Great news – eco-minded jobseekers who are actively educating themselves in the green arena may find that they have an advantage during the selection process.  “Three in four companies say environmental knowledge and training will become an increasingly important factor in their hiring decisions, according to a new survey.  The survey, conducted by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), finds that most companies (65%) already consider environmental knowledge and training a plus in job applicants. The reason? Green-minded employees are more likely to come up with the resource-saving solutions that can also help cut costs.”   Read more:  http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/content/story/strategy/green_know_how_gives_job_seekers_a_leg_up

It may not be just those who have an advanced degree in a specific environmental field who are seen as valuable.  Self-education through books, seminars, trade shows, certification programs, continuing education, and hands-on field experience may be weighted heavily by future employers if you can demonstrate the knowledge you’ve acquired.

Degrees are great but that may not be the only way to capitalize on the environmental challenges and staffing demands that employers will face as the economy emerges from the current setbacks.  Jump in and learn so you can be one of the problem-solvers of tomorrow.

A weblog (blog) is an online journal you can use to share professional ambitions, job hunting ideas, job leads, or anything else you think may add value to the lives of other eco-professionals. Blogs allow you to be a contributor rather than just a sideliner.

You can view a post by clicking on the title from the home page where all users’ posts are collectively shown. Once viewing a blog you can read other posts by that person or provide comments on postings.  Speak up by posting comments about these blogs –communities are about communication, learning, and sharing.

Creating new posts is quick and easy. If you have the ability to post you should see a link (usually on the left) on your weblog’s home page: new post. Clicking on this link takes you into your blogs administration pages for creating new posts.

If you don’t have the ability to post, contact the site administrator and ask for your own blog.   To request a personal blog, send an email to members@careereco.com and let us know what eco-topics you would like to blog about.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights with other CareerEco members.

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) http://www.aashe.org/ is a very forward-thinking non-profit which is melding sustainability ideas into the college and university systems

AASHE is an association of colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada working to create a sustainable future. It was founded in 2006 with a mission to promote sustainability in all sectors of higher education – from governance and operations to curriculum and outreach – through education, communication, research and professional development. Businesses, NGO’s, and government agencies can participate as AASHE partner members.

AASHE aims to advance the efforts of the entire campus sustainability community by uniting diverse initiatives and connecting practitioners to resources and professional development opportunities. The association also provides a professional home for campus sustainability coordinators and directors.

AASHE defines sustainability in an inclusive way, encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations.  I really like this definition and look forward to seeing how they bring the many constituencies together to mastermind solutions that will change the future.

If you are smart and great in science and math, please read the attachment.  It gives great insight into the ways you can leverage your natural gifts toward every scientific based discipline you can imagine.  You too can find a way to make money doing the right things related to the environment.  Whether you are a Geologist or an Ecologist, an Engineer or a Chemist, or even a Sociologist, you can use your intellect to create sustainable solutions, improve society, and convert your career into the emerging Green economy.  Make sure you read the attachment from the American Association for the Advancement of Science http://www.aaas.org/programs/centers/sd/careers.pdf which offers a variety of green job ideas for those who feel compelled to contribute their scientific training toward up and coming opportunities in the sustaininability-focused employment market.  Consider making a difference by using your expertise to solve the globe’s challenges.  Who knows you might change the world for the better.

As I am sure you know all too well, traditional Blue Collar and White Collar jobs have been on the decline given our current financial crisis in the U.S.  However, keep your eyes open to change the color of your collar to Green, if you have a passion for transferring your skills into the budding green industry.  According to data from the American Solar Energy Society, renewable energy and energy-efficient industries created close to 8.5 million jobs in 2006 and are projecting that number to rise to as high as 40 million jobs by year 2030.

Imagine you like the outdoors and you are tired of the suffocating confines of the 8-6 office routine.  Maybe it is time be adventuresome and look for companies hiring solar panel installers.  Consider researching what it would require for you to become a building efficiency expert, so you can become part of companies’ green growth, such as Johnson Controls with plans to hire approximately 60,000 workers worldwide in the next decade, according to Joy Clark-Holmes, director of public sector markets.  Or maybe you should research the technical expertise that will be in demand within the wind turbine industry, which will include all aspects of manufacturing, assembly, and installation.  Keep in mind also that there may be more job security by going green since many of the green industry sector jobs are expected to be more difficult to outsource.

As alternative energy companies begin to boom, so will the need to find talent who can manufacture, sell, install, and technically support the entire industry, from infrastructure and production to back office operations.  Here on the east coast, there is likely to be a big staff shortage as the solar companies begin to leverage the sunny states down south and begin looking for people with solar expertise. Although the west coast has already seen growth from the solar business, companies in the eastern region will probably have to train new employees on all facets of these emerging green collar jobs.

