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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
A volatile economy does not equal a volatile green career. This week’s tip discusses how you can use this current economic situation to your advantage.
Carol is attending the Bioneers Conference this weekend. Read the Highlighted Event section for more information on this great event.
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 Event
Highlighted Event: Look for Carol at the Bioneers Conference
This weekend I’ll be attending the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California (October 17-19). Here’s how the site describes the conference:
“The Bioneers Conference is an acclaimed leading-edge forum where you can see tomorrow today: a future environment of hope. Social and scientific innovators focus on breakthrough solutions inspired by nature and human ingenuity. These visionaries are already creating a healthy, equitable, diverse and beautiful world, our legacy for future generations and the web of life on which our lives depend. Here you can connect with hundreds or thousands of engaged folks making a real difference.”
If you’d like to attend, register for the Bioneers Conference as soon as possible. It looks as though there are still spaces available.
If you aren’t able to travel to California, check out the 18 local Bioneers Conferences that will be beaming a live feed of speakers from the main conference.
Or, check out the option to pre-purchase the DVD set of the Bioneers conference speakers.
I’ll be writing about my experience next week.
Tip of the Week: Green Positives in a Volatile Market
If you’ve spent any time tracking the news over the last two weeks you know about the volatile financial situation.
It’s easy to get sucked into the negative spin.
It’s easy to begin second guessing your own plans for your future green career.
It’s easy to want to hunker down to weather the storm.
It’s harder to stay focused on what’s working in your own life.
It’s harder to stay focused on what you can do to guide your life forward.
It’s harder to envision the future with hope.
And yet, that’s exactly what each of us needs to do: Focus on what we can do to move the green movement forward.
Some media sources say the economic decline will benefit the environment because people cutting costs will consume less, drive less, and pollute less. Although this may be true, I don’t believe that’s the full story.
I think there are some other realities to consider.
• No matter what the current economic situation is, the earth still needs support in combating global warming.
• The need for green solutions is not going to go away. As time progresses the need for these solutions actually increases. Without these changes we will have more economic, environmental, and climate problems than we do now.
• Many of the solutions that help the environment also save businesses, families, and individuals money. Significant sums of cash. Think building efficiency and cost effective transportation for starters. Can you think of anyone who doesn’t want to save money these days? (To propel these savings we’ll need a business efficiency campaign, but that’s another newsletter.)
• Each green solution will require personnel to provide the products and services to implement it.
• The green economy may not take off in the way we had hoped or imagined, but a number of prestigious individuals and organizations believe the green movement is the best way to combat the environmental, economic, and climate problems we face as a country and a planet. (We’ve covered a number of these plans in our newsletters and blog.)
How the green economy takes form depends on a number of factors, including how the Presidential race turns out, the mix in Congress, what policies, regulations, and mandates are put into place, how much research funding is available, how carbon is priced, and more. We may need more ingenuity and perseverance to make it happen, but it’s got to happen.
Rather than sit back and wait for a perfectly clear path, choose a proactive stance. View this time of uncertainty as an opportunity to strengthen your own game.
Five Actions You Can Take to Move Yourself Forward
You can take all of these actions while employed at your current job. You don’t need to make any immediate decisions. In fact, your green career planning actions will help you gain the clarity, knowledge, and experience you need to make a well-though out decision about your future. Use this unsettled time to prepare for your ultimate green career.
1) Identify your green niche. Narrowing your focus to your true passion brings a variety of benefits. You’ll save time, energy, and resources when you keep your job search focused. (Read last week's newsletter for more information.)
2) Meet and talk with people in your target profession or industry. Soak up as much information as you can. Ask them about the future. What trends are they seeing? How do they think it’s going to unfold? What needs to happen next? The more you understand your profession or industry, the more likely you are to achieve your goal.
3) Learn more about your profession or industry. Take classes, review online materials, attend conferences, read books. Make green reading and learning a part of your everyday life.
4) Put your skills and knowledge to work. Volunteer to gain experience. Do an internship, take on an apprenticeship, take on a green project at work, or step into a leadership role.
5) Target potential companies. Track their progress, set up Google Alerts for news of your target companies. Meet their employees and customers to learn as much as you can about what’s working and not working within the companies.
Your goal is to clarify your vision for your green career. Position yourself to be ready and able to step forward when opportunities begin opening up.
By preparing for the future, even when it currently hides behind a dark cloud of uncertainty, you become part of the solution we need.
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: In this week’s trends we found talk of a new solar technology, the possibility of more renewable energy jobs in Michigan, and Google’s newly announced plan to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
Read the post and add your comments.
Planet Earth: A Source of Inspiration - We started a new series on the Green Career Central Blog on Monday. Each week we'll use amazing images by the aerial photographer Yann Arthus Betrand's to explore a different country. His images will give you a new, expanded perspective of Planet Earth. This week we'll focus on Brazil. Add your thoughts about the images to the comment section in the blog.
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: roncohea
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
We've added two more job board reviews. One for a site that offers internships within California and the other for urban planners. These are just two of the 76 job board reviews that are already on the site. For a look at the other job boards we've reviewed visit the Job Board area.
New Job Listings
Click here to get the details about several positions we've just learned about.
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 find a green career that fully expresses their passions, skills, values, and talents.
Carol McClelland, PhD, founder and Executive Director of Green Career Central, 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!
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Copyright (c) 2007-2008. Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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