u/deathbedcompani0n

I just made a post yesterday asking how to get into IH, and then following people's advice I found a smaller consulting firm and applied for an asbestos field tech position and got an interview for next week. My girlfriend is a nurse and concerned about the effects of asbestos exposure or potentially bringing contaminants back home. I understand it is a very highly regulated industry, so I am pretty okay with it, but I wanted to get the opinion of IH professionals.

I am really interested in the field of industrial hygiene and environmental health as a whole, and am wondering how to best find an entry level position/market my skills. I graduated in may and am now working fulltime at a disease ecology lab that i worked at as an undergrad, where im doing a lot of lab and field work doing water quality monitoring and microbial culturing. I realized I am really more interested in understanding how environmental or human caused factors are impacting health than just ecology. I have a lot of field work experience doing stuff like chemical analysis of water samples, monitoring, and typical microbio skills. I feel like all the ehs or industrial hygiene positions i see require environmental health science degrees, but what kind of entry level positions would my skills and experience make me somewhat qualified for? Is it it better to pursue an mph/ms in industrial hygiene now or should I wait until I have actual years in the field?

Hi I have an interview for a stormwater tech position at a regional consulting firm next week, kind of out of the blue, and I had some questions about what they might be looking for or things I should emphasize. The listed responsibilities are: Storm Sewer System Inspections, Wet weather monitoring, Drinking water sampling, wastewater sampling, Storm Sewer Mapping, Routine report development. For context, I graduated in May with a degree in ecology and have worked for 2 years at a disease ecology lab doing water quality monitoring and microbio work. I feel a little intimidated, because I am unsure of how to best tie the rest of my skillset to the job. I have extensive experience taking water samples and using YSI probes, but what else should I emphasize/be prepared to answer. Thank you so much!

Im a recent graduate, and just got rejected from a position at an engineering firm after two great interviews where there were literally no other candidates. I reached out to an industrial hygienist to ask about her career from the position of someone who majored in ecology and during our talk she said she wanted to bring someone on and was interested and then I went in for an interview at the office and met the president and walked around the office and met the team. It was almost a picture perfect interview I got along with both her and the president and was much more comfortable and confident than I have been in the past. Then yesterday I reached out a week after and she said that they were "going to wait to bring someone on at this point". I feel like no matter how hard I try or even how well things seem to go, nothing is working out. I am transgender as well, and the only thing that I think indicates that is my sometimes lower voice so idk maybe they thought that was going to be a problem. I did get an offer to work fulltime in my undergrad lab but it would pay me much less than I am making working at a fancy coffeeshop (28 per hour) that would last for 6 months and I want to do a position related to my degree but I also dont want to be literally living in poverty anymore. I got that rejection 10 minutes before I had an interview yesterday which actually went well except I had a like 10 second pause when my brain blanked on a question. I know this mostly just a rant but it actually feels awful to put in all this effort for what feels like no results

I graduated with ecology degree but currently working in a coffee shop that is in a very old building with other businesses attached. My boss works in the basement often and the radon monitor frequently reaches above 5 pCi/L and he expressed concern about the radon levels over the years, but the building owner doesn't want to pursue remediation because of one complaining tenant. Is there a legal requirement for commercial building owners to conduct radon mitigation if it reaches hazardous levels or is it basically a fuck you im the landlord i dont care situation

Hi there, I am a recent graduate with a degree in Ecology, and I have an interview for an environmental sanitarian position with a focus on wells, septic, and hazardous chemicals. I am really excited about it, and am really interested in environmental health so I wanted to ask for some advice on what they are generally looking for, or common questions. From what I have seen so far, skills like conflict resolution, communicating with operators, and being detail oriented are important. For a little background, only relevant experience is working in a lab studying host parasite dynamics in aquatic ecosystems, so i gained a lot of experience doing field work, water quality monitoring, testing for some pollutants, and general wetlab work. I also have worked in restaurants for a long time so I have learned how to deal with the angry public lol

I am a recent grad with an ecology degree looking at environmental consulting and i am interested in getting a entry level position as an IH technician. I have worked doing over 2 years of field work in my undergrad lab doing water quality monitoring, technical writing, and i am trying to get advice on how to pitch my skills and background considering I dont have a degree in something IH related. I am meeting with a consultant who works in IH for an informational interview, but I thought i could ask here as well. Im in the Midwest btw

The biggest piece of advice I've been getting as a recent grad is to network for jobs and opportunities. I have besn applying like crazy and getting interviews but no offers yet. I just had to get a job as a barista to pay the bills and am feeling pretty dejected. I have of course talked to my professors and classmates for potential opportunities, but I feel like im still not doing enough. I am in Michigan and there is an Environmental Professional Association of mostly consultants that I thought i could join, but I am not currently a consultant and the membership is 99 dollars (i am pretty broke). Should I do that and look for other groups where I could meet new people in the field? What have you done to successfully network?

