Looking for a job in the food safety and quality field
Hello all,
I would like to thank you all very much for helping me in my previous job implementing the Quality and Food Safety standards. I have deleted my last email used to login here and therefore I had to create a profile newly again. I was in UK before and now in USA and I am actively looking for jobs in the Food Industry with in the food safety and quality field. I would be ever so grateful if you could provide me with any information that will help me get back into the industry. Having a SQF / GFSI Certifications do they help in getting a job offer?
Thanks again and look forward to your information / advice and more help.
Hello all,
I would like to thank you all very much for helping me in my previous job implementing the Quality and Food Safety standards. I have deleted my last email used to login here and therefore I had to create a profile newly again. I was in UK before and now in USA and I am actively looking for jobs in the Food Industry with in the food safety and quality field. I would be ever so grateful if you could provide me with any information that will help me get back into the industry. Having a SQF / GFSI Certifications do they help in getting a job offer?
Thanks again and look forward to your information / advice and more help.
Hi RTP, and welcome back. What kind of work specifically are you looking for? And what standards have you already got experience with? If you can be a little clearer about your existing experience and qualifications and the role you are seeking I'm sure members will happily share their advice with you.
P.S. If you remember your old account details I can merge them with this one and delete the old one.
Regards,
Simon
Hello Simon,
Thank you for your reply. I am looking for work particularly in the food safety and or Quality Assurance. I would love to get into Auditing conducting 3rd party audits and work for auditing companies that way. I have over 2 1/2 years experience working for the food industry int he Food Safety and Quality Assurance area. I have a certification from LRQA conducting internal audits using ISO 9001 standard. I am also familiar with the SQF standard, FSSC 22000, ISO 22000 and the MARS standards. I am thinking of taking a HACCP Certification. I do have Bachelors in Microbiology, Genetics and Chemistry and Masters in Food Production and Management.
Also, could you please tell me as how I can send a personal message to a member in this forum?
If I remember correctly I think the old username was LILLYJULIE and if you can merge them together it will be nice.
Thank you again for your help. I really appreciate it.
I cannot locate a username Lillyjulie. As mentioned on your other thread you can access the PM system when your account is automatically upgraded at 25 posts, the only way to fast track that is to purchase a membership upgrade from the store.
Regards,
Simon
Hello Simon,
Thank you for your reply. I am looking for work particularly in the food safety and or Quality Assurance. I would love to get into Auditing conducting 3rd party audits and work for auditing companies that way. I have over 2 1/2 years experience working for the food industry int he Food Safety and Quality Assurance area. I have a certification from LRQA conducting internal audits using ISO 9001 standard. I am also familiar with the SQF standard, FSSC 22000, ISO 22000 and the MARS standards. I am thinking of taking a HACCP Certification. I do have Bachelors in Microbiology, Genetics and Chemistry and Masters in Food Production and Management.
Also, could you please tell me as how I can send a personal message to a member in this forum?
If I remember correctly I think the old username was LILLYJULIE and if you can merge them together it will be nice.
Thank you again for your help. I really appreciate it.
Hi RTP,
I've seen auditor jobs posted on online job boards (like Monster, Indeed, and Career Builder), but usually they require a specific length of experience (typically more than a couple of years, unfortunately). I don't know if this happens with SQF or FSSC, but in BRC I believe to be an auditor in a specific category of food, one has to work for 5 years within that category.
You really should get HACCP certified, because that will be very important in the auditing/consulting field. Some certification types may have less strict requirements, so you may be able to start out in training and then consulting and work your way into 3rd party auditing.
QAGB
Hello Simon,
Thank you for your reply. I am looking for work particularly in the food safety and or Quality Assurance. I would love to get into Auditing conducting 3rd party audits and work for auditing companies that way. I have over 2 1/2 years experience working for the food industry int he Food Safety and Quality Assurance area. I have a certification from LRQA conducting internal audits using ISO 9001 standard. I am also familiar with the SQF standard, FSSC 22000, ISO 22000 and the MARS standards. I am thinking of taking a HACCP Certification. I do have Bachelors in Microbiology, Genetics and Chemistry and Masters in Food Production and Management.
I do know for SQF auditors have to have a minimum of 5 years experience in the food sector categories that they want to audit, in addition to having a certain number of external audit hours and auditor training through SQFI. Here's a link to the criteria specifics for that: [link]
As for HACCP training, I really recommend that you do that, particularly because the SQF scheme incorporates HACCP. I recently took AIB Interantional's online HACCP course, and while some parts are incredibly tedious, I was able to go at my own pace and cruise through it quickly (link).
And job-wise, I follow several food and packaging companies on LinkedIn, and I do remember seeing a few QA-related job postings on their pages. My advice would be to follow the large companies (Kraft, General Mills, Nestle, Pepsi, Mondelez, ConAgra, etc.) and check their LinkedIn pages or company websites. Also, try looking for recruiters that work in the food industry.
Good luck in your search!