It's a whole new year! A fresh canvas to paint on. The first page of the brilliant adventure story that will be your green career in 2008. An endless progression of dreary days with that pathetic guy in the next cubicle who spends half his time complaining and the other half in loud personal conversations for which the phrase "too much information" was invented. And that boss of yours? One shudders.
But fear not. You need a plan for the new year, and your Grist green career guide is here to help with eight career planning basics for '08. I tried for 2,008 tips, but ran out of steam around #875. Maybe next year.
01: Got goals?
One-year periods are just about perfect for career planning. Annual plans are just long enough to accommodate multiple projects that require lots of individual action steps, but not so long that you're required to make random guesses about the unpredictable future. It helps that the entire work-world runs on annual plans and budgets.
It's been said that goals are "dreams with deadlines," and that feels right to me. Knowing that you want to reach a particular goal someday is helpful. Deciding that you want to make it happen before Memorial Day, 2008, really brings things into sharp relief.
So, what are your green career goals for 2008? Where do you want to be in January of 2009? It's a banal cliché to say that you can't plan your journey if you don't know where you're going. It's also true.
02: The vision thing
When you sit down tonight and set annual goals for 2008 (or perhaps you thought I was just kidding around?), the chances are good that you'll quickly run into a bigger question: What is my eco-career all about? What am I really trying to accomplish for myself, for people, and for the planet through my paid work?
It's been my experience that the happiest Earth Workers have found a way to align their annual work goals with a broader vision that keeps them inspired even on days of mind-numbing tedium or difficult setbacks.
Homework assignment: A career vision is a picture of "mission accomplished." It's a snapshot of an ideal future state. Take a few minutes in January to think about yours.
03: What's my line?
What profession are you in? It used to be so easy. You could say: I'm a journalist. I'm a marine biologist. I'm a progressive, good-looking alternative-energy hedge-fund manager pulling down $20 million a year seeking a partner for a casual affair on Maui. (Editor's note: Send phone number.)
Careers and career paths were once clear and you could follow in the footsteps of those who walked the trail ahead of you. Things aren't quite so clear today, especially in sustainability work. Fewer people are defining themselves by their disciplinary specialty and more are using the language of results. So yesterday's mechanical engineer is today's wind energy specialist is tomorrow's climate-change solutions professional.
This is not just playing with semantics. How you define your profession will affect most of the career decisions you make this year.
04: What's going on?
No matter how you define your goals, vision, and profession, you need to stay up-to-date on leading-edge developments in your area of work. At the very least, you should know who the leading employers are, how the primary issues and opportunities are defined, and which technological, economic, regulatory, and social factors are currently creating (or destroying) employment opportunities for people like you.
Fortunately, you are blessed by the fact that you are living in 2008, where high quality information on even the most arcane career areas is available online. If your favorite search engine doesn't deliver, don't despair. Simply find one or two people who are achieving success in "your field" and ask them what newsletters, journals, websites, blogs, meetings, and conferences they depend upon to get the information they need.
05: The skilled set
Here's a secret that's not so secret. No matter how skilled and knowledgeable you think you are, you've already fallen behind and you're going to keep falling behind. That's how quickly things are changing. There is already a fifth grader out there who is way better at "Guitar Hero" than you can ever hope to be.
Setting aside time and money for additional training and education is no longer optional. It's essential. Technical and computer skills are obvious examples, but not the only ones. There are also new and important advances in "soft" skills like leadership, supervision, teamwork, negotiation, and stakeholder involvement.
January homework: What's on your training and education agenda for 2008?
06: NetWork
Other than the quality of your skills, the quality of your network (or "practitioner community," if you prefer) is your most important green-career asset.
You can measure the quality of your network in two ways: who's in it (first) and how well you stay in touch with each other (second). Both are essential. January is a good time to take a look at your Rolodex (aka Blackberry, iPhone, Palm Pilot, database, little black book, etc.) with three questions in mind:
- Who's in my network that I don't stay in touch with nearly enough?
- Who's in my network that I'm really not committed to staying in touch with?
- Who's not in my network although I would like them to be?
07: Peter Drucker's challenge
The management guru Peter Drucker once said: "There is nothing quite so meaningless as doing well that which need not be done at all." Here is one of the great challenges for 21st century environmentalists. There are pressing threats to people and other species all around us and far too few of us to address them all effectively. We can't afford to waste too much of our time, energy, passion, and money on "doing well that which need not be done at all." As this new year begins, take an honest look at the projects and programs you're working on and ask whether their successful completion will make a meaningful difference on the concerns that you care about.
08: Old, sick, and poor?
