Health and Safety Insights: What to include in your CV?
Jack Cornick, Team Leader Health, Safety and Construction at ALLEN & YORK and Amanda Clarke, Managing Consultant at Shirley Parsons offer their expert insight and advice for both health and safety practitioners and employers looking to attract the best talent. The video is packed with insights and tips, but if you haven't got time to watch the whole recording, we have summarised the discussion into bite-sized chunks. Firstly, we focus on how to market yourself in a competitive job market and specifically; ‘What to include in your CV’. Your CV sets the foundation from which to build your job application, it is your entry point and will be your first introduction to prospective employers. A comprehensive CV will be no longer than 2-4 pages and include your 'key' qualifications, experience and achievements. Both Jack and Amanda suggest listing only your ‘key’ qualifications; NEBOSH, IOSH, Chartered status etc. with any relevant extras e.g. COSHH. You don’t have to list every course, you can mention this at interview if relevant. Under each job entry, list your key achievements in that specific role. What assignments, projects, strategies did you drive through or were involved in. Highlight where you liaised with team members, managers and department to illustrate your ability to communicate with key stakeholders across the business. Demonstrate your networking and knowledge-sharing, via your memberships, LinkedIn groups, Twitter presence, event attendance and any publications you may have authored. Future employers are looking for a cultural 'person' fit, as well as examining your qualifications and years of experience, and therefore the softer skills are extremely important when presenting yourself on your CV. “There is a strong emphasis on enabling culture change within most employers” Jack comments “with a continued move away from simple compliance-based roles”. You will be required to demonstrate ways in which you have taken the lead and embedded health and safety into the wider company culture. 90 per cent of health and safety interviews are competency based and Amanda flagged-up the 'STAR' methodology (Situation, Task, Activity, Result) as a good starting point when preparing for a health and safety interview. You may also want to refer the IOSH Blueprint competency-based framework, as a useful self-assessment guide. Be prepared to take part in exercises or impromptu assessments as a means of measuring your level of competency (but more about interviews in our next bite-able summary). If you are applying for one particular job you might want to tailor your CV to the job, but in the main you are more than likely to be sending your CV to several jobs and won’t have time to tailor each time, this is fine. A strong ‘general’ CV, well presented and concise will grab our interest and then we can speak with you and highlight your particular skills to the employer for each specific job. A good recruiter will always speak to you before presenting your details, so we can ‘tailor’ your CV to each employer on your behalf. If you are looking to transition from one sector to another this can be difficult, but it is possible. For example, if you are looking to move from Property into Construction, connect with construction health and safety groups, find out if you can visit or spend time within the health and safety team to gain experience. Ensure you have the relevant qualifications e.g. NEBOSH Construction. Moving from high-risk to low-risk environments can prove more fruitful, so if you are looking to come off the oil rig and into a warm office, your prospects are good and you should certainly mention this in your CV. The current health and safety jobs market is buoyant and there is a high demand particularly for mid-level management positions. With plenty of jobs and competition, salaries have increased to the attract the best talent and this is a very good time to make your next career move. To find out more about the latest health and safety job opportunities contact Jack Cornick 01202 888 986 View full IOSH Roundtable Recruitment Video Browse all health and safety jobs
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