Green Career Central Blog

Green Career Tip: Your Green Career Direction: Three Ways to Stop Wandering in the Wilderness

When it comes to finding your green career focus…
-Are you feeling lost in the wilderness?
-Are you wandering around in the forest trying to find your direction?
-Are you feeling like you can’t see the forest for the trees?

Here are a few questions to help you discover the best way to find your way out of the wilderness.

• Are you hyper focusing on one industry or profession?

This is usually a sign that you are trying to narrow your focus too early in your exploration. Perhaps you are grasping at something interesting so you can tell people you have a focus or so you can minimize the inner turmoil that comes when you don’t know where you are headed. Odds are you don’t really know much about your target field.

If this feels true for you…step back and look broader for additional clues that can help you refine your direction.

• Are you circling among several possible ideas, but never getting clear enough to commit to a particular direction?

Sometimes we get into a bit of a rut, cycling between several key ideas. Each idea has merit. Each idea looks and feels good. But you can’t decide. You don’t want to choose. You don’t want to leave any of the ideas behind. You want to keep your options open.

If this feels true for you…explore the possibility of bringing all the ideas together in some creative way.

• Do you feel you have to research all the possibilities before you decide?

If you feel like you don’t know enough about the green economy to make any decisions yet, I can understand that. AND I know from experience that it’s impossible to familiarize yourself with the entire green economy at one time. With 50 industries and counting, it’s just too big. Think of trying to find a treasure on the ocean floor. It’s impossible to make progress without having some clues to guide you in the right direction.

If this feels true for you…look within to find the areas of the environmental/sustainable puzzle that interest you most. Yes, continue reading general green business/environmental blogs to understand the basic concepts and up and coming trends, but don’t rely on research to give you focus. Look within to identify a likely green direction and THEN dive into researching that area more deeply.

Green Career Tip: 3 Tips to Move from -I Want a Green Career- to -I Have a Green Career-

This simple visual says so much about how much time we all spend worrying about and thinking about things we want to do! Watching how the figure’s pose changes as he moves up the staircase says so much about the energy at each stage.

Over the years I’ve accompanied many people through this journey from “I can’t” to “I did.” I’ve also taken this journey myself many times. In fact every major project or career change I’ve embarked on I’ve traveled this staircase.

In some cases I dawdled at the bottom of the stair case, all wrapped up in how I couldn’t do it or how I wanted to do it but couldn’t figure out how. More than one mentor has made note of my tendency to stall in “I can’t” mode. Luckily I’ve learned over the years how to propel myself forward beyond that stuck energy into focused positive action.

People wonder how I’m so prolific with the ideas, programs, and books I’ve created in my career. Much of these successes come from paying attention to what step I’m on and making a conscious effort to get out of my own way so I can get to doing and accomplishing what I set out to do.

A Few Insights from the Trenches

1) I’d make one tiny edit to the visual above. Just before the “Yes, I did it!” I’d add “I AM doing it!”

The way it is currently written suggests that as long as you “want” to do something, it “will” happen. The truth is you have to get into motion with the thing to make it happen. It’s in the doing that you get the clarity to refine and enhance your vision. 

2) Don’t get overinvested in the “how.”

It’s tempting to avoid taking action because you need to focus on the “how” to figure it all out. In the process you get all tangled up in thinking you don’t know “how” to move forward….so you don’t take any action.

In actuality, the only “how” you need to know is “how am I going to take my next step?” By getting into action with whatever you are doing, you’ll learn far more about how to do it. Start with what you know. Then what you discover from there will be in real time and in real life rather than swirling around in the world you have created in your mind.

3) To make any of this work, you must know your “IT!”

Without a focus for your attention, it’s very difficult to make any headway at all.

“I’ll try to do……..” or “I will do……” doesn’t hold the same umph as “I will do IT!” or better yet “I AM doing IT!”

Although you may need more information to define your “IT” in great detail, begin with what you know.

How to Apply This to Your Move to a Greener, More Sustainable Career

• Just because you want to transition to a green job or green career don’t mean it’s going to happen instantly or magically! Your journey will take place over a period of time.

• Although you may not know “how” to choreograph your career transition right now, there are ways you can streamline your journey.

• Making the decision you want to do what it takes to move into a greener, more sustainable career is the first step. If you stay on the fence, between “Should I?” or “Shouldn’t I?” it’s nearly impossible to make any headway at all. When you know you want to use your professional expertise to make more of a difference in your community, for your company, or for the planet at large, you begin to see things differently. Then you can figure out how to combine your expertise and passions to make your contribution.

