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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
We're redesigning our website to better serve you. Read the Highlighted Event section for some clues to the changes we're making.
In February we gave you the first Map to Your Green Career. Today we're sharing the New and Improved Plan to help you realize your green career dreams.
This week I completed the first quarter of Green Careers For Dummies. My researching and writing has been inspiring and motivating! Next deadline…and the half way point…June 22nd! Stay tuned.
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: Our Construction Continues… We Are Making Progress!
If you’ve been to our home page this week, you have probably already noticed our site redesign is in motion! If you haven’t visited lately, take a look! www.greencareercentral.com
Our Primary Goal: To streamline the steps you take to find your green career.
The Result: We’ve rearranged a number of resources, articles, and buttons!
What to look for:
On the left side, discover the steps to your green career. We are in the process of enhancing the steps… more details to come.
On the right side, connect with our Green Career Central Community through social networking sites, our Member Forum, our experts, and our survey.
To access the green career resources that used to be on the right side of the site, click on the Green Career Resources button, still on the right side.
What’s still to come:
More enhancements, more streamlining, more ways to connect!
Tip of the Week: Map to Your Green Career – New and Improved Plan
Most of the people we talk with know they want a green career, but they don't know how to find that new career.
When you look for a new career, what's your first action?
- Do you start doing informational interviews?
- Do you go directly to job boards looking for positions that might work for you?
- Do you talk to your contacts to see if they know of any job openings?
- Do you start going to networking events to try to meet people who can help you find a job?
Although all of those steps are important, viable steps, none of them is actually your best first step. In fact, without completing the first task, all of the actions above will lead to limited success. It's like you are rolling the dice or throwing a dart to find your green career. There's a much better way.
After helping thousands of people find careers they love, I know there's a process people go through to discover, confirm, and find their ideal work. Understanding the process gives you a map to follow to reach your goal.
What Steps Should You Take to Find Your Green Career?
If you are committed to greening your career, you'll have a better, clearer journey if you follow the steps below.
Step 1: Customize Your Green Career Plan
If you want to shorten your path to your green career, familiarize yourself with the steps to your green career. We've developed these steps based on work our founder, Carol McClelland, has used with career change clients over the last eighteen years. During that time we've learned that helping someone identify their passions is the starting point, but not the end of the journey.
We also know that your goals and your personal situation will define the path you'll take to your green career. After you read about each of the seven steps, you'll find links to some additional guidance based on your current situation.
Step 2: Green Economy Big Picture
Before you focus in on your green career goals, take some time to get a sense of the overall green economy. We'll give you a map of the green economy that will give you a framework you can use to understand where your skills and interests fit.
Step 3. Find Your Green Niche
Before you step out to talk with others, your first task is to discover your place in the green economy. What industry or profession are you most interested in targeting? What position will allow you to use your passions, interests, talents, and experience? Although you may feel you don't know what green options are available, this question is really one you answer from the inside out.
- Use the What's Your Green Niche? ebook to record your interests and skills and brainstorm over forty career ideas in a very short time. Although it is tempting to latch onto one or two of your passions and push forward to find a job, most careers are actually a blend of your skills and interests. By the end of the ebook you'll be able to articulate the direction you want to pursue in the green economy.
- Think about Your Favorite Work Setting. Although what you do is important to determine, how you work can also have a big impact on your sense of fulfillment and happiness. Spend some time thinking about the kind of work setting that allows you to be productive and feel good. Do you want to work inside or outside? Do you want to be in a large corporation or in a small office?
- Choose Your Path. When you have a good feel for each of your options, assess which idea is the best fit for you personally and professionally. It's possible one or more of your ideas will drop to the bottom of your list. Then decide how you are going to reach your green career goal. Your path will be the one that works for you. If you can move right into job search mode, you'll do that. If you aren't able to move toward your goal that quickly, you may decide to green your current job, volunteer, or work on a project to gain more green experience. Knowing what path you want to take, will help you determine who to network with and what actions to take.
Step 4. Explore Your Possibilities
When you have two or three career ideas you are drawn to, you are ready to move to Step 4.
- In this step, you conduct research to understand your target industries/professions. You don't have to be 100% sure about your targets, you just need to feel excited and drawn to each of your ideas. Before you jump into doing informational interviews, get a sense of what you want to learn about your target industries/professions.
- After creating a plan, your next step is to do online research to gain a general understanding of your target industries/professions. In this section you'll discover the best strategies and resources to use to conduct your research online.
- When you have a good understanding of your target industries/professions, you are ready to do your informational interviews. We've got a number of tips to help you make the most of your conversations with your contacts. Begin by listening! Don't try to make a decision until you have enough information to make a solid decision.
(If research isn't your favorite thing, don't worry. Green Career Central provides a lot of resources and tips to make your exploration focused, productive, and fun.)
Step 5. Build Your Green Network
With your target career and your path in mind, you'll have a much easier time creating a green network online and in person. With your green niche in mind, you'll know what networking events and conferences to schedule into your calendar. You'll know what professional associations to explore. You'll know who to target to talk to about the best way to reach your career goals.
Step 6. Prepare for Your Green Career
At some point in your research and your networking, it's likely you'll realize you need to strengthen your green resume in one way or another. Your preparations for your green career may take a couple of weeks, several months, or even a couple of years, depending on your personal situation and your career goal. Remember each step you take is moving you closer to your green career goal.
We've got tips for you whether you want to:
- Volunteer for a green organization
- Gain more green experience
Step 7. Take Action to Reach Your Green Goal
When you are ready to move forward, look to Step 7 for support as you:
- Start your green job search
Our Next Step:
Now that you understand the overall map to reach your green career goal, keep in mind that you may spend more time in some steps than in others based on your goals. In the coming weeks we’ll be adding special instructions on how to customize your green career plan based on which of the following statements matches your needs and current situation. Stay tuned!
- I need to find a job now.
- I have some time to explore my green career options.
- I have a green career idea.
- I know I want a green career eventually, but for now I want to figure out how to green the job I have.
- I have green work experience, and I'm ready to identify my next move.
- I want to go back to school.
- I plan to start a green business.
Copyright © 2009 Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc.
This Week’s Survey: Social Networking
Are you using social networking to enhance your professional visibility?
Are you interested in exploring social networking tools in more depth?
Would you like to use social networking more effectively?
We’ve just added a new survey to our site to learn what your favorite social networking websites are for professional use. Your answers will help us identify the best topics to add to our site.
Please take a moment to visit our home page, scroll down to the survey on the right side. Two clicks and you’ll be done!
Green Career Central Blog:
Green Career Trends: In this week’s trend post we highlight veterans getting green jobs, new equipment that reduces power usage, and a desalinization plant coming on line in California.
Follow the Money: This week learn about a new battery factory for hybrids, a new solar panel and concentrator manufacturing plant, and stimulus money for biofuel and wind.
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: eadenmapa
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
More Keywords Added
As we mentioned in our last Green Career Tip of the Week, we are adding keywords into each industry profile. Last week we added the keywords to the Energy Industry, this week the Emerging Industries have new keywords included within the profiles. Keywords can be used to help you drill down in your research or in searching job boards for potential job openings.
New Article: Making the Most of Industry Keywords
Keywords are the key to researching your target industries, possible networking venues, and potential job openings. To give you a jump start, we’ve just added an article to show you how to use keywords to deepen your online research with just a few extra keystrokes.
Green Career Central Discussion Forum
Ask a question, let us know about a green event in your area, answer a question someone else has posted. Join the conversation!
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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