Industrial Hygienist

[TGS]

Anyone here familiar with such a career?

I have questions:

How hard is it to penetrate the job market as an entry level industrial hygienist?

Is it a portable career? Can you pick up and move easily?

If so, how long does it take to get to such a point....or do you start with this opportunity right away?

My significant other is working on a masters with ambitions for this career, and I was recently given a conditional job offer for my dream job which will require moving every 2-3 years and living overseas a fair amount of time (at least every 6 years), and limited home-steading opportunity within the national capital region. We are looking at the possibility of her pursuing her career if she decides to embark on this rollercoaster with me. I'm not sure how portable this job is on the scale of 1-10....1 being a martial arts instructor with a local customer base, 10 being a Registered Nurse with a BSN/MSN.

60% of the spouses for the job I'm going for are unemployed in their chosen career field, so we are looking to be honest with each other and how this plays out for "us."

Thanks.

[Josh Runkle]

I know very little about it personally, however, I know a few guys I do SAR with (but not on my unit) who do that full time. (ETA: they make great safety officers during various ops, especially because they tend to be very observant and able to allow things to happen around them without losing focus on their goal)

IE: this is really anecdotal, and take it with a grain of salt.

One had heavy experience in the fire service, doing hazmat, overhaul and inspection (fire code/building codes) pretty regularly before switching fields. The other guy is a retired police officer, who simply applied to the job with zero experience and only some minor prior training. Both travel very frequently. I believe the former police officer lives near Cleveland, OH and works all over OH, PA, WV, KY and I think Michigan, but not IN (for some reason). He travels very regularly, like several days a week, he's out of town overnight at least one day a week.

While he (the cop) knows infinitely more about it now, from several years of experience, he still holds fewer certifications than I probably do relating to occupational safety and health, etc., and I know almost nothing about it. (Many people in SAR do from their various backgrounds. Mine are mostly fire, building construction, hazwoper, workplace safety, etc)

My point: in my limited, subjective experience, I have met someone who had tons of prior, relevant experience, and someone who had almost none. Both were successful as long as they were willing to travel often. Both seemed to have tons of awesome on-the-job training.

[dbateman]

If you're asking about what I think.

I run into hyginists fairly regularly on underground mine sites, they usally monitor contaminats in the air, and probably a few other things I don't know about.


What industry are you going into ?