If you’d like to get off on the right foot,
Join us for our Jump Start Your Green Career Virtual Retreat.

Green Career Tip: Sustainability Greenprint: A Indispensible Handbook for Those Interested n Sustainability

Resource: The Sustainability Greenprint: A Handbook of Principles, Policies, and Players

Why This Resource Caught My Eye

Last September I attended the International Society of Sustainability Professionals conference, an inspiring, energizing, informative event. While on an ISSP-sponsored tour of Portland, I met David Hendrickson, a professional planner with a PhD in sustainability and a 25 year background in sustainable community development.

Throughout the tour, David asked some very interesting questions of the presenters. I immediately noted his grasp of the complexities inherent in this field shaped by multiple disciplines and organizations around the world.

Several months after the conference, David contacted me to let me know he was working on the Sustainability Greenprint. When I reviewed a draft to offer feedback and suggestions I was impressed by the clear, crisp descriptions of a wide variety of sustainability topics, organized in a thoughtful, meaningful way with valuable links to follow up information for each topic.

Who Will Benefit from This Resource

Anyone who is interested in the field of sustainability will benefit from reading this handbook. Although I’ve been reading about and making sense of the green / sustainable economy for the last five years, I learned a few new concepts while reading this handbook. Please take a look at this resource if you are:

• A student learning about sustainability in a graduate program or undergraduate program.

• An employees or job seeker who is new to sustainability.

• A sustainability professional who has been working on sustainable development issues for years

• A career professional who works with students or clients interested in sustainability careers. 

If you would like to continue reading this post click here. 

Green Career Tip: Finding Your Green Career: BEFORE You Even Begin Searching for Your Green Focus

You’ve decided that you want to work in a way that has a positive impact on the planet. You want your work to have meaning. You want what you do to make a difference to the environment. You want to contribute to a sustainable future.

Where Do You Start?

• Do you begin by reworking your resume to be green? Sustainable?

• Do you invest in training or certifications to prepare yourself?

• Do you pick a green industry and search for a job listing?

The answer to all of these ideas is…No.

Although all of these strategies are important at a certain point in your journey to a green career, the order in which you take on these tasks will make a difference in how long your journey will last.

One Key to Your Success: Finding Your Green Focus

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for any length of time, you most likely know that one of your first steps is to figure out your green focus. In other words, it’s essential to figure out the green career that allows you to leverage your existing skills, talents, and expertise in a sustainable/clean/green company.

• You can’t write a resume…until you know the kind of green position you want.

• Investing in training before you have a clear career focus is a bit like shooting in the dark. You may hit something eventually, but it may not be what you want to hit. (If you are already in the training courses, look at them as great opportunities to explore the topics and skills that interest you most.)

• You can’t identify your place within a new industry…until you know what you bring to the party and invest the time in understanding how the new industry actually works.

BEFORE You Even Begin Searching for Your Green Focus…

Recently I realized that there are a several internal discussions to have before you even begin your search for your green focus. Each of these discussions will help you prepare most effectively for your transition to a new career.

1. What do you already know about yourself, your passions, and your goals?

2. Is this the right time for you to make a career transition?

3. Are you well-suited to work in the green/clean/sustainable arena right now?

4. Are you ready for this transition?

5. Do you have any sense of how a career transition of this sort is likely to unfold?

I realize these aren’t the easiest questions to answer. And yet, doing this kind of pre-assessment of who you are at the moment and where you are in your life can make a big difference in how your quest for a green career unfolds.

These are questions to sit with. Don’t jump to conclusions too fast. With answers to these questions, you’ll have a much better sense of how to proceed with the most effective plan for your personal circumstances.

Would You Like Me to Help You Answer These Questions for Yourself?

I’m getting ready to announce a complimentary retreat
for those who are ready to explore these questions more deeply--
within an environment of moral support, guidance, and inspiration.

Contact me at Green Career Central if you would like more information about this free retreat.

Green Career Tip: State of Green Business Report 2012 – 5 Reasons Reading This Report Helps Your Green Career

Resource: State of Green Business Report 2012

Why This Resource Caught My Eye

This report has caught my eye for five years running. It’s one of the most important reports I read each year to grasp what’s really happening in the green economy.  Published by GreenBiz.com based on last year’s 2000 blog posts, interviews, reports, and event, it’s a great “on the ground” perspective that’s invaluable to anyone who is interested in the green economy and sustainability efforts in the business world.

5 Ways You’ll Benefit from Reading This Report

1) Uncover Clues to Possible Careers in Current Trends – Get a sense of industries that are growing and how various roles within these industries are evolving.

