Placement Opportunities for Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics Professionals in Industry and Government/Military Positions

Abstract

During the period from January 2002 through December 2002, the Placement Service of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society distributed announcements describing 141 new positions available for human factors and ergonomics professionals. This paper describes placement opportunities for HF and ergonomics professionals in Industry and Government/Military (N=117). The attributes of the position descriptions examined include: employment sector, major field of study, degree requirements, required work experience, salary, geographic location, travel, and areas of expertise. The type of industry seeking most employees was Consulting at 32%. The most frequently specified major field of study was Human Factors (N=73). Forty-nine percent of positions describe the master's degree as the minimum requirement. The geographical areas with the most jobs were East Central (N=20) and the Mid Atlantic (N=17). Finally, the area of expertise most frequently requested by employers was Human Computer Interaction (N=23) and Human Factors/Ergonomics (N=32) was the most commonly specified job expertise/function.