title: Assessment of qualifications needed by environmental health graduates entering private-sector employment.
abstract: The goal of the study described here was to provide a snapshot of knowledge, skills, and abilities currently required by employers in the private sector of the environmental health and safety field, specifically for entry-level positions attainable by individuals recently earning a bachelor's degree in environmental health. Information was collected first through the screening of 115 entry-level job descriptions posted on a popular environmental health and safety Internet job-seeking site. Because of the predominance of industrial hygiene and safety job descriptions found, a second data source was created-an online opinion survey taken by 98 American Industrial Hygiene Association-registered consultants certified in industrial hygiene. Important results from both data sources indicated that employers preferred a four-year science degree for new hires.
authors.affiliation: East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA. andersonal@ecu.edu
authors.forename: Alice L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: William Eric
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Ferrell
mesh_terms: D004782:Environmental Health / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007586:Job Application; D007587:Job Description; D017149:Private Sector; D014481:United States