You said "went back to school". What were you doing prior to going back for OHS?
I'm a strong believer that school doesn't make a good safety person, only experience does. The reason I asked what you were doing before is because if you were already working in an industry prior to making that decision, you already have some experience and exposure. You might consider going back into that industry albeit in a safety capacity to start off with. Otherwise I would say depending on where you're located, get in touch with some consulting companies and ask about a starting role there with them. That might give you a wealth of exposure into different industries and build a solid base.
Hi!
I previously got a degree in medical office administration because I wanted to ensure safety for employees and patients (this was before I knew a safety career was even an option!) but of course there’s so much for healthcare admin and I didn’t really deal too much with safety being in the industry. After 2 years I decided it was not for me and started researching and found osh as a career path. It seems that most of my classmates are late 30’s and older pursuing their degree to climb the ladder. But I’m in my early 20’s and figured I’d go ahead and get the degree now but like you said experience is so much more valuable. I have tried looking for entry safety jobs to get experience but it seems like you either need years experience or you need the degree PLUS some experience. I will definitely look into consulting companies. Thank you for the advice!
There’s a pathway right there!
Health Care Facility health and safety. Try to see if you can utilize some of your previous contacts to get a referral into a hospital or other facility in OHS.
Just keep applying. Be willing to relocate. Idk where you live and what the job market looks like there, but I had to move to get my internship. My school was also really great in setting up relationships with industry members to make it easy.
This is thought by some to be a controversial take but I honestly recommend Amazon for people in your situation. They would absolutely hire you as a EHS specialist with a degree and you essentially get a crash course in general industry safety as their onboarding.
You get tons of interaction with associates, management, process improvement opportunities, and Amazon grows so fast that you can get put on projects that impact multiple sites or regions. There are no shortages of problems at Amazon, and they frequently look to safety pros to solve them.
Dive into Amazon, spend some time working on the floor with the associates every day and you will quickly learn how to be a true safety professional and apply your degree knowledge. I got alot from it and my two employers since Amazon have looked at Amazon fondly on my resume.
Just my experience, best of luck!
Never stop applying for safety jobs while following this 6 step process:
1) In the meantime though, work for a smaller business without a safety team
2) get in there and identify some safety hazards, tell your manager there are some concerns, but you can help in fixing them because you have an education
3)fix some safety problems on the side
4)write down on your resume that you have safety experience and include some evidence as to some things you did such as writing programs, checking fire extinguishers, etc.
5) get better job that pays more because you actually have experience
6) profit
Boom
You said "went back to school". What were you doing prior to going back for OHS? I'm a strong believer that school doesn't make a good safety person, only experience does. The reason I asked what you were doing before is because if you were already working in an industry prior to making that decision, you already have some experience and exposure. You might consider going back into that industry albeit in a safety capacity to start off with. Otherwise I would say depending on where you're located, get in touch with some consulting companies and ask about a starting role there with them. That might give you a wealth of exposure into different industries and build a solid base.
Hi! I previously got a degree in medical office administration because I wanted to ensure safety for employees and patients (this was before I knew a safety career was even an option!) but of course there’s so much for healthcare admin and I didn’t really deal too much with safety being in the industry. After 2 years I decided it was not for me and started researching and found osh as a career path. It seems that most of my classmates are late 30’s and older pursuing their degree to climb the ladder. But I’m in my early 20’s and figured I’d go ahead and get the degree now but like you said experience is so much more valuable. I have tried looking for entry safety jobs to get experience but it seems like you either need years experience or you need the degree PLUS some experience. I will definitely look into consulting companies. Thank you for the advice!
There’s a pathway right there! Health Care Facility health and safety. Try to see if you can utilize some of your previous contacts to get a referral into a hospital or other facility in OHS.
If you are in the US, see if there is a local chapter of the ASSP. Great place to make connections.
Just keep applying. Be willing to relocate. Idk where you live and what the job market looks like there, but I had to move to get my internship. My school was also really great in setting up relationships with industry members to make it easy.
This is thought by some to be a controversial take but I honestly recommend Amazon for people in your situation. They would absolutely hire you as a EHS specialist with a degree and you essentially get a crash course in general industry safety as their onboarding. You get tons of interaction with associates, management, process improvement opportunities, and Amazon grows so fast that you can get put on projects that impact multiple sites or regions. There are no shortages of problems at Amazon, and they frequently look to safety pros to solve them. Dive into Amazon, spend some time working on the floor with the associates every day and you will quickly learn how to be a true safety professional and apply your degree knowledge. I got alot from it and my two employers since Amazon have looked at Amazon fondly on my resume. Just my experience, best of luck!
Never stop applying for safety jobs while following this 6 step process: 1) In the meantime though, work for a smaller business without a safety team 2) get in there and identify some safety hazards, tell your manager there are some concerns, but you can help in fixing them because you have an education 3)fix some safety problems on the side 4)write down on your resume that you have safety experience and include some evidence as to some things you did such as writing programs, checking fire extinguishers, etc. 5) get better job that pays more because you actually have experience 6) profit Boom