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Today's the last day of my virtual book tour. You can still see where I've been and what questions were asked. Check out the Green Careers for Dummies section below for details and links.

Carolyn Allen is interviewing me on a f.r.e.e webinar in April, where I'll be sharing my map of the green economy. See the Highlighted Events section for registration information.

We're in a recession, right? So why is there a talent shortage in the clean tech sector? Find out these answers, and how you can move into these positions, in this week's Tip of the Week.

Do you want to gain a deeper understanding of your target green industry? Become an Industry Tracker with Green Career Central. Learn more by reading below.

Connect with us on these social networking sites:

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Green Careers for Dummies

The Virtual Book Tour has been great! I’ve visited 12 blogs in the last 2 weeks, provided 17 different articles, and answered numerous questions about green careers. You can still reap the benefits of the tour! Check out the list of all of my book tour stops. Scan the articles for the topics that will be relevant to you!

And… come visit the last stop on my Virtual Book Tour!

Today: Wednesday, March 31:
Susan Joyce’s Job-Hunt.org
I’ll be answering a variety of questions for job seekers. You can submit your question on that page, right now.

A big thank you to all of my book tour hosts for their enthusiasm and dedication! If you want to see the topics I wrote about on these blogs, visit our book tour page.

Susan Ireland’s Job Lounge

Chris Russell’s Green Job Spider Blog

Barbara Safani’s Career Solvers Blog

Randi Bussin’s Aspire for Success Blog

Susan Whitcomb’s Thought Leader Tele Forum

Susan Reid’s Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

Tracey de Morsella’s Green Economy Post – Watch for series of Q&A blog posts to be posted over the coming weeks.

Brandi-Ann Uyemura’s 2Inspired Blog

Linsey Levine’s Blog

Romi Kher’s 10 Good Minutes

Randall Hansen’s Quintessential Career and Job Hunting Blog

Susan Joyce’s Job-Hunt Blog

Highlighted Events

Carolyn Allen, Publisher of Solutions For Green & California Green Solutions, is interviewing me in an upcoming webinar about green career options. During the webinar, I will share my interactive visual map of the green economy that will help you see where your skills, interests, and education fit into this emerging new economy. I’ll also describe actions you can take right now to identify your green career focus and steps to take to transition from your current career into your green career.

Discover Your Green Career Options
Tuesday, April 20
9am Pacific
Register… F.R.E.E.

Members Only Teleclass Events for April
to be announced next week.
(Log on to Green Career Central to Register for these teleclasses

that are included in your membership )

Tip of the Week: Talent Shortage in Clean Tech Opens up Green Career Opportunities

Given all the news reports about unemployment numbers, it was a bit startling to see the following headline last Friday in the Green Tech section of CNET News:

“People power in short supply for green tech”

The gist of the article by Martin LaMonica was that emerging clean energy businesses are finding that there’s a shortage of highly qualified employees and executives available to fill their business needs.

What’s going on? How can there be a recession with high unemployment numbers at the same time there’s a talent shortage?

Basically we are in the middle of an economy shake up as we shift our economic base to new emerging industries.

· Traditional industries, such as the auto industry and manufacturing, are taking a big hit because the absolute number of jobs available now, compared to ten years ago, has dropped considerably. According to a recent CBS report, 8 million jobs have disappeared in these industries. Ouch!

· Emerging industries, such as clean energy and clean tech, are showing more job growth than the traditional economy. According to a recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts, clean energy jobs have increased 9.1% in the last ten years, as opposed to only a 3.7% increase for traditional jobs.

Unfortunately the people who are currently out of work aren’t likely to be well suited for the highly technical, entrepreneurial world of clean energy and clean tech. The zig and zag of the economy has left a gap, a sizable gap, for employees looking for work.

Over time, this disconnect will even out. More and more people will be retrained for the new generation of jobs while at the same time the emerging companies will expand their hiring needs to include a broader range of employees. In the meantime there’s going to be a bit of a scramble to transition oneself into the new, emerging industries.

Keep in mind that some green industries are traditional industries that have always been environmentally minded (environmental science and natural resource management), or those that are transforming their business practices (building [including efficiency], IT). Although there might be pockets of job titles with a mismatch between skills/experience and available jobs, it’s likely to be easier to make this transition if you have some of the requisite skills.

Jumping into a New Industry During the Early Years

If you have a highly technical engineering or IT background, you may have the opportunity to make the leap into the new clean energy/clean tech sector.

Keep in mind that this transition isn’t a slam dunk. It’s going to take some pre-planning, effort, and initiative to navigate this transition. The good news is that the migration has already begun. IT CEOs are making the transition… as are other individual contributors.