  
2) Deepen Your Understanding of Key Sustainability Issues – Gain insights about how key issues are shaped by real-life business circumstances, today’s political and economy climate, and, often, conflicting factors.

3) Identify Key Players in Your Target Industry – Take what you learn in this report about success stories, investment recipients, topic matter experts, and relevant associations to jump start your research about your target industry.

4) Spot Opportunities in What’s Not Working – Refine your sense of the green/sustainable opportunities that are ripe for innovation, transformation, and breaking from status quo.  Do you have the skills, knowledge, or passion to step in to contribute?

5) Boost Your Credibility – Grasp the complexity of these sustainability issues and you’ll out shine your competition in interviews and increase your confidence that you can hold your own in discussions with your colleagues.

Strategies for Reading the State of Green Business 2012 Report

I know it can feel a bit imposing to think about sitting down to read a full report like this. So here are a few suggestions to make it a bit easier to explore this report. 

• Scan the list of top ten trends in the Table of Contents on page 2 to identify the trends that are most relevant to you.

• Tackle one trend a day—at 1-3 well-written pages a piece, you’ll find it’s easy to get a grasp of the issues quite quickly.

• Review the GreenBiz Index Summary table (pages 25-26) to uncover whether green companies are “swimming, treading water, and sinking” on the 20 measures of environmental performance.

• Read about each index that sparks your interests. Again, these descriptions tend to be 1-3 pages long.

• Thumb through the report to read the insets with special essays from topic matter experts and other GreenBiz.com reports that may be of interest to you.

Feeling Boxed In By Your Career? There's a Way Out

When I was in my 20’s I experienced two wake up calls that continue to influence the way I see careers – mine own career and the careers of those I support. I’ll share one of these wake up calls today…and will share the other in the months to come.

Scenario #1: My Father’s Career Story

While I was in college and graduate school studying the psychology of the workplace (Industrial/Organizational Psychology), I realized that my Dad was struggling with his career. He had been selected to head up an internal audit of the research organization where he’d spent his entire career, first as a scientific technical expert and later as the head of a division and a member of the Director’s Office. My father was known for his way of thinking – he could take a lot of information and synthesize it in a way that made sense in an elegant, streamlined way. This role seemed like a perfect fit for him.

When he and his team delivered their observations and conclusions about the state of the organization and its future, management didn’t like what they heard. Basically they shot the messenger and he was sidelined for the rest of his career, pushed off into a corner in a role that didn’t have much clout, required a lot of travel, and kept him out of the way.

He felt stifled. After he died I learned from my Mom that he dreamed of going back to school to get a degree in Psychology. He wanted to understand human behavior in a deeper way. Unfortunately his logical, scientific mind and his role as the family’s primary breadwinner kept him from acting on his desire.

Instead he did the job he was given to the best of his ability, as was his way. But he wasn’t challenged by what he did, which is a shame for a man who had so much to give the organization that he believed in so strongly. I think the hardest part for him was watching as the organization stepped into the landmines he had forecast years before. He felt stuck.

Click here to continue reading the rest of this post.

Green Career Tip: Where to Get a Green Job - Infographic

Resource: Where to Get a Green Job Infographic

Why This Resource Caught My Eye
When I first saw this resource I loved the visual nature of this infographic and its ability to share a great deal of information in a very concise manner.

What to Look for
• Industries with the highest green job growth
• Green industries that hire the most people
• Clean industries that have a manufacturing focus
• Metro areas with the number of green/clean jobs and the greatest growth in green/clean jobs

Caveats to Keep in Mind
• Data collection dates – not all data is from 2011. Some graphics are based on data over a ten year period ending in 2007. Others show statistics are based on number up through 2010. Annual employment statistics generally have an inherent time delay. As you scan the infographic, incorporate the dates into the conclusions you make about the data.

• Definition of green jobs/careers – Any time you evaluate green economy statistics, you must make sure you understand how the researchers defined green jobs. It’s likely you’ll need to go to the original sources to gain a full understanding of their definition.

Sustainability Careers: Five Career Tips from GreenBiz Sustainability Salary Survey

GreenBiz.com just published their second annual “GreenBiz Salary Survey 2011.” If you are interested in working in sustainability, I highly recommend you take a few minutes to read this report  and an accompanying blog post entitled 5 Myths About Sustainability Executives  Both having interesting tidbits of information for sustainability job seekers.

I thought I’d share a few of the highlights that I found for those considering (or working in) sustainability.