Although there is debate about what constitutes a green collar job, there is one thing that I believe we can all agree on.  If you get a new job in green that is is generating green for you and your employer, then no matter what collar you wear inside the company, the outcome is environmentally and economically favorable for all.

If you are trying to figure out how you can remain on the East coast and still get in on the economic action around Green and Clean Technology, you may want to point your divining rod toward Florida.  Look at the activity that Florida has attracted in the state (Be sure to view the Clean Energy Cluster Snapshot). http://www.eflorida.com/ContentSubpage.aspx?id=6916 Solar, biomass, ocean energy, fuel cells, and hydrogen technologies are just a few of the technologies being brought to life in Florida.

The economic developers of the state must be both forward-thinking and hungry to win the next technology war. It seems like a confluence of perfect conditions are making Florida a burgeoning new Clean-Green hub.  Multiple universities in the state are focused on R&D.  Environmentally-conducive conditions are great for alternative energy cost-efficient capture, generation, and distribution.  Government incentives are being offered to forge early adoptions of solar that will help establish earlier parity pricing.  Smart entrepreneurs have decided to put stakes in the ground to leverage all of the above.  In my mind, Florida is investing in their future and a lucrative return for all is predicted.

If you think Green is about Granola any longer, you are mistaken. Since the 1970’s, the word “environmental” seemed to have a stigma that meant you undoubtedly had a pony-tail and less ambition that rest of the Baby Boomers.  If you still believe this, you are about to miss the next decade or two of economic growth in America.

Smart CEOs have begun to make the leap and are going to ‘Clean-up’ economically while doing good for the environment.  How, you ask?  By joining into Wall Street’s favorite word for Green…Clean.  Clean Technology (aka Cleantech) and Green Technology (aka Greentech) are both new capitalistic ways to go green.  If you don’t believe me, then read what is happening in Silicon Valley with some of the country’s most impressive executive talent: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/10/06/focus6.html?b=1223265600%5e1711395 .

With the Bailout legislation incorporating over a hundred pages of content related to alternative energy and other incentives to boost investment in ‘clean-up’ technologies, you can count on job opportunities in the cleantech sector that are expected to help reduce our national dependence on oil.  The good news is that you don’t have to have an environmental degree or be a Ph.D. to get in the clean-green job hunt.  Many of the companies that are going to be ramping up or commercializing these new technologies will need executive expertise from formerly competing industries.  Don’t be shocked if you find Oil Execs jumping off the their slippery slope of ‘dirty’ fuel to clean their conscience with start-up Solar, Biomass, and Wind Energy firms.  Not only will they secure lucrative equity packages that will incentivize them to use their expertise to compete with their former employers, but–who knows?– they may be hoping for better karma as well.  Either way, many sharp leaders have already caught the green bug and will be looking into new wells of prosperity to fuel their careers.

The hospitality industry has become truly hospitable to the green movement. Sure it may have taken the near clairvoyance of entrepreneurial legends like Ted Turner in launching brands such as Ted Montana’s Grill http://www.tedsmontanagrill.com/ and half a decade for others to follow, but now many are catching the green-fever.  With authentic leaders like Ted and Laura Turner laying the green groundwork by forming their company on an eco-friendly charter, the restaurant has exploded into a national chain for all to follow.  Certainly their socially-conscious success has given naysayers lots of reasons to reassess their sustainability approach.  With as many as one million restaurants in America, the hospitality industry has the ability to make a monumentally positive environmental impact.

Not only are restaurants being guided into green, so are hotels.  Imagine that just one high-traffic hotel converting to low-flow water systems can save 1.5 million gallons of water a year while pumping up the bottom line on profits.  With water management, energy efficiency, organic food purchasing, and recycling programs becoming more cost-effective, companies able to achieve a greener ROI are sure to serve as the Pied Pipers of change.

As end-user facilities begin to demand green solutions, all types of vendors, such as distributors and manufacturers, will quickly offer green products and services in their bag of tricks.  That is good news because tricky problems around energy and water are certain to continue to require a collective mindset to create pricing parity that will motivate all to join what is referred to by some as the Green Revolution.  Thanks to a team of Atlanta visionaries, innovative thinkers are pooling their brainpower around these new issues and have formed the Green Foodservice Alliance www.greenfoodservicealliance.org to provide collaboration and best practice solutions to a major U.S. industry.

The upside for jobseekers is that the hospitality industry is one of the nation’s largest employers, so if you are eco-minded and want to make your mark, it may be time to put your talents to work somewhere in this ‘going green’ industry.  The associated hospitality supply chain has significant opportunity.  All kinds of new products and services will be created, marketed, sold, and implemented to help restaurants, hotels, and convention centers come into their own green space in the market.