To prove your case to a hiring manager in the clean energy/clean tech sector, you must be able to demonstrate:

· Who you know – One of the benefits of hiring experienced people is that they already know key players in the industry. They are well connected and know who to reach out to for what purpose.

If you are new to an industry, you must act quickly and efficiently to build your network. Although you can’t begin to hope to mock up a network that would rival someone who has been in the field for years, you can demonstrate that you are able to make strategic connections. Attending meetings, joining professional associations, working your LinkedIn connections are all a good start. Remember this is more than just collecting names to add to your address book. This is building solid peer-to-peer or peer-to-mentor relationships that will continue to pay off for years to come.

· What you know about your target industry – Certainly the more you know about your target industry the better off you are going to be. This may mean taking courses, earning a certificate, learning through reading about and tracking developments in the field. Anything you can do to bolster your knowledge about your new industry is probably worth doing. Even volunteering strategically, taking a short term internship, or finding a fellowship will be beneficial in building your knowledge base.

· What you know about sustainability and climate – Companies are also looking for employees who have a strong grasp of issues relating to sustainability and climate change. More and more this is a must have skill set. In a recent study, The Engaged Organization: Corporate Employee Environmental Education Survey and Case Study Findings by the National Environmental Education Foundation, 78% of companies expect this hiring factor to become more and more important over time. Currently 65% of companies indicate that they value environmental and sustainability knowledge in areas such as calculating carbon footprint, energy efficiency strategies, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Whether you gain this knowledge by reading books on your own, taking an online course, getting a certificate through a local school, or earning a degree, the key is that you realize that this information isn’t a nice-to-have part of your portfolio. If you want to work in the green/clean/sustainable economy, you must come prepared to participate fully.

· What experience you have – If you are a mid-career professional it’s likely you have a resume full of work experiences in a variety of companies and settings. Take a tour through your resume to pull out scenarios and results that are analogous to the field you want to move into.

Wanting to be in this new, emerging industry isn’t enough. You must demonstrate that the previous experiences you’ve had are transferrable and relevant. Be realistic. Do enough homework to know when your existing knowledge and experience are relevant and how they are relevant to the company you are interviewing with. Don’t be so cocky as to imagine you have all the experience you need. Knowing where your experience falls short and where you have to take on a learners mind is going to be critical. Employers in this emerging environment want to hire people with experience. When they can’t do that, they’ll need to hire people who fit into the culture, who have enough of the basics to be teachable.

· Willingness and ability to learn in the moment – You must be able to show that you can step into a new arena and swim. You may have to swim furiously at first to stay afloat, but you demonstrate that you aren’t going to drown or sink the ship!

If you have experience in the early days of another industry, find ways to add relevant stories to your networking and interviewing conversations. Let people know you’ve been around the block a few times and you are confident you can handle the learning curve in this industry.

Although each of these strategies will help you land a job in a new industry, it’s the entire package that’s going to attract the most attention. Granted this process will take some time. If you need to change positions now, look for a position in an industry that will help you bridge the gap between where you’ve worked before and where you ultimately want to work.

Copyright © 2010 Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc.

An Opportunity for You: Become a Member of the Green Career Central Industry Tracker Team

Would you like to gain a deeper understanding of your target green industry?

Then consider joining our team of Industry Trackers who help us create detailed green industry profiles about a variety of sectors. We’ll be sending out a detailed message about this opportunity next week, so be sure to tell us you are interested in:

Please take a moment to sign up to receive special announcements about becoming part of the Industry Tracker Team.

In addition to the Industry Tracker positions, we'll use this list to announce some short-term internship projects.

Green Career Central Blog:

Follow the Green Money: Financing keeps flowing to solar, bio-based chemicals, and the grid. Check out the details and funding sources here.

Green Career Trends: Several unexpected organizations play starring roles in this week’s trends. Chevron installing 7,700 solar panels at a former refinery, a Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative has been created to educate consumers, and multiple organizations focusing on fresh water resources.

If you are searching for your place in the green economy, check out how Green Career Central can help you shorten the path to your green career.

"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. Thanks Carol."

~WG Becoming an Energy Systems Consultant

Read what other members are saying about Green Career Central.

What's New at GreenCareerCentral.com

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!

Prepare for Your Green Career

Are you looking for some ideas on how you can prepare yourself to move into your green career goal? Choose the link to find suggestions you are looking for:

Green Your Current Job
Volunteer for Green Organizations
Gain Green Experience
Get a Green Education

If you are ready to take action to reach your green career goal, you are ready to move to Step 7 on Green Career Central. At each link you’ll find suggestions whether you are looking to:

Start Your Green Job Search
Launch Your Green Business

Did You Know...

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