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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
Green Career Central has something special planned for Earth Day! Read this week's Highlight for the details.
Need a friendly guide to help you on your path to a green career? Read this week's tip to learn how to get from where you are to where you want to be.
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!
Highlight: COMING SOON-- Special Discounted Membership Rates in Celebration of Earth Day!
Earth Day is April 22nd! Celebrated a variety of ways, Earth Day is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the earth’s environment.
Green Career Central will be celebrating Earth Day by offering incredible savings on new memberships. All the details will be announced next week so watch the Green Career Tip of the Week for more details. If you have wanted to join Green Career Central, this will be the perfect time!
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Tip of the Week: Three Paths to a Green Career
Your path to a green career depends on your situation. Scroll down to the section of this newsletter that matches your situation. There you’ll find information about your next steps in finding your green career, based on your circumstances.
Find a Job, Now!
Timing – You have a very short time horizon.
Your Priority – Finding a Job
As you search for a job, you have a couple of options. The option that is best for you will depend on your experience, profession, education, and more.
- Search for a green job. Ideally you could just find the green job of your dreams and get on with your life. For reasons that have nothing to do with you, this option is going to be challenging. The green industry that might hire you may not be ready to hire anyone at this point in time. Remember it’s not about you…it’s the reality of an economy that is just beginning to take shape.
- Search for a job in your most recent profession. If you have a strong professional background, your best bet may be to take a job in your most recent profession. If you are set on having a green job, look for ways to green that job in some way.
- Search for a stepping-stone job that helps you strengthen your resume in some way. If you know what you want to do in the green economy, you may be able to focus on finding a stepping-stone job that gives you the opportunity to build your skills, strengthen your network, and give you experience that will help you get the next job.
- Search for an interim job that pays the bills. If it’s not possible to work in your most recent profession or find a stepping-stone job, you’ll need to look for an interim position. This job is not likely to be your dream job, but it will take the pressure off and hopefully give you enough peace of mind that you can search for your green niche as described in the Changing Careers section below.
- Search for a bootstrap job that gives you lots of flexibility. If none of the other strategies are working, look at your strengths and get creative. Find a way to cobble together the money you need in a way that will give you the time to volunteer, take courses, and explore your green options. Don’t think of this as a career job, see it as a way to keep you moving in the right direction.
Next Steps – Do what it takes to get a job. If it is green, that’s great! If it’s not, then look at it as a way to make ends meet while you research your green options and prepare to move into the green economy.
Strategy – Realistically, identifying your green career and finding a green job are not tasks you can do in a hurry. Each part of the process will take some time. The fact that you may not be able to land a green job as your next job doesn’t make you a failure in any way. It’s just the way the green economy is right now.
Right now your priority needs to be finding a job. The more you can network with others in your field, the more you can demonstrate that you have what it takes to do the job, the more you can strengthen you skills, the more likely you are to land a position sooner rather than later.
Changing Careers
Timing – You have some flexibility about when you leave your current job to transition into a green career.
Your Priority – Finding Your Green Niche
Look at your work experience and your current interests to determine the best way for you to enter the green economy. With your green niche in mind, you’ll become clear, confident, and committed and your job search becomes focused and productive. (If you would like help defining your green niche, check out our What’s Your Green Niche ebook)
Next Steps – After identifying your green niche, it’s time to determine the best way to prepare yourself for your new industry/profession. Be strategic by taking steps now to develop your skills, increase your knowledge, and gain the experience you will need to make your move into the green economy. While you are volunteering, taking courses, and attending conferences, be diligent in building your green network. Who you know in your local green network will make all the difference when you are ready to activate your job search.
Strategy – Don’t wait to start your exploration. Start today! Finding your green niche may take some time and you never know when your personal circumstances may change or when the green economy will jump forward. Invest the time now so that you are ready to leap when the time is right.
Student Searching for a Green Career
Timing – If you are just starting your education, you have a longer time frame to work with. (If you are near graduation, you have a short time horizon. Read the first segment of this article to get ideas about how to proceed.)
Your Priority – Determining Your Career Direction
As a student, your best bet is to gain a solid understanding of the green economy as a whole. By getting an overall sense of the industries within the green economy and the goals of the green economy you can begin to see where your interests are.
Then focus your time on deepening your knowledge about a couple of industries that seem most interesting to you.
Next Steps – Read newsletters and blogs, attend a local professional meeting, volunteer, and take courses to explore your options within your target industries. Keep track of who you meet as you move through all these experiences. Having an organized network will be key to getting internships and your first job.
Strategy – Always be aware of your interests. Let your interests point you toward your courses, extracurricular activities, volunteer projects, and part time work. Although you may not be able to make all your decisions based on your interests, you want to make sure your passions guide you to some degree. If you pay attention to your interests, even if they are varied, your experience and education will be in alignment with where you are heading.
(If you disregard your interests and follow other people’s advice or focus on “where the money is,” you’ll end up with experiences and an education that don’t align with your own interests. It’s very hard to build a satisfying career when you don’t like your major or the activities you’ve participated in to build your resume.)
In addition, don’t box yourself into one narrowly focused profession. The green economy is changing and evolving. It will continue to do so for some time to come. No one can really predict what the green economy will look like when you get out of school. Your best bet is to get a strong foundation in the discipline that interests you and ties to your interests. In addition be sure to gain knowledge about green topics and sustainability as it relates to your interests. With this combination, you will be an attractive candidate when you look for an internship or a job.
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 how to use green ideas to climb the corporate ladder, how carbon reduction consulting is taking shape in the US, and the role Google Maps may play in the move to renewable energy.
Submit an Innovative, Entrepreneurial Project that Benefits a Community - World Challenge is seeking nominations for projects that show an entrepreneurial spirit while benefiting a community in a socially responsible way. Do you know a project that would qualify?
Follow the Green Money - Discover what parts of the green economy are getting money from investors.
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.
  
"My New Business Startup: It's a hard to find an investment these days that pays for itself many times over but the annual fee for joining Green Career Central is certainly worth every penny. The process laid out is structured and easy to follow. It takes you through the steps to get a truer understanding what your interests and skills are and makes you excited about researching your career options, while giving you a sense of progress and accomplishment. The weekly tips and "how to" resources on the website are time saving and are in of themselves an invaluable resource. Thanks Carol."
~WG Becoming an Energy Systems Consultant
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: outd00rgrl
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 Industry Profile
When exploring possible green niches, you will run into occupations whose definitions don’t place them under a single industry but draw on a broader range of specializations. We are calling them Environmental Job Clusters. Here we explore three such examples:
Environmental Job Clusters
Feeling Stuck? Learn How to Move Forward
It’s not a matter of if you will get stuck during your search for your green career; it’s a matter of when. When you are feeling stuck, visit this section of our site to read articles that will help you find new ways to look at your situation. It’s likely you’ll find something to shift you focus.
Thinking of Starting a Green Business?
We have a green business center to help you get started with your green business. You’ll find resources and associations where you can learn more about what it takes to start and run a green business.
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.
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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