prospective employer is trying to give someone a job. This is a consultancy firm who would I presume have more senior and better qualified H&S persons who can advise and give direction to less experienced if and when there is a need. Aren't consultancies supposed to give the best technical, professional and up to date advice available? The problem arises if this is not the case or when a WELL qualified person is used as the lead on a job to get the contract of work and then send out a raw recruit with little or no experience to do the work!! Trust me it happens. (PS i'm a GUZZ rating so would not go near Pompey! for you ex jack)

Posted By Linda Westrupp I am still concerned about the linking of 'young' with 'dynamic' - isn't this ageist? and doesn't it imply that older people are not dynamic (possibly 'static?) which is certainly not my experience of H&S professionals Just a thought! Linda

Posted By Geoff Burt Just an observation: I'm sure someone looking at my posting above will find something discrimatory about it. Do we live in a sad world or what? Geoff

Posted By Jason Gould Im glad that there are some companys out there that do go for personality. Just a shame not in manchester. I have passed cert dip 1 and have got the material for dip 2 but not the cash. have been hoping that there was lots of companys waiting to snatch me up within my area but sadly no. Why well experience is always required and righly so i think. but surely this employer sounds that they have suitable staff and would like someone for admin etc. I agree its a start as long as the potential recruit is not put in positions where he will look stupid or put someone at risk. i had an opportunity on a comar site but was placed on a computer all day classifying chemicals with software. (boring) i had to leave. what happens next' the company do a total organisation change to get with the times and focus more on safety and quality. an opportunity missed for me. in college etc i met plenty of safety mangers who i felt needed to go back to the shop floor as there common sence was something of a mystery to me so i am sat here typing this wondering if i chose the right carreer to enter not getting anywhere fast. have tried to go back to normal jobs but my heart is not there and the fact that i now read behind the company commitments to safety often finding big flaws due to the type of work. I wandering if there ever will be a company out there willing to do the same as this one or even better is this one prepared to help someone relocate. Anyway enough of the rambling on good luck to both the company and new employee whoever they may be. one last point there are bad doctors, accountants etc all over the place and even bad safety mangers its the person and support from the company that counts more than the qualification.

Posted By Dave Wilson Still can't get my head round this one, 'I have employed people with no Qualifications ' jings heavens help me boab! I would hope that the level of work which this employee would be allowed to do was very low key! Do totally agree that to be a consultant in any profession requires a certain personality trait! However the type of trait you are looking for is a salesman and if you have that you can blag and wing your way through most things, doesn't mean that they are any good at giving competent H&S Advice just means that they can con the client! Comments? didnt want to turn this into a competency debate! Mabe thats where ENRON lost it!

Posted By Jack Dave if your quote 'I have employed people with no Qualifications ' was from from my posting it was a misquote! But I guess you would probably have made the same point anyway! I'm surprised that you find on the job training such a difficult concept. It's long been used in the other professions. People commence engineering careers straight from school. You wouldn't let them loose on designing a bridge in the first week but they'd learn under controlled supervision and normally obtain qualifications at the same time. They gain practical experience while taking their qualifications. I don't know much about the NVQ route but presumably the evidence for the portfolio is obtained at work (hopefully under supervision). When they were taken on they would have had no qualifications. The people I was referring to in my earlier posting had the right aptitude, attitude and approach to h&s. Some had degrees but in non h&s subjects. They soon took their NEBOSH diplomas which they found no problem. At the end of that process they were competent to operate on their own. Someone straight from university with an OH&S degree would not hit the ground running and would still need to be closely supervised initially.

Posted By Dave Wilson OJT allied with Quality academic training is and should be the only way in this profession, what you seem to be missing is that this raw recruit can be out there giving advice to industry with very little experience and the client may not have any idea as thgis is why they called in a consultant in the first place. One of the good things about this job is that for the best part your employer really has no concept or inkling about what you are talking about. If the task allocation suits their level of competence and is monitored / controlled by a more experienecd Consultant then fine and this can and will get better with time with the correcet mentoring etc. Heres one! How many of you have as part of your H&S policy statment literally copied Sections from the HASAW Act as your page for signature by the man? Do you not think that this shows little foresight or understanding of the business who employs you, I have lost count of the amount of Policies written by Consultants who literally change the name and then charge the client! (Before you jump at me not all are like that!) I'm off ranting again, So I have no problem with employing juniors or inexperienced or lack of qualifications its how they are used which is the point. This company seem to have the right idea! gis a job!

Posted By Dave Wilson Jack, 'It is how they are used' which is the crux. Being my cynical self, If you are an employee doing safety for your company do you have the pressure on you (the H&S Dept) to 'make financial gain' and contribute in a £££ way to the bottom line. (Dont get into the safety is cheap accidents cost money, thats not what I mean) as Against a commercial entity whose sole purpose is to advise and consult to clients on H&S matters for money! Unscrupulus H&S Consultancy people will use unqualified and inexperienced people for financial gain is what I was alluding to. If they are trained, supervised and given tasks commensurate with this level of competence then great, as this can only benefit them and the individual.