Health and safety recruitment expert Laura Aucott offers her top three tips on how to get the health and safety role you want this year.

Unfortunately, the truth is that the job market is extremely competitive at the moment. The impact of the pandemic, combined with the ever-increasing focus on health and safety means that never before have employers been so focused on improving their safety offerings and bolstering their teams with the best talent.

So, if you are looking for a new opportunity – how on earth do you stand out?

The good news is that just a few easy tweaks can easily have you standing out from the crowd.
 

1. Make sure that your LinkedIn is up to date and really sells you.

Most of the best roles don’t get advertised but are confidential head hunt processes. This means that unless you have a LinkedIn profile that will attract headhunters and HR directors, you are already cutting yourself off from 50 per cent of the roles out there!

Make sure to have a clear picture and strapline (not your job title, but what you actually do) and a short bio that clearly demonstrates your key strengths. Are you amazing at auditing, skilled at systems or do you excel at engagement? Then make sure this is all over your profile and is everything that you are talking about.

2. Curate your CV.

They say that job hunting is a job in itself and that is true – each application should be carefully curated for the role you are applying for. You would be amazed how many times we have people apply for roles that require a safety systems specialist with only a passing mention of systems in their CV!

Try and match key words to your skillset and make sure the pertinent information that the employer is looking for is at the top of the CV (perhaps in a personal summary) and easy to see – i.e. for a client looking for someone with FMCG experience and an expert in safety systems, you could write “a safety professional with five years of experience working in the food manufacturing sector, and a decade of implementing and improving safety systems.”

3. Have realistic salary expectations.

Salaries have been on the rise for the last few years: 15 per cent between 2022 and 2023, and 8 per cent in the last year, but these are now starting to stabilise. Employers in 2024 are looking to offer other things to attract candidates than just remuneration, such as flexible and hybrid working, enhanced mental and physical health provisions, or bonuses tied to performance. Employers want to know that you are looking for more than just money with your next move, and want passionate, engaged and forward-thinking professionals that can grow with the company.

Apart from these three tips, the best thing I can recommend is to network with other safety professionals as well as building good relationships with a safety headhunter (like us). Networking means you will be at the forefront of everyone’s minds when the best jobs become available, and ensures your reputation precedes you!

And of course if you want to discuss these tips in more detail or have any questions, feel free to reach out to me by emailing [email protected] or by connecting via LinkedIn.

 

Laura Aucott is Associate Director and Client Engagement Director for recruitment company, Executive Network Group.

She has responsibility for the HSE Recruitment brand.