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Welcome to the Green Career Tip of the Week
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Online Version of this Issue Green Career Tips Archive
Discover why knowing your green career niche shortens your job search in ten different ways. Find out how in this week’s article.
Is the Green Jobs Act of 2007 on hold? Get the latest scoop from our Highlighted Announcement section and see how you can make a difference.
Did you get a f.r.e.e month on the Green Career Central site this week? Scroll down to see if the beginning of your email is next to the treasure chest. We do this every week!
Highlighted Announcement
Take Action: Key Members of Congress Are Pushing to have Green Job Training Act Implemented
The Green Jobs Act of 2007 was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush. According to the law, a training program for energy efficiency and renewable energy workers was to be implemented within six months of the signing of the Act.
So what's happening with the training program? Nothing! The Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, has not followed through. And now she's hearing from four key Congressional Leaders who are demanding that the training programs be put into place.
This training program will play a critical role in making the green economy a reality. If you want to be heard on this, call the Department of Labor at 202-693-6000 and let them know that you want the Green Jobs Act to be implemented...NOW! You can also show your support via email.
Tip of the Week: Shorten Your Job Search with a Green Career Niche
Identifying your green career niche before you start your job search gives you a number of advantages.
- The clearer you are about your green career goal, the more focused you will be.
- The more focused you are, the better results you’ll attain.
- With your green career niche identified, your outreach actions are more efficient, productive, and effective.
If you don’t take the time to focus your search, it’s more likely you’ll feel:
- Overwhelmed (What information do I focus on?)
- Confused (Which industry is best for me?)
- Paralyzed (What do I do next?)
Don’t waste your time spinning your wheels as you start your job search. Investing time up front will end up saving you time and money in the end.
The Benefits of Knowing Your Green Career Niche.
Knowing your green career niche guides you to know:
1. What to Read – If you’ve done any research on the green economy you know there’s no shortage of reading material! In fact, if you try to read, process, and remember everything you come in contact with you’ll soon be completely overwhelmed.
Knowing your focus helps you determine what to read, what to scan, and what to ignore. Use your precious time to focus on the articles, websites, and blogs that will have a high payoff for your future.
2. What Google Alerts to Set Up – Did you know you can set up a Google Alert to receive a daily email summary of all the online articles, blogs, and news items that mentioned your keywords?
Simple to set up and free, it’s a great technique to make sure you find all the latest news about your target niche. Just go to http://www.google.com/alerts and fill out the form on the right side of the page. For the best results, use quotation marks around the words in your keyword phrase.
3. Where to Network – Just as there are too many resources to read, there may be too many places to network in some regions. Again, the key is to focus in on high payoff events, the events that will give you the opportunity to meet those who share your interests and passions. You may need to attend a variety of events to discover which ones are most beneficial to you.
If you live in a region that doesn’t have an abundance of green networking events, look online for discussion forums you can join. Another option is to explore social networking sites (we’ll be writing about some of these in the future) to find people with whom you can network.
4. What Associations to Join – One of the most effective ways to plug into a highly focused network is to join a professional association. Use your favorite search engine to locate a professional association that fits your interests. Just plug in your keyword and add “association” to your search. (If you are a Green Career Central member, you can also visit the industry profiles to discover professional associations that meet your needs.)
You can learn quite a bit about a profession just by reading their web page. There’s no need to join until you are sure the organization is the best fit for you. You may need to explore a few associations to find the one that is best for you.
5. What Conferences to Attend –Attending a conference is a wonderful opportunity to discover the latest trends, rub shoulders with key players, and meet face-to-face with colleagues and potential colleagues. The key is figuring out which conference(s) to attend. Knowing your green career goal will help you make that decision.
If your budget is limited, consider purchasing a day pass for the exhibit hall. Or scan the conference website to determine whether presentations will be streamed on the site. Of course watching online doesn’t give you the opportunity meet other people in your field, but it will give you the opportunity to learn about the profession and the inside scoop.
6. Who to Target for Conversation – When you know your focus, you can be much more effective in your networking efforts. Being able to state your target green career with clarity and confidence will enable your network to provide you with highly targeted contacts and resources. Be strategic as you set up one-on-one meeting with key contacts. You’ll be amazed at how your network will expand.
7. How to Volunteer to Get the Biggest Bang for Your Time Commitment – If you are interested in plugging into the green network in your region, volunteering can be a high payoff activity. The key is to find a way to volunteer that uses your talents and strengthens your resume. One of the benefits of making this commitment is that you are likely to meet people who are well connected in the local green movement and maybe in your target profession.
8. What Training to Engage in – When you know what goal you are shooting for and you’ve started the process of understanding what it takes to excel in your field, you’ll begin to understand what training you’ll need. Do you need to take a refresher course, get a certification, or commit to a full degree program? Knowing this information sooner rather than later allows you to move into your new green career as strategically as possible.
9. What Companies to Target – As you take all of the actions listed above, start a list of companies that hire people in your target profession. Don’t worry where the company is located. You can learn a lot about your entire profession by researching companies with a local, national, and even global presence. As you get closer to starting your actual job search, you’ll know what companies you want to target.
