Career Pathway - A Guide for Recruiters and Managers

 

There is currently a huge demand for trained and competent H&S generalists and other H&S disciplines in New Zealand.  In 2019, HASANZ Health and Safety Workforce Pipeline Report identified ‘At least another 2,100 health and safety generalists will be required over the next ten years, in a difficult job market.'

In addition to a challenging job market, the value proposition for managing health and safety effectively and investing in expertise has changed in recent years. Resulting in organisations and recruiters being unclear about the skill sets, qualifications and competencies required to be successful for roles and the profession, and do not see the valuable contribution a H&S professional can provide to improve organisation culture and performance.

The repercussions of being a poor fit between a person and a job they are recruited to do, due to lack of experience or skill required, places both organisation and individual at risk.  With all this in mind, the Health and Safety Generalist Career Pathway has been produced to support the industry nationwide to address this growing recruitment need.

How can this career pathway guide help me?

This guidance provides in-house recruiters, recruitment agents and hiring mangers to clearly identify to understand what technical and non-technical skills are required to succeed as a H&S generalist within the industry. To ensure that those who are recruiting for health and safety roles match the right people to the roles going forward. It is intended to be used by line managers / HR professionals who have responsibility for a H&S team, or is responsible for recruiting H&S roles into an organisation and supports:

  • The understanding of the technical and supporting skills required to succeed at that job role.
  • Individuals to understand how to progress their careers.
  • Recruiters and managers to have meaningful and constructive discussions with those looking to enter or advance within the H&S profession
  • Discussions around designing remuneration packages for H&S roles based on identifiable skills and proven experience, rather than previous job titles (that may or may not align across different sectors) or previous overseas employment.

The guide will provide you with an overview of the following:

  • Current Status of the H&S Profession
  • Common Health and Safety Job Families and Roles
  • Career Pathway
  • Identifying common core knowledge, skills and attributes needed to be successful
  • What a ‘good H&S professional look like’ across the different roles in the pathway for career advancement
  • Qualifications and Technical Skills
  • Career persona’s
  • Frequently Asked Questions

Through using these guides managers and recruiters can have a platform to start  meaningful discussions with those looking to enter or advance within the H&S profession, to enable understanding of the opportunities for personal and professional development across the breadth of the H&S Generalist Career Pathway.

Only by using the pathway, we can start changing our conversations about health and safety roles, employers will be able to attract more qualified professionals into the industry, be able to recruit successfully to fill their capability and capacity gaps for their organisation and promote a clear career pathway for new and existing health and safety generalists today and for the future.