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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 new administration is in, and so is green. Read the Highlighted Event section to what Obama said during his Inaugural Speech that makes green a go.
Want to know what to ask your green niche network? Read this week's tip to learn not only what to ask, but what to avoid asking.
Did you get a f.r.e.e month on the Green Career Central site this week? Believe it or not we only gave away two of these free months last year. If you aren't scrolling down to see if the beginning of your email is next to the treasure chest, you may be missing your opportunity for a free month on the site! We do this every week!
Highlight: President Barack Obama
As the coming days, weeks, and months unfold, we will discover what place the green economy will play in the Obama Administration. Although it's too early to say anything definitive, the following excerpt from his Inauguration Address demonstrates he is thinking about and talking about issues that are central to the success of the green economy--new jobs, electric grid, science, sun, winds, soil, fuel, schools and colleges.
"For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do."
We'll continue to track and report on green economy developments as they happen. Here is to our country's green future.
Tip of the Week: Four Questions Not to Ask Your Green Career Contacts
As you launch your quest for a green career, you’ll be asking your network a number of questions.
Unfortunately, a lot of the questions you may be tempted to ask are exactly the wrong ones to ask.
Before I list the questions you should avoid asking, let me explain the problems these questions create. Then I’ll show you the questions to avoid and how to frame questions to meet your goals.
Why You Don’t Want to Ask Certain Questions
If you are reading this article, I assume you are talking to your network to find a position that will allow you to make a difference for your community and the planet. I also assume you’ve built, or are building, a network and you want your network to:
- Have a positive impression of who you are and what you strive to do.
- Look out for contacts, opportunities, and openings that match your interests.
- Pass your name on to others you can talk to about your career goals.
The problem with the questions listed below is that they have the potential to sabotage your network’s impression of you and your career plans. You are working too hard and investing too much to undermine your relationships with contacts by asking off-the-cuff questions that demonstrate:
- You haven’t done your own homework
- You are hoping someone else will give you easy answers to complex questions
- You are abdicating your power to others
- You are not committed to making a solid impression
- You are unwilling to do your own prep work
Four Questions to Avoid Asking
If you want to demonstrate your professionalism and preparedness to your contacts, avoid asking these questions.
1) “I want a green career. What do you think I can do with my background?”
It’s not your contacts’ responsibility to help you figure out your career direction. Furthermore, it’s nearly impossible for someone outside of yourself to determine where you’ll fit in the green economy. It’s a multi-faceted question that entails looking at your skills, interests, passions, education, work experience, volunteer experience, and your personality. It’s unfair to ask others to answer this question. This is a question you need to ask and ponder yourself. (Green Career Central provides all members with a step-by-step process that helps them discover their own green niche.)
After you’ve defined the direction of your green niche, talk to your network to learn about contacts that specialize in that area.
“I’m interesting in getting into x industry/field/profession. Do you know anyone in these fields that would be willing to do an informational interview with me?”
If the person you are talking to knows something about your target industry/field/profession, focus on the following questions:
“I’ve been investigating the x industry/field/profession. Would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions? I’m looking for the key professional organizations. I’ve found s and t. Do you know of any other organizations I should be aware of?"
2) “What classes or degree will help me prepare for a green career?”
Your contacts have no way to answer this question. Each green career has its own training requirements. What’s appropriate training for one career may not have any relevance for getting into another green career. Before you ask this question you must know your green niche. If you know what you want to do and you’ve done your own research about your training options, then you a better approach is:
“I want to do x or y. I’m considering these three training opportunities, a, b and c. What are your thoughts about these options? Are there any options I’m missing? From your perspective, what would be the pros and cons of each of these options?”
3) “What are the hot jobs in the green economy?”
What you are really telegraphing with this question is that you want someone else to tell you want to do in the green economy. Your contacts may know the popular jobs in their field, but they aren’t likely to know the hot jobs in the entire green economy.
More importantly, even if you knew the hot jobs for the future, how do you know those jobs area good fit for you, your personality, your needs, and your experience? In some ways this strategy is like throwing a dart at the green economy dart board and taking your chances.
A better approach is to ask:
“I’ve done some research on __________ (your target industry), and I know about these potential positions. Based on your knowledge of the industry, what positions do you see taking off over the next few years?”
Notice, to make this trends question really work, you need to know your target green industry and reach out to your network to confirm what you’ve found and to add to your own knowledge.
4) “What green companies are hiring?”
Your contacts aren’t a walking job board. They may know of a position or two by chance, but they aren’t likely to have a running list of all of the companies that are hiring.
A better approach is to ask:
“I’ve identified companies j, k and l as local employers who may be interested in hiring someone with my skills. Do you know anyone who works in these companies that would be willing to answer a few questions I have? Can you think of any companies I should add to my list of target companies?”
Bottom Line:
If you want to show your contacts that you are professional, motivated, and determined, you must come to the meeting with the results from your own homework.
- You will get far better results from your conversation when you can articulate your niche in a few crisp, clear sentences.
- You will make a far better impression if you can demonstrate that you’ve done your own research. As shown in the examples above, articulate what you’ve found in your own research and then ask for their impressions, thoughts, and additional suggestions. Then your exchange can be a two-way discussion that will provide you with richer, more valuable information.
Copyright © 2009 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 |
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 |
Green Career Central Blog:
Green Career Trends: In this week’s post we talk about Stanford's new energy efficiency institute, the optimism surrounding cleantech, and efforts to green the US Military.
Renewable Energy World Conference and Expo: If you are interested in renewable energy in any way, you’ll want to know the details about an upcoming conference in Las Vegas in March. Even if you can’t attend this conference, you can still gain an amazing amount of information by reviewing the website. This post shows you how.
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.
  
"I want to thank you for your service, it was helpful to me in my job search. The regular, cheerful, hopeful messages gave me courage every week to keep looking and doing what I believed in. Your very specific advice also made it clearer and clearer in my mind what I needed to do. Even though I generally understood the basic principals prior to subscribing, the regular reminder, and repeated messaging and refining each detail in more and more clarity was very helpful.
I've accepted a position that is really my dream green job. In my new role, I am part of a small group working to build The Nature Conservancy's capabilities to leverage conservation know-how across and beyond The Nature Conservancy's programs to achieve conservation results at an unprecedented scale. I love doing this work, and I thank you for giving me the courage to keep finding a place I believed in to share my skills.
Thank you!"
~ Anne, El Cerrito, CA
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: emiliania
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.
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What's New at GreenCareerCentral.com
More Energy Industry Profiles
This week we’ve added an overview document of renewable energy. This profile offers links to materials about renewable energy in general, and gives you a starting point for exploring specific kinds of renewable energy.
Renewable Energy
Green Functions and Goals
One of your goals as you begin defining your green career direction is to identify your favorite interests within the What’s Your Green Niche ebook. To help you with this process, we’ve just added a new downloadable file that provides you with a list of 19 green functions and goals you can review to find your favorites. Next to each entry are examples of possible job titles associated with each function/goal.
Green Job Functions and Goals
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) 2007-2009. Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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