Green Career Central Blog

Green Career Tip: Are You Holding Back on Your Green Career?

Are you holding back on your green career because you don’t think you are ready to act?

• You don’t have enough clarity?

• You don’t know what steps to take?

• You don’t think it’s the right time?

• You don’t have all the pieces in place?

You and Me Both!

It’s a common strategy to think you need to hold yourself back until you have a clear picture of where you are going.

I’ve been sitting with an idea for an entire year now. My idea has certainly developed in that time. I have a better understanding of what it is, how it relates to my current business, and where I want the idea to go. I’ve used my new work with a few clients with good results. On top of that, I love this work. Everything I’ve done in my career comes together in this new level of my work.

And yet, I still find myself holding back. I’ve jotted down some of the thoughts that have been circling in my head as I’ve thought about launching this new element of my business.

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Follow the Clean Tech Money: SynapSense Raises $16 Million, Aquion Energy Secures $20 Million, Tesla Motors to Build Electric Toyota RAV-4 for $100 Million

Using wireless environmental monitoring to give data centers information about energy efficiency, SynapSense has raised $16 million from venture capitalists.  Among the many companies investing in the Folsom, CA based company is GE.  There are some career openings for engineers and project mangers.

Developing a battery for grid storage, Aquion Energy has raised $20 million of a planned $30 million.  Aquion is working on a low cost battery that would store the energy of renewables such as wind and solar.  Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Aquion has a limited number of career openings.

Palo Alto, CA based Tesla Motors has an agreement with Toyota to produce the electric powertrain, including batteries and motors, for the RAV-4 that would earn Tesla $100 million.  Tesla will be discontinuing the production of the Roadster soon and is now ramping up production of the Model S, an all electric sedan.

Green Career Tip: Are You a Green Career Pioneer or Trailblazer?

When I started working with people who wanted to transition to a green career, I made the assumption that they'd all follow a similar path and think of their green career in the same way.

Now after coaching green career clients for the last year, I've come to the realization that there are several groups of green career seekers.
 
Which of these scenarios resonates with you?  Keep in mind that you may move from one group to another as your employment situation changes and as you gain more understanding of your chosen green career.

Having a sense of which group you are part of will help you gain insights into the path you will take to reach your green career goal.

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Green Jobs Growing: Study Says There Are 2.7 Million Green Jobs in U.S.

According to a study done by the Brookings Institute and Battele, there are about 2.7 million green jobs is the U.S.  The study was conducted between 2003 and 2010. Using this 2.7 million figure translates into more employment in green sectors than in fossil fuel.

Using the bureau of Labor statistics, a graph was created that compared Total Jobs with Clean Economy jobs.  The study also researched and created a list of cities that have the highest percentage of green jobs.

Any time you review green jobs number, pay close attention to how the organizations are defining "green jobs." In this case they are including a wide range of industries including waste management and treatment, conservation, energy saving materials, public transit, organic food, smart grid and renewable energy. If you compare their list with our Green Economy Map, you'll see they've covered a lot of the green sectors we track. 

To download the entire report from the Brookings Institute go here.

Follow the Clean Tech Money: DOE Makes Conditional Loan Guarantee of $105 Million to POET, OPX Biotech Raising $45 Million, Aptera Raises $2.5 Million

The Department of Energy has made a conditional loan guarantee for $105 million to Project Liberty, sponsored by POET, LLC, for the development of a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant to be built in Iowa.  When completed the facility will produce up to 25 million gallons of ethanol per year that will be made from corn cobs, leaves and husks, rather than feed grains.  The cellulose will be supplied by local formers.

 OPX Biotechnologies is raising $45 million in equity to further develop biofuel and bio-acrylic production. OPX is working on creating bio-diesel from hydrogen and carbon dioxide using and engineered microorganism.  OPX is based in Boulder, CO.

Three wheel electric car maker Aptera has raised $2.5 million of a planned $3 million.  Aptera has been on shaky financial ground, even considered, at one time, moving the manufacturing function out of California to save costs. It also faces competition from the electric vehicles already released from Nissan and GM that are similar in price.  Investors in Aptera include Google.org and NRG Energy.

How Your Green Career Transition is Like Running A Race

Each and every career transition has several distinct phases. These phases unfold reliably whether you are looking for a new job or making a dramatic shift in your career. Their length and depth of these stages may vary, but you still have to move through each phase to make a successful transition.
 
Unfortunately most people don’t know this. They try to shorten their transition by jumping into the middle of the process all the time.
 
Your Career Transition is Like Running a Race

The typical career changer often approaches their job search as if it’s a casual race.
Imagine this…

You’ve arrived at the track to run a race. You gather with others to start the race. Your goal is to run as fast as you can until your reach the finish line.
If you are searching for a new job, this scenario is like finding a job opening online, applying, and hoping you win the job.

There’s just a few problems with this. When you run your race like this it’s likely:

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