Advice on becoming an ISO Management Systems Consultant

[Wes Bucey]

I sympathize with all those who are confronted by an on-line application process which does not allow a candidate to sell "value," only allowing a list of "knockout questions" (wrong answer knocks a candidate into the trash heap.)

Please take the time to read through the thread
Tips to get past the "gatekeeper" when job hunting
Even though it was started years ago, it is still pertinent (perhaps even more so today.)

The points one needs:

1. identify the target company first - NO BLIND ADS!
2. identify the target hirer (not in Human Resources!)
3. identify what the target company needs
4. show how candidate meets or exceeds those needs
5. avoid being lumped in with hundreds of others by going outside the process which involves Human Resource robots (flesh and blood or software program.)

 

[kgott]

I am student coming to my final few months of my course (BSc Environmental Management) I have studied and built a fictional ISO:9001:2008 and ISO:14001:2004. As I know there a market out there for building ISO for business I don’t know how to get into that market??. I know there accreditation courses available although I have just paid ?11,000 for my university course.

I am after any views or opinions on how to break into industry?
ISO auditing courses??
Can I just set up my own consultation company without any accreditation to my name?

What I would suggest that you become devotee of this forum and learn the standards inside out. This is where the experts are, this is where best practice is. This forum is international. This forum is the university of ISO knowledge and experience. You will not find a better place to learn the trade.

As others have alluded to, experience is essential but sometimes having a thorough knowledge of a subject/s can shorten the learning curve, help you prevent many mistakes and help you get much knowledge others don't have. This will be big asset in getting a job in the industry to get the experience you need to become a consultant.

 

[harry]

........................ I am wondering what could I do to get my foot in the door (so to speak)

During the course of our work, we get to know people - auditors, consultants, customer representatives, staff of suppliers, our church members or even Cove members. All these people form our net-work and in situations like this, try to go back to them for help. There is a good chance that someone may know another one with a job or opening in their organization and if someone is willing to put in a good word, you can usually get through the preliminary rounds and the hassle of being asked for university certificates etc.

Consider posting here: Seeking Employment

 

[immaya08]

Re: Pls advice on becoming an ISO consultant

"but doing the sample 9k and 14k manuals does not count as sufficient experience" by TPMB4; writing manuals doesn't make you a consultant but probably as technical writer; it's a good start;

sorry to tell this but people nowadays would want to become a consultant all for the money; one of the top management I have recently encountered in a conference mentioned that consultants are becoming profit oriented, theyre not getting any help, they didnt understand ISO, QMS, root cause analysis, the role and responsibilities of QMR until they bumped into that conference - they've been with this consulting firm for more than a year now and they're nowhere near to meeting ISO 9001 requirements - because of limited engagement(pegged mandays). some consultants dampen the whole quality story. but truly there are few good consultants - and they're quite rare.

 

[immaya08]

I've been hesitant to weigh in on this topic simply because I was a little stunned by the chutzpah of an inexperienced, textbook-knowledge-only person presuming that knowledge was all it took to be a consultant. <snip>

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT

 

[Colin]

Re: Pls advice on becoming an ISO consultant

<snip> but truly there are few good consultants - and they're quite rare. <snip>

I wonder what sample size you use to make such a statement? I don't disagree that there are some consultants who don't do a good job, but there are many that do. Just like any other profession, there are good ones and bad ones.