We surveyed over 40 graduating ergonomists to find out what they’re looking for in a job. Here is what we learned.
Where do they want to work?
Geographically, plenty of grads are located near the jobs we plan to offer in London, Cambridge, and Mississauga. Most hope to keep their commute to under a half hour.
Students’ interests are varied. When asked about their ideal work environment, health care attracted 2/3 of the respondents, followed by office and manufacturing. Almost 1/3 identified an interest in cognitive ergo or user experience.
We wondered about expectations for variety in a first job. Do they want to go to the same place every day, and become experts in that environment, or are they looking for variety? Almost everyone is hoping for some variety, with 22% saying “definitely”! Outside of the consulting world, exposure to a variety of workplaces is tough to find.
How do they want to work?
When asked about their preferred working style, not even one said “independent.” We thought this was brilliant, since ergonomics is, by nature, multidisciplinary. We need to work with others to implement workplace changes.
More than 90% are interested in facilitating ergo training.
How do they want to learn and grow?
We also wanted to know more about their ideals for mentorship. We were surprised to learn that “group” mentoring was most-sought. That was followed closely by one-on-one mentoring. In the academic environment, group mentorship may be the only option, so perhaps life experiences contributed to this preference.
At Taylor’d Ergo, the majority of mentorship is one-on-one, with senior ergonomists going on-site with new ergonomists, and reviewing all report drafts. Our new ergonomists also gain experience in a group setting during our team meetings.
We were thrilled to see that most novice ergonomists aspire to mentor others in the future. Our development plan builds on the assumption that most ergonomists find fulfillment in supporting the growth of new ergonomists.
I had no idea what a training matrix was, or why it was valuable, when I started my career 3 decades ago. Today, most new ergonomists appreciate the structure of this system.
We’re very proud of how well we build skills at Taylor’d Ergo . It isn’t easy, in consulting, to provide opportunities in all skill areas. We keep track of what each ergonomist has done, and we look for ways to expose our new ergonomists to a variety of projects. We invest a considerable amount of time and resources into training our new ergonomists.
The survey suggests that almost all grads value the opportunity to attend conferences, webinars, and workshops. Not all companies support professional development the way Taylor’d Ergo does – colleagues at our annual conference are often surprised that we send the entire team to the conference. We see the conference as more than a learning opporutnity – it’s also a great team-building time. We encourage our ergonomists to present papers at the conference. 
Why did we do this survey?
If you’ve been following our blog and social media posts, you know that we’ve been working on a plan that involves new grads, mentors, and new clients. This survey helped us to understand what the new grads want. Combined with the client survey and interviews that we’ve been conducting, the results support our business plan.
We intend to hire three new ergonomics graduates in July, and partner them with 6 clients – each new ergonomist will spend 2 days per week at 2 different clients, for 6 months, tapering back to 1 day per week after 6 months. Mentorship will be provided 1 day per week at each client at the beginning, tapering back to 1 day per month.
We believe that this package will result in ideal jobs for a starting ergonomist, with potential for long-term growth and development over the years. It offers Taylor’d Ergo and our senior ergonomists opportunity to grow. And certainly, it offers our clients:
- A huge boost to their program, with intensive support over the first 6 months, and ongoing, regular support to continue to build and develop the program
- The energy and enthusiasm of a new ergonomist, with the mentorship of a seasoned ergonomist
- The structure of our training matrix and reporting templates
- Bonus services from our office at no extra charge:
- bulletins with monthly and weekly updates
- access to hazard-specific employee ergo training
- twice yearly ergo contests
- discounts on all of our training.
- The best priced package we’ve ever offered before.
Want to learn more about this package? Watch our narrated presentation here, and share it with your stakeholder group.
If you’re interested in the details of this package, please contact carrie@taylordergo.com. We’ll be booking these projects on a first-confirmed basis.