So whether you are good in sales and marketing looking for an eco-equipment company, or a talented General Manager ready to find a green-minded hotelier, eco-minded jobseekers have lots of possible ways to leverage their green ideas in an industry ripe for the picking.

Retirement is highly overrated. Most often when people imagine that they want to retire it is based on the idea that they no longer want to work–until they do retire. It turns out that what people really want is freedom… freedom from expectations, demands, and pressure. People want freedom from all the “have-to” activities. The reason that the concept of retirement is so alluring is our definition of working. The problem is that if the work we do isn’t fulfilling it drives the idea of retirement as the ultimate destination, despite the fact that often retired people end up bored and lonely. Look at someone who loves their work and ask them when they want to retire. The key to life is loving what you do, not squandering life looking forward to the day you don’t have to work any longer.

CareerEco was founded on the principle that successful, happy people love what they do. It was also founded on the concept that every career should have its own unique eco-cycle that integrates Learning, Growing, and Giving Back at all times. Professionals with a sustainable CareerEco strategy are constant learners; pursue opportunities that stretch their skills; find ways to help others achieve their goals; and love what they do so they bloom where they are planted.

According to Parker Palmer, author of A Hidden Wholeness, one of life’s most profound questions in helping to evaluate whether you are doing the work that aligns with your natural gifts and deeper life purpose is to ask yourself what type of seed was planted when you were born. When I personally asked myself this question, I arrived at an answer that felt right immediately. Out of curiosity, I decided to ask my husband his opinion about what seed had been planted when I was born. Without any hints or prompting from me he said, “That’s easy – you are the Sunflower.” I was astounded that he said the exact answer that my heart had told me was the seed that represents the person I was meant to be. When I asked the CareerEco launch team what seed was planted when they were born, one member shared that he was an Oak. He is an intellectually strong, loyal, consistent, and supportive individual. He is someone you know you can count on in rain and shine to shelter you from life’s storms. The moment he said this, it resonated so clearly. It further enhanced my understanding of his professional value and the value of his friendship as well.

Without going into the details of what I individually ascribe to the Sunflower, it’s more important to know that this metaphor has become a powerful guiding principle for me professionally. It reminds me that when I am finding myself doing job-related functions that are not aligned with my natural self, I become disgruntled or dissatisfied. I also find that I am less effective, and therefore my self-worth is negatively impacted. If you take the time to ask yourself this question, and listen closely to that inner voice, you may find some wisdom that will help you move toward career opportunities that will allow for your most authentic expression of your self and your talents. Once you arrive in the kind of job where your gifts and your career are in a well-balanced eco-cycle, I believe you will reap the harvest of the seed you were planted to be and love your life in every season.

Remember Be who you were intended to Be.

The rumor kitchen was cooking in the forest. Unfortunately, the Bear had written a death list, and all the animals in the forest were nervous. Who had the Bear put on his dreaded list? The Deer was feeling particularly brave, so he walked up to the Bear and politely asked, “Bear, am I on your death list?” “Yes, you are Deer,” replied the Bear. Within two days, the Deer was found lifeless in the woods. A wave of intense fear penetrated the forest now. Who else among the animals might suffer such a terrible fate? The Boar couldn’t stand worrying any longer about his future, so he too found the courage to go to the Bear and ask the same question. “Bear, am I on your death list?” asked the Boar. “Boar, you are on my list,” said the Bear. A day later, the Boar too was found dead. Sheer panic was felt among all the living creatures in the forest. Now all the animals knew the Bear’s death list wasn’t a rumor but a reality. “Who among the animals was next on the list wondered both the brave and the meek?” wondered both the brave and the meek. Much to the animals’ surprise, the Rabbit tracked down the Bear to ask the question that burned in each of their minds. “Bear, am I on your death list?” inquired the Rabbit. “Yes, Rabbit, you are on my list,” answered the Bear. “That’s too bad,” said the Rabbit. Then before he hopped away the Rabbit asked, “Bear, can you take me off your list?” “Sure, no problem!” replied the Bear.

The moral of the story is this: Life experience is directly tied to the quality of the questions you ask. For instance, instead of asking the question, what is wrong with me that I was laid off? Ask a different set of questions. For instance, is there anything I could have done differently to avoid being laid off? Did I give that job my very best? Is there a blessing in disguise as a result of this opportunity for change? Am I in the right job today? What is my ideal job? How can I find a job that is best suited for my skills? Who can help me find the job of my dreams? Do I need a career coach? Should I go back to school? What do I enjoy doing most? What am I truly passionate about? All these are questions focused on looking for a solution and seeking the life lesson in every situation. Questions like these can help you find important answers, expand yourself, and enjoy life more in the process.