Kevin Brenker ⋅ Newport, NH Vigilant Systems Group LLC ⋅ 15 years experience

Jason, Florida hosts a number of Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) conferences each year, and more across the U.S. I would search Govevents.com to find conferences coming near you, get your best prepared resume together and visit each & every speaker & exhibitor that grabs your attention. Also, any/every course you may have taken while active duty (thank you!) and post-service that can be a foundation for an EHS position should be noted. I would suggest you contact someone @ shirleyparsons.com who is a major EHS recruiting firm (HQ is Boston I believe). Get to know someone there who can mentor you to the right path. Hope you are successful. It's an important position. Go get it!

George Wilhelmsen ⋅ Rochelle, IL Sargent & Lundy ⋅ 38 years experience

Jason,

Consider this: A safety position (note - I said position) is usually a single person at a large site. My site of around 850 people which includes hundreds of operators, maintenance folks and engineers has 1 (one) safety professional. So, your opportunity pool is smaller than say that of most other positions.

Now that you have that in perspective, you have to put yourself out on the market, and market yourself for the position. I hit Monster.com, and found two safety positions in Florida that were available, and more nation wide.

With that said, you need to consider your flexibility - what can you do (e.g., be willing to move, consider a broader spectrum of jobs) to improve your chances to find a position in this somewhat "niche" field of safety?

Please understand, I'm trying to help here. We just filled our safety position for the second time this year with an incumbent ex-military supervisor. He brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the table (which he demonstrated in his previous roles), but actually got his foot in the door of our company by coming in as a security officer, then transitioning to maintenance supervisor and another role, before being selected for this one.

So, another way you can get to your goal is to look at such transitional opportunities within large companies, and to "get your foot in the door" in a different position, so you can eventually transition into the position you like.

I wish you the best of luck, and want to thank you for your service.

Respectfully,
George Wilhelmsen

Drew Schildwächter ⋅ Wilmington, NC Salesforce ⋅ 8 years experience

Jason: there is a great book called "Reinventing You" (http://dorieclark.com/reinventingyou/) that gives some detailed steps on how to build relationships in the industry. What worked for me was just calling people in my affinity network (they were Marines, fellow alumni, etc.) and asking them to tell me about their experiences. e.g. "How did you find the job?" "What's your day to day like?"

Most people are really willing to share that kind of stuff because they are talking about themselves. (A lot like dating.) The benefit for you is that you will have some great input, and build some relationships. They will then keep you in mind going forward. I had some folks who immediately said "let me submit your résumé," and some who kept me in mind for later things. In some cases I just learned some good info.

Robert Lamaster ⋅ Olivia, MN Kyndryl ⋅ 17 years experience

Hi Jason,

Many large contract businesses have in-house safety experts that are assigned to projects all over the world. As one project closes, they are assigned to another. Often, these businesses are major government contractors, but may also do substantial work in private industry.

My company, for example, does design/build/finance/operation of buildings, facilities, etc., and currently has 31 openings related to safety. If you would like to check them out and see if anything looks good, here's the link:

http://jobs.aecom.com

If you'd like to know anything more about the company, you can contact me directly.

Kenneth Brown ⋅ Dallas, TX U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 22 years served

You'll be fine! Just keep filling the pipeline. You come from a safety field. Volunteer at a fire department to network.

If you aren't familiar with CFRs' get familiar with them. Go to the OSHA website and download them. Their like an index book broken down by subject matters within Safety. For example: electrical cover plate broken on the wall in a building will be listed in that related section. You then write down the paragraph and section number (kind of like reading the Bible, Quaran, Torah etc. with chapters and verses.).

In TX all contruction sites are required to have safety consultant for any people over 10. Maybe its like that where you live. You'll need some local training certifications for your state like OSHA 10, OSHA 20. Go to your local OSHA office and find out how to get the courses you need. Other related titles are Facilities Manager. Get you a Doing Business As lisence and a busimessybank account and file the paperwork as am independant contractor, get you a website, email,business phone and say you're a Safety Consultant and give. Classes once a month at the library or a college or at a Microsoft store if one is near you. If you have some money on a credit card nuy some safety supplies like the Safety kits, etc. have some flyers made and say you sell safety supplies and when they need some get a Square Credit Card reader, download the app to your phone or tablet and have thdm pay you. Youre in FL. Find out all you can about Zika and Ebola, west nile virus, emergency readiness and give Classes for free to show you're an expert bro. Don't give up. Stay active, join a church, network with people of activities about things you like to do. There are alot of angles in safety and you've got pluses, you come from a safety field, you're a veteran. Check out www.safetyadvisors.com for ideas.

michael convey ⋅ Longboat Key, FL JH Williams Oil Co ⋅ 42 years experience

Thank you for your service. Our country and all of our citizens are better off because of your service . I have found using Linkedin of great value. If you use their website, there are positions that may be available, and equally important it will enable you to network with people in the field of safety. Each field has people that have formed committees of members, with similar positions, to discuss problems and opportunities that exist and are germane to people in this type of career. These committees will offer you opportunities to join, learn more about the field, enable you to network with other professionals in the field of safety and possibly turn into opportunities for employment. I would also utilize executive search firms and employments that specialize in the field of Safety. Corporate websites can identify job opportunities that exist and/or the name of the person that you could forward a resume to for consideration. The Chamber of Commerce in your area can provide the names of companies in a defined geography along with contact information. I think this is a good start.

mike convey

Mack Moore ⋅ San Antonio, TX The Schwan Food Company ⋅ 38 years experience

Focus on the behavioral aspects and how to install a safety Culture. The technical aspects an be trained.

Jason Keller ⋅ Riverview, FL U.S. Air Force, Master Sergeant ⋅ 21 years served

Drew, I've been reaching out to folks in the industry on LinkedIn, I've done a co-op shadow program with the local chamber of commerce, I've leveraged a few AF career transitions advisors. Most have steered me to job posting they've seen online which are the same ones I see.

I haven't had much luck with starting relationships with new folks. Most I've connected with haven't taken the time to respond back.

Most of my AF contacts have been supportive but haven't been much help outside that.

Drew Schildwächter ⋅ Wilmington, NC Salesforce ⋅ 8 years experience

Jason: what are some things that you are trying for networking now? How much mileage are you getting out of your AF contacts?