Who else freaks out when they walk past their scales in the bathroom? Who else tries to ignore them? After all, if we don’t know how much we weigh, then we don’t need to do anything about it right? What we don’t know doesn’t hurt us!

I worked with a Tier 2 construction company for over 10 years as their certification auditor. The Directors (the leaders) of the company were physically at the opening and closing meetings, however I always felt they weren’t fully present. They were simply paying ‘lip-service’ and their Integrated Management System (IMS) showed this. It was all talk and no action or commitment.

The most recent questions I have been asked are about moving into the role of an auditor, specifically moving up to the ranks of a certification auditor. These questions range from:

I am an internal Auditor and I’m trying to be an external Auditor. Every application I send I get rejected because I don’t have external Auditor experience. How can I get experience if I don’t get a chance?

I was working with a client earlier this year who was feeling uncertain about her potential to move into ISO consulting. She told me, “I don’t have enough experience to step into consulting,” with a tone that suggested she had already accepted this as a fact. Interested, I asked her to send me her resume so I could see for myself.

I received a question recently from a student who had just completed their Lead Auditor Integrated Management Systems qualification asking:

“Do you have any tips on how to start out consulting in the ISO field? I’m self-employed running my own construction business but looking to transition out of my 36 years of building over the next 12-18 months. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.”

Several years ago, I worked as a contract trainer for one of the Big 4. During my years of contracting and offering classroom training in Lead Auditor and IMS, I met hundreds of students. After one training week, I spoke with one of the students, Julie, and we later met for coffee. When we sat down, Julie gave me a notebook.