10. What Job Boards to Check –Defining your target professional also allows you to find job boards that are specifically for those in your target profession. You can use these job boards to discover which job titles are aligned with your passions, interests and talents, to expand your list of target companies, and, of course, to identify job openings.
Don’t rely on job boards as your sole source of job openings. Remember only a small percentage jobs actually get listed on job boards. Being active in your network, attending conferences and being known within your profession will also alert you to unadvertised positions. Imagine finding a job opening that’s not widely known!
Copyright © 2008 Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc.
"GCC's process was incredibly helpful in getting me started in a new career direction. The worksheets and brainstorming exercises in the What's Your Green Niche ebook helped me realize I already had the skills to launch a new green career. Today, less that four months later, I have a terrific salary doing business development for energy and environmental projects. Thanks to Green Career Central, my dream of merging my personal conviction with professional life came true."
-- Kelly Fergusson
Menlo Park Councilmember (Mayor, 2007) turned Business Development Manager of Energy & Environmental Solutions
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Are You Searching for Your Green Niche?
You know you want a green career, but do you know what you want to do in the green economy?
The key to discovering your green niche is pinpointing how to leverage your skills, passions, talents and experience to plug into the green economy.
When you know what part of the economy you want to target, you’ll have an entirely new level of clarity. With that new clarity, your current level of overwhelm and confusion will decrease.
The What’s Your Green Niche eBook eBook takes you through a step-by-step process to determine your green niche. Here's a list of some of the things you'll gain as you work through this eBook. You'll:
- Create your personal definition of success.
- Discover how you know what you are drawn to.
- Develop a list of your 40 favorite skills and interests with the help of checklists.
- Brainstorm over 40 career ideas based on your favorite skills and interests in an hour or so.
- Narrow your career ideas to your top two ideas.
- Develop a plan to achieve your green career goals whether you want to return to school, launch your job search, or start your business.
Members - Download (part of membership)
Non-Members - $55.00
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Green Career Central Blog:
Green Career Trends: Each Thursday we’ll be posting three to five green career trends…all in one easy-to-read post. This week look for news about alternative transportation trends. Read the post and add your comments
Solfest Festivities: We had a great time at Solfest last weekend. Check out our photo montage of our adventure. Read the post and add your comments
Insights from VLAB Panel Discussion: This post describes the panelists answer to the questions…Is clean energy just another bubble? Will the entire industry fad when the bubble pops? Read the post and add your comments
Membership Has Its Advantages!
The discussion forum topic, audios, ebook, and articles listed below are available to members of GreenCareerCentral.com as a part of their membership. If you're not a member and would like to have immediate access, we'd love to have you join us now!
Green Career Central is a membership site with a comprehensive set of easy-to-use programs, resources, and events to help people achieve their green career dreams whether they want to find a green job, start a green business, or get a green education.
  
"Carol, thanks for your first Tip of the Week. Connecting with what I'm drawn to brought tears to my eyes and made me feel happy and excited. I now know what I'm looking for in my green career. I will continue to look to you and yours for support as I make my way forward. Thank you." -- Cheryl, Chicago, IL
Read what other members are saying about Green Career Central here....
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This Week's Drawing for a
30-Day Trial Membership: goddessgardens
If this is the beginning of your email address, contact us with a subject line of "Trial Membership" and we'll tell you how to get signed up for your 30-day trial membership to GreenCareerCentral.com. You must reply within 2 weeks of the date of this newsletter.
Current Members...you didn't think we'd leave you out, did you? If you see the beginning of your email address, we'll add one more month to your membership.
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What's New at GreenCareerCentral.com
New Job Board Reviews Added
We’ve added reviews of two more governmental job boards to our collection.
- Smithsonian Institute
- USDA Agricultural Research Service
Cool Green Career Interviews
One of the best ways to learn what's possible in the Green Economy is to hear from people who have green careers.
Listen to interviews with our Green Career Experts
Articles
Thinking of owning your own green business or greening a business you already own?
Check out the articles to help you Go Green!
Did You Know...
...if you missed a Tip of the Week, you can read the archived publications?
Green Career Tips Archive
About Us
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Green Career CentralTM is a virtual career center for motivated professionals who are ready to discover how to prosper in the green economy.
Carol McClelland, PhD, founder and managing editor of this site, has helped thousands of people discover their dream career through her book Your Dream Career For Dummies and her work with individuals, groups, and students. Together with her team of experts, researchers and writers, Carol has pulled together sixteen years of experience into a broad collection of how-to articles, resources, support, and teleclasses to help you find your way to make a difference and prosper.
Why not have the green career you've been dreaming of? You can struggle on your own or gain support throughout your journey. The decision is obvious ... Join Us Now! |
Copyright (c) 2007-2008. Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Green Career CentralTM is a trademark of Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc
PO Box 354, Menlo Park, CA 94026
650 322 8661 | Contact
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