I am a recent Business Studies Graduate whereby I studied a variety of modules but one area that really gripped me and I studied quite extensively was in related subject fields to the Environment.

I have been working for a year and am now looking to pursue a career in something like Environmental Management, Consulting, Auditing etc.

I believe the best way to do this would be to obtain more qualifications in a related subject.

My biggest concerns are : -

What course to study?
Where I should Study?
How I could fund this?

If there is anyone who could provide me with information, advice or guidance relating to this I would be most grateful.

Yes, the Careers Service of your previous or local University.

The environmental field is very broad. For consulting, they often require 2 years experience (I tried for ages in this field before my PhD), and their are specific masters e.g. soil remediation and pollution masters at Sheffield I think, or Environmental Impact Assessment. For consulting and environmental management you do need a lot of practical experience and knowledge of environmental issues, normally from a 1st degree like Environmental Sciences. So Environmental Consultancy isn't really consulting in the traditional business sense.

Perhaps you'd be interested in carbon credits, 'green auditing', that sort of thing? Thats a bit out of my field, but try www.findamasters.com

Remember that you'll be up against people with a related first degree, probably loads of conservation experience etc, so I wonder if you could get some work experience with a company you'd be interested in? In this sort of field you have to show that you're proactive.

Hope that helps, and Happy New Year.

I would suggest you check out IEMA's website- anyone that is anybody in the environmental field will be a member of IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management) and they have alot of resources for graduates starting out in the environmental field.

You should ask yourself if you want to work in a specific field- contaminated land, waste & recycling, water, soil etc.

For some courses funding and studentships are available. NERC (National Environment Research Council) should be advertising theirs soon so thats a good place to start.

I am in the process of becoming a member of the IEMA, I want to do their open book assessment to but with the training rather than attempting it straight away.

I'm currently emailing who i can at different universities to get their thoughts as well.

Environmental Auditing does interest me quite a bit, that was my original thought after finding the IEMA, my next step is to start contacting employers to see what they might be able to offer me.

Experience always seems to be my problem, I couldn't get a job anywhere because i didn't have any experience, eventually managed to get a job in Marketing/Sales and turned out to be really good at it, but don't like the sales mentality and its not something that interests me in the slightest. But the positive is it helped me realise what i actually want to do with my life.

Cheers for everyone's help though, nice to know there are places to get advice out there not just on your own. hope you all have a good 2009.