If you are interested in the protection and management of environments, environmental health and safety jobs could well be ideal positions for you.
Here are ten tips to help you get a great environmental officer job:
1. This is a professional position requiring a four year degree from an accredited college with a major in environmental health and safety, environmental sciences, environmental engineering or similar. Jobs environmental health can also accept a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Sanitary Science, Industrial Hygiene or Occupational Health and Safety, depending on the specific job role.
2. During your studies you will need to maintain good grades. There may be a lot more environmental jobs available today than there were years ago, but there is also a great deal more competition for them. To ensure a career opportunity with a good future it is important to apply yourself consistently and obtain good academic results.
3. You will often need to be professionally registered with the National Environmental Health Association or an equivalent state body in the state you plan to work. It is therefore a good idea to obtain this registration before you begin your job search. Whether or not it is explicitly required, it is likely to give you an advantage over applicants which do not possess this accreditation.
4. Have a clear goal. There are many different types of jobs in environmental health and science. Do you want to work in water management, land management, industrial environment, or in human health services? Read different job specifications to get an idea of the different types of jobs that are available and the qualifications the various roles require.
5. Take advantage of internships during your college years to gain experience, skills and references. Try to gain exposure to different work environments in order to discover the area you would prefer to work in.
6. If you are a college graduate, you will need to look for entry level environmental jobs. Such positions are often advertised through your college careers office and through your faculty. Make sure you attend job fairs and career expos at your college so that you can meet different company representatives and recruiters. Local and state governments can be good sources of entry level employment in environmental health and safety jobs. Another good source of this kind of a job is companies that are highly regulated and have heavy compliance obligations.
7. As with any job search, you will need to look for jobs environmental health in a number of places where they are likely to be advertised. Many of these jobs will be advertised in the employment section of your regional (largest circulation) newspaper. There is generally a day in the week which contains the most job ads (often a Saturday) and this is the paper you must buy every week. Read the job descriptions carefully because not all environmental jobs will necessarily have the title of Environmental Officer.
8. Online job sites can be great places to find environmental officer jobs and you should use them to your full advantage. These sites make it easy to quickly locate the jobs you are interested in because you can browse them by category. You can also request email alerts for new jobs that match specific criteria which can save you a lot of time crawling through job ads every day.
9. When you find jobs in environmental health and sciences you are interested in applying for, make sure you write new letters of application for each job which clearly address the specific selection criteria. It is also a good idea to change your resume slightly to appeal to each job. Your resume and letters of application must have a professional appearance and be free of spelling and grammatical mistakes. Their purpose is to give you the best possible chance of obtaining an interview and as such they are extremely important.
10. Before you attend a job interview, spend some time researching the organization you are applying to. Make sure you understand what they do and why they do it so that you can answer any questions your interviewers may ask you. Have a good idea of the workplace culture before you attend your appointment so that you can be correctly attired for the interview. One way to do this is to visit the premises and take note of the dress code of the employees. Some workplaces will be more formal than others. It is important to give a sense of being able to fit in. Be professional, courteous and friendly during your interview. Answer questions easily and show an interest by asking questions.
These ten tips can help you land the environmental officer job of your dreams. You can place yourself in a competitive position to be employed in a job with a clear career path and you may well find yourself earning an executive income in the future creating, implementing and managing environmental management plans. These roles are continually expanding as governments are becoming more serious about environmental health and safety. If you play your cards right, you will not only be able to be employed doing what you love you will also be paid extremely well for the privilege.