1) Sustainability is not a one-size-fits-all approach to business. A company’s actions and strategies will depend on its own internal culture, the realities of its industry, the competition, and how extensive the supply chain is. (See page 6 to read quotes from executives about how sustainability is evolving in their organizations.)

Career Tip: If you want to work in a particular industry or company, invest time in researching how sustainability is unfolding within that environment.
 
2) The term “Sustainability” seems to be the winner…for now! The trend over the last three years has been a shift from talking about environmental, corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental, health, and safety (EHS) to talking about sustainability. These other terms are disappearing, but they appear to be categorized under sustainability more and more. Time will tell if this trend continues.

Career Tip: As you search for or ask about sustainability positions within companies, it’s more likely than ever before that the job titles within the company will include the word “sustainability.”

3) More and more, sustainability is part of the corporate agenda—either sustainability is “already a permanent fixture and core strategic consideration” or it’s “on the agenda permanently, but not core.” This is especially true for consumer goods, automotive, and basic materials industries. (See page 15 for the specific data.)

Career Tip: When you have conversations with your contacts in companies, ask them where they see sustainability falling in the company’s agenda.” Probably not the right time to join a company if sustainability is not a top tier agenda item or only temporarily on the agenda. One way to get a sense of priority is to find out how many levels of the organization stand between the key sustainability leader and the CEO of the company.

4) The jury is still out when it comes to where sustainability positions reside within organizations. Take a look at this list (see page 10 for more details)! Sustainability function may report to:

• Public affairs

• Operations

• Sales & marketing

• Legal

• Human resources

• Environmental, Health, Safety

• Product development

• Strategy

Career Tip: When you begin networking into your target companies, do some due diligence to discover where sustainability resides. Knowing this, or asking questions to discover this information, will increase your credibility considerably.

5) Dedicated sustainability teams are growing in size, in some companies. Based on the data reported on page 14, teams of 1-5 people are decreasing, but teams of 6-10 are increasing. In addition there are a considerable number of teams with more than 20 people.

Career Tip: It’s important to realize that much of the actual work on sustainability happens in departments throughout the company. To get results, the sustainability executive heading up the team must have influence within the organization.
One final statistic to share, job satisfaction for respondents continues to be high. For those working in large companies, 85% of the respondents are satisfied or very satisfied. For those in smaller companies, the satisfaction is still quite high at 79%.
 
If you want to learn about salary trends in the world of sustainability, take a look at the second part of the report – starting on page 16 through the end of the document.

Green Career Tip: Steve Jobs: Let His Vision Be Your Inspiration

As one of my Facebook friends noted this evening, Steve Jobs “is amazingly quotable.”
I’m sure you’ve noticed it too. Social media networks are awash with quotes and clips sharing Steve Jobs’ philosophy of life and contribution.
 
These three quotes are excerpts from a powerful commencement speech Steve Jobs made at Stanford University in 2005, one year after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. These thoughts are just as powerful today as they were then. Every time I read this speech I’m inspired to continue doing the work I do.

My hope is that you’ll read these words both as a tribute to Steve Jobs for his passion, contribution, and spirit and as a catalyst for your own life’s journey.
 
“...you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life...”

“…Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle…” 

Click here to continue reading this article.

Green Career Tip: Investing in Conferences: 6 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck

Attending conferences is a powerful way to engage in your chosen industry. When professionals come together to discuss key issues, share emerging trends, and best practices, every attendee has an opportunity to stretch, grow, and deepen their own professional standing. This is true whether you are new to the industry or been engaged for years.
 
That’s the up side.

As you no doubt know, the price of admission is often the down side of using conferences to learn about your industry. With the registration fee, the travel costs, and food and lodging expenses, you’ve got to have a budget for such a strategy!

Tips for Cutting Costs
No matter where you are in your career, it always helps to keep several cost cutting strategies in mind.

• Housing options – Plan to share a hotel room with someone you know or see if the conference is arranging roommates. Look for a less expensive hotel in the area or explore options like AirBnB or online travel sites that allow you to pay less for open rooms close to the time of your conference.

• Travel scenarios – Play around with different travel options. Could you drive? Carpool? Can you reserve your flight early to capitalize on low pricing?

• Volunteer opportunities – Does the organization provide scholarships or waive fees for people who volunteer their time during the conference? It’s always worth asking this question.

• Virtual option - Review the website to determine whether the conference will stream one or more sessions online. More and more conferences are offering this option or they are moving to a virtual conference format for everyone.

Click here to continue reading the rest of this article