This blog post was adapted from a version originally published on the Product Stewardship Society's Full Circle blog on April 12, 2023.

Are you an occupational and environmental health and safety professional who wants to improve your product stewardship skills, hire a product steward, or enter product stewardship yourself? The Product Stewardship Society's online Career Center can help you navigate these processes.

Product Stewardship Society Director Adam Seery, CAE, explained that the Career Center's primary aim is to "provide resources to product stewards to help them navigate their career paths or their career advancement within product stewardship." However, Seery also made clear that people from similar technical backgrounds, including toxicologists, industrial hygienists, and regulatory affairs professionals, will also find the Career Center's resources useful. Some of these individuals may be contemplating a career change, but others may only want to build up their skill sets. Regardless, the Product Stewardship Career Center can help them develop as professionals.

"Our career center is focused on the practice of product stewardship," Seery said. "And it's really the only professional resource out there for individuals looking to grow within product stewardship."

For a brief introduction to the Product Stewardship Career Center, read the FAQ below.

Q. I'm not a product steward, but I'm interested in building up my product stewardship skills. How can the Career Center help me?

A. You might be interested in building up your product stewardship skills by obtaining the Certified Professional Product Steward (CPPS) or Safety Data Sheet and Label Authoring Registry (SDSRP) credentials. In addition to providing information on these programs, the Center connects you to Stewardship OnDemand, a library of over 270 educational sessions covering a range of product stewardship topics, as well as to services such as career coaching and LinkedIn profile development.

Compared to similar services, the Product Stewardship Career Center benefits users by collecting product stewardship resources relevant to the whole of the profession on one website. Other organizations provide resources relevant to product stewardship within specific industries, but according to Seery, this content tends to be light on the topic of product stewardship as a concept. However, the Career Center's information is applicable to users across the product stewardship profession. "Whether they're in automotive or aerospace or consumer products or cosmetics, concepts of product stewardship can be applied," Seery said. "And this is where they're going to get the content for that."

Q. I'm looking for a product steward to add to my team. How can the Career Center connect me with job seekers?

A. Although the Career Center isn't only a job board, one of its most significant services is connecting job seekers with employers. Employers looking for product stewardship talent can post opportunities to the Center's platform, and likewise, product stewards can upload their resumés and apply for jobs directly. "If you're looking for somebody with a product stewardship background, we have the audience of the talent that you're looking for," Seery said.

The Career Center also provides talent management resources that can help employers support the professional development of their product stewardship team members.

Q. If I'm looking for a new job in product stewardship, how can the Product Stewardship Career Center help me?

A. The Center can help you get an edge on the job-seeking process before you apply: everyone who creates a Product Stewardship Career Center account and uploads their resumé receives one free resumé critique. Reference checking and resumé writing services are also available through the Center's platform.

As mentioned above, the Center can also connect you with potential job opportunities. If you wish, you can set your profile preferences to allow employers to contact you if your resumé matches their desired skill set. Alternatively, you can set the Center's job alert function to notify you by email when a job is posted that matches your criteria in terms of location, skill level, salary range, and other variables.

The Product Stewardship Career Center was created exclusively to help individuals at all stages of their careers build networks and grow within the field. In fact, the Center is still growing itself and intends to add multiple new features within the coming months.

For more information, please visit the Product Stewardship Career Center webpage or contact Adam Seery.