"Job security" seems like an oxymoron. Conventional pensions are becoming quaint anachronisms in many industries. Social Security is more than a bit shaky. Gambling on big increases in the value of your house or stock portfolio doesn't appear to be such a smart bet. It sometimes seems like Lily Tomlin was right when she quipped that "We're all in this alone."
Financial planning for retirement (whether you're 25 or 55) has to be a part of your 2008 green-career thinking. Good health, frugal living, strong community ties, close friends, and loving families will take you a long way, but you're going to need money, too.
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Here's hoping 2008 is already off to a great start. And if you have any green-career questions that I can help you with, please log on to Grist and share them with me and the rest of the Grist community in comments. We're here to help.
A note to readers: Several of you have expressed amazement that I'm not online with a Green Economy website. Launching one is on my 2008 list of goals. Stay tuned!
Kevin Doyle is the president of Green Economy, a Boston-based training, consulting, and research firm with services for the institutions and individuals building a more sustainable world. He is coauthor of The ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference: Environmental Work for a Sustainable World and is currently at work on a new book about climate-change careers.
Why won’t Lisa Jackson/Nancy Sutley visit a mountaintop removal site?
Comments
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crumbrye Posted 4:56 am
08 Jan 2008
I graduated from law school less than a year ago. In school I studied environmental policy, which meant that my daunting coursework included classes like ecosystems management, natural resources law, an endangered species act seminar, land use law, environmental law, etc.
We studied some of the most cutting edge issues in environmental law and I became extremely passionate about these issues. Following up on that passion, I took a clerk position with the environmental area of the Florida administrative hearings court. I started a blog that emphasized incorporating simple green pieces into daily life. I also donated to several environmental organizations.
I took all of these experiences and my education and moved to Washington, DC hoping to start a career in environmental policy. I have a background in communications and I would have been happy to blend the environmental law and communications fields. Unfortunately, despite my connections and hundreds of resume submissions, I was unable to secure a job here working with the environmental community. Instead, I took a position with a health organization where I thought I could expand my experience in non-profits and with Congressional relations.
A few months have passed and the environmental fever hasn't faded. I still desperately want to find work in environmental policy. I have made a one year plan starting with the beginning of 2008 to get involved in at least 2 local environmental organizations as a member/volunteer so I can at least start networking and meeting my fellow treehuggers. I've also made a resolution to submit writings on the environment to various industry papers, hoping for some type of publication.
While doing this, I plan on keeping an eye out for the types of jobs I'm interested in so I can start applying around October.
In an environment like DC, where there are so many green-types, how can I get noticed? Is there something above what I'm currently doing that would increase my chances of finding the job I want? Any help would be most appreciated.
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GreenEngineer Posted 5:15 am
08 Jan 2008
In brief, commissioning is a design review and construction oversight process for new buildings designed to make sure the building gets designed sensibly and built to spec. Retrocommissioning is a investigative and diagnostic process for existing buildings intended to document the system functionality and identify opportunities for energy savings.
Our small (20 persons) company is INCREDIBLY BUSY. We've got far more work than we have people, and we're interviewing like crazy. It's hard to staff up, because we're pretty selective but also because we're competing with other companies in the same field for qualified people.
The upshot of this is two-fold:
If you're a mechanical/HVAC/energy engineer in either the SF Bay Area or in the Irvine area (our satellite office just opened there) and you're interested in this kind of work, email me and I'll put your resume in front of my boss. Experience with this kind of work is helpful but not essential -- management here hires for smarts and commitment first, and experience second.
If you're a student, or considering a career change, take a very serious look at this field. Commissioning is becoming more and more common for new buildings (and is required by LEED). I expect to see the day very soon when only a crazy person would build anything significant without it. (That's been true right along, IMO, but has not been been widely recognized in the industry. That's changing.) Likewise, there are tons of existing buildings that need to go through the retrocommissioning process, which is heavily subsidized by the utilities (at least in California). Bottom line: there are lots of jobs in this arena, and there is good reason to expect that will continue to be the case, even in the event of an economic downturn.
More information on commissioning here and here.
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GreenEngineer Posted 5:18 am
08 Jan 2008
Just something to keep in mind.
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GreenEngineer Posted 5:29 am
08 Jan 2008
Idealist
Treehugger
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Erik Hoffner Posted 6:08 am
08 Jan 2008
Also, Google EcoJobs, Green Dream Jobs, and The Job Seeker for good leads.
Then there's my personal and professional favorite, the Orion Grassroots Network's Internship and Career Service, with over 200 great jobs and internships:
http://www.orionsociety.org/listings
Ahem.