Im a recent grad currently in Michigan but want to eventually move to Chicago. I have looked at all the big firms websites and emailed some of the smaller firms about jobs, but haven't found anything yet. Does anyone have advice for where to look for positions, or know of firms/agencies hiring? I checked the chicago land environmental network board but it was also pretty sparsw. I have two years of experience working in a freshwater ecology lab doing water quality and disease dynamics research.

I graduated in may with a bs in ecology and evo bio with 2+ years of freshwater ecology research including water quality monitoring, lots of field work, co-author, blah blah. After 200+ applications I FINALLY got an interview with regional consulting firm after emailing them my resume (ive had interviews for other spots just not consulting). I just had a second interview with my city's water treatment plant which may actually be the better job haha but it feels good to be making progress. Wish me luck on my next interview and thanks to this sub for advice. I've been super depressed since I've graduated bc I've felt so stagnant but I am trying to keep pushing forward

I have a second interview at the plant for a water utility technician position (rotating operator/maintenance) at a drinking water plant this week. It is a 4 person panel interview with the assistant plant manager, plant civil engineer, a tech, and HR. I have done a panel interview before, but they always make me nervous not going to lie, so I wanted to ask for any advice before going into it. I have a background in biology and worked for two years at a biogeochemical lab in college doing water quality monitoring, and i have worked on cars a lot, but besides that I have no prior experience or qualifications (I am 22). I know to dress business casual, but I am not sure what else I should know, or questions they will probably ask. I really want this job, and i could see myself working in the industry a long time.

I have a second interview for a utility tech/operator position at my local drinking water plant that starts at 24 an hour. I have no certifications and I was wondering if any michigan operators could tell me how their pay increasee over their career, or what the pay jumps after new certs were. Also thank you to everyone on this subreddit for previous advice im hoping it will help me land this job lol

I am a recent ecology grad and had an interview for a tech/operator position at my local drinking water plant. I did a lot of research with water quality and diseases in my undergrad, and i am really interested in the position. If i dont end up staying as an operator, iwas wondering if the skills I will be learning will help me in the future applying to consulting or compliance positions.

I graduated from a top public university recently with two years of research/field experience including water quality monitoring and a lot of field work. I am a co-author and ran my own independent research projects, and got good grades in school, and tried to network as much as I could. I think I am a pretty good applicant, and want to work in consulting, but almost all the positions I am seeing they want people with 3-5 years experience, wetland delineation, etc, all stuff that I could only get from working at a consulting company before lol. Does anyone have tips for breaking in? Also I have gone to my PI and school career center to have my cover letters and resumes looked at EDIT i noticed that my degree says bachelors of art/science it is supposed to say science

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I am a recent graduate from a very good public university with a bio degree and 2 years of experience working in a biogeochemical lab that worked a lot on diseases, and I really want to work in water treatment in the lab or as an operator. I have applied to my local city plant for a lab position as well as a temporary utility position but got rejected both times. I think that I am a pretty competitive applicant, and have a background in chemistry, am pretty mechanically apt, so I am wondering what are some steps to make me more employable? I emailed my local plant to get a tour and expressed i wanted to learn more about day to day operations, so hopefully I can make a few connections from there!

Hi, I graduated this spring with a degree in a bio related field and am interested in radiology tech as a career so I signed up for a&p and a medical terminology course. I am in Michigan and I'm trying to apply to different CCs because I know they are very competitive, but some of them have one extra class specific to their school tacked on. For example Oakland community college has the same prereqs as all the other programs around, but requires a medical law and ethics course to take there. Is applying to only one school that you take your prereqs the most common option, i want to be able to cast a wide net so I dont have to wait years to get in