Comments LisaY has made

  • Additional Green Jobs Resources

    Thanks for the great article!  It's valuable to see environmental career trends from other partner institutions.  Here are a few additional resources that may be of interest to job seekers in the environmental field:



    Where the Jobs Are (A report highlighting trends in federal hiring) 


    Environmental Job Posting Sites 


    Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative (great resources for all on environmental careers and leadership) 


    Career Statistics and Sample Career Opportunities from University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment (Masters degree program)


     





     


    Lisa Yee-Litzenberg Coordinator of Student Career Services University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment http://www.snre.umich.edu

    On College grads hit the green job market -- here's what they'll find posted 1 year, 7 months ago 16 Responses

  • 10 Strategies for Finding Your Dream Job

    As the Career Counselor for 350+ graduate students at the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment, my work revolves around helping students find their dream jobs.  

    Here are a few tips I've picked up along the way, including my 12 years on staff at the National Wildlife Federation prior to my career counseling days.  

    1. Find a Focus.  Do you want to work for a national conservation organization in Washington, D.C. working on climate change policy issues?  Do you want to be an aquatic biologist for a tribal natural resource agency?

    2. Make a job search plan with specific tasks and timelines for each month.  Identify how much time you have each week to spend on your job search.

    3. Make a list of the organizations that you are interested in working for and bookmark their job posting pages.  Add bookmarks for general environmental job search pages that have positions that interest you.  Check them weekly.  

    4. Identify several mentors that can help you make important professional connections in your field and help you lookout for good job opportunities.  This is how I found my first job!
    Mentors can be anyone that has a good understanding of your career interests and that is willing to help you.  Ideal mentors are those that have connections in your field of interest.

    1. Believe in yourself, a positive attitude can go a very long way.  Don't let little obstacles get in your way.  For example, I found out late about a dream job that interested me.  It was after the application deadline but I applied anyway and got the job!

    2. Set up informational interviews with people that work for organizations that interest you and are doing work that interests you.  What is an informational interview?  It's a low-key meeting (by phone or in-person)--typically 20-30 minutes long that you schedule to learn more about the person's work, the organization, etc.

    How to find people to interview?  Alumni from your alma mater and web research of organizations that interest you (check out their staff pages) are two good places to start.  Questions to ask?  What is your role at this organization?  What kinds of things do you do in typical month?  What do you like most about your organization? What are some challenges?  I am interested in x program of your organization, please tell me more about it.  Be sure to tell them about your career interests and be sure they know how to reach you in the future.  Keep in touch, send a thank you note for their time.

    1. By all means, as others have suggested, use the career services of your alma mater (both for your specific program/department and through the university's alumni association).  There may be free or discounted memberships for recent alumni.  Many career services have alumni databases that you can access as an alumni.  Also, be sure to find out about all of their job searching resources for alumni.

    2. Attend some professional conferences.  These are great places to network with people in your field of interest.  Maybe even volunteer to help at the registration table where you will be seen and get to meet participants.  Get the participant list beforehand if possible and contact those that you are interested in meeting beforehand to set up a time to meet at the conference.  Let them know you'd like to arrange a time to chat informally to learn more about their work/ their organization and that you are trying to learn more about organizations and jobs in this field.  

    Bring copies of your resume and give them to people you meet.  Ask them if they can pass it along to someone in Human Resources or to a specific person in a department/program that interests you.  Get names and contact info of these people and follow up.

    1. Strong resumes and cover letters that are customized for each application will make or break whether you get an interview.  Make sure you know how to craft an effective resume and cover letter.

    2. Develop a list of commonly asked interview questions and write down the answers.  For each position that you may get interviewed for, add some specific questions for that position.  Write down the answers.  Practice saying them out loud to yourself.  Have a friend do a mock interview by asking you the questions in a random order.

    By the way, I found my dream job out of college and you can too!  I was interested in biodiversity conservation and had volunteered as an editorial intern for an endangered species publication.  The editor became my mentor.  He was always on the lookout for job postings that might interest me and he was the one who alerted me to the Endangered Species Organizer job at the National Wildlife Federation that became my first job out of college.  

    I can't say enough about how a positive attitude and a focus area that many others (mentors and other key contacts) are aware of can help you find that dream job!  Good luck!On I thought the green job market was hot! posted 2 years, 9 months ago 31 Responses