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: 1,100+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
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robertogreen Posted 7:14 am
08 Jan 2008
i'm focusing on getting my internal house (literally and figuratively) in order but when that project is done this list will hopefully guide me to the next level of greening my world.
and it's my name anyway, so i might as well get on the bandwagon.
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eriqa Posted 7:33 am
08 Jan 2008
I'd love to hear your take on what the best environmental skill sets or growth areas are for those of us who are better with words and people than with data or building. As a "creative" type I am struggling to figure out where I can make a difference.
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Greta Posted 11:00 am
08 Jan 2008
I have 20 years of experience in multimedia (film, video, photography, print, Web). A college degree in Journalism/MassCommunications and a degree in Environmental Law & Policy (UNC-CH), plus additional education in Digital Media program.
But, along with that 20 years of experience, I have grown-up expenses and grown-up debt. So, I cannot afford to take an internship. So many of the environmental companies and jobs are in metro areas (DC, Seattle, California cities) where the cost of living is very high, and their pay very low. As much as I hunger to work for a non-profit environmental organization, the numbers don't work.
At one point, when I had a bit of money banked, I even applied for Green Corps...only to be told by some punk 20-year-old (who hasn't even been alive as long as I have been an environmentalist) that she didn't feel that I had the commitment. I was offering to make a big sacrifice for the environmental cause, by working a more-or-less volunteer position, but she questioned my commitment.
I was so disheartened by that experience that I stopped all environmental activism for a short while.
So, with all due respect, Mr. Doyle, I'm looking for a bit more specific advice.
www.NoPunProductions.com ~ AmericaTheGreen.org
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Pangolin Posted 12:08 pm
08 Jan 2008
Don't pretend that the health care non-system is going to help you should you get a chronic environmental illness. Your doctor won't even talk to you about symptoms that don't fit the last drug his pharmaceutical rep pushed on him.
The nasty little secret that we don't discuss in the population debates is that we already have a "surplus population" of sick and broken people that we've thrown away. They are from all ages races and social classes but they're poor now.
Here's another nasty secret; environmental damage destroys jobs. Sometimes a persons place in the job market is as rare as a niche in a rainforest ecosystem. A few blocks of devastation by a flood or tornado can eliminate a few jobs that will never be replaced for those people. Sometimes the remaining jobs leave people the option of continuing to pollute and destroy the planet or starve. Green careers are just a cruel fantasy to some of us.
So mock doomers all you want but the doom is already real to an increasing number of your fellow citizens. We've been pushed out the door of civilization and climate change isn't making any more space for us to get back inside.
Put the Carbon Back
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Tasermons Partner Posted 12:52 pm
08 Jan 2008
Anyone?
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Lainey Posted 2:59 am
15 Jan 2008
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Erik Hoffner Posted 3:53 am
15 Jan 2008
Don't know of any books that will help too much. But from personal experience and from running Orion's green job placement service, it's more about deciding what kind of work you really want to do, identifying the organizations or businesses that you think are the best and brightest in that field, and then getting an internship with them or volunteering your time with them. Then you can assess if your career choice seems like a good fit, decide if you need more schooling, and if a job comes open while you're there, you are the first to learn of it...people love to recruit from within, so if you show yourself to be indispensible, it'll work in your favor. Something like 50% of all job openings are never advertised - they're just filled from within.
This route takes sacrifice, or at least putting up with doing another job for money to finance your underpaid status for a while, but it works very well, and helps you imagine your future dream career.
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: 1,100+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
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wiscidea Posted 8:35 am
18 Mar 2008
Anyway...
I want to do something that CLEARLY protects the environment, preserves biodiversity, reduces pollution, protects human beings and animals... you've got the drift. Not necessarily all of this. I just want to find a more appropriate, interesting, and contributing role in the big picture.
There are, however, a few problems. How does one move from one career to another? How does one modify their current set of skills -- perhaps limited and deteriorating -- so they can move to a different career? How does one do this while still managing to pay their mortgage? (This is very important.) I'm not exactly a spring chicken, as the old folks used to say. I also like my home in southwest Wisconsin.
Let's start here...
B.S., biological sciences, M.S., cellular and molecular biology. Over 10 years experience in a laboratory setting, though not necessarily working in a creative capacity. I can make a transgenic plant. Essentially a laboratory technician no longer interested in being a laboratory technician.
On the bright side, I'm extremely curious and capable of learning new things... if only someone would give me a chance. I possess and enormously broad range of interests, which is why I'm currently on the edge of losing my mind and investing time to post this plea for help.
Where should I go from here? Am I remotely qualified to do anything but make transgenic plants? Suggestions? Can someone help me think outside the box? Are there career councilors who specialize in helping folks like me? In southwest or southcentral Wisconsin?
Feel free to send an email... (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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