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Are you ready to take action toward your green career? Have you been unable to attend our teleclasses? Now you can get the information you need to move forward in our new audio product: Get Going on Your Green Career. Read below for more information.

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.

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 for this event, and our other upcoming teleclasses and events.

Are you planning for your encore career? Are you passionate about the green economy? Read this week's tip to learn about the numerous possibilities for you!

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New Audio Product: Get Going on Your Green Career

You know you want a green career -- that part is clear.

But where do you start?

Our new 3-part audio series gives you the information and motivation you need to jumpstart your quest for a green career.

The "Get Going on Your Green Career" audio series will help you...

Are you ready to Get Going on Your Green Career? Find out how!

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 tomorrow! Let us know if you are interested in 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.

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.
(Log on to Green Career Central to Register for these teleclasses

that are included in your membership)

Expand Your Green Network - Building a strong, vibrant green network is one of the most important steps you can take to find your green career. Each month during this Members Only call, you’ll discover a new networking strategy and actively network with other Green Career Central Members. Join us!

Wednesday, April 14, 10 AM Pacific
An Interactive Networking Event
Log in to Register

Members Only Guest Interview - This month join us for our guest interview with Elinor Stutz, author of the upcoming book entitled HIRED! Did you know the interview really isn’t about you? Discover how you can use sales techniques to position yourself to outshine your competition. Even if you aren't quite ready to interview for your green job, use this opportunity to improve your interviewing skills.

Wednesday, April 28, 5 PM Pacific
Log in to Register

Tip of the Week: Green Encore Careers: Using Your Existing Experience in a New Career

You’ve no doubt seen media stories about the green economy offering employment opportunities to blue collar workers, trades people, and those who have worked on manufacturing lines. A handful of non-profits and think tanks have dedicated hours, money, and political clout to push the notion that the green economy is an ideal way to put people to work with good paying jobs with benefits. Most often the focus is on young people, under-employed urban residents, union workers, and displaced workers. We support this work and we also believe that green collar jobs are only part of the story.

Since the early days of the green/clean/sustainable economy, we’ve always seen the abundant opportunities available to white collar professionals as well – think designers, engineers, inventors, chemists, scientists, planners, marketers, policy makers, and many more. If you look at the entire green economy landscape it’s clear we need people filling all positions from top to bottom, in a full array of industries. As I researched my book, Green Careers for Dummies, I discovered over 50 industries and sectors making concerted efforts to move toward greener, cleaner, more sustainable business practices. To transform our economy, we need ALL hands on deck!

Encore Careers

We recently discovered a national think tank, Civic Ventures, dedicated to “boomers, work, and social purpose.” They are sponsoring a campaign, called Encore Careers, to inspire boomers to contribute their talents, experience, and passion to solve the knotty problems we face as a society.

According to the 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey, people are already moving from their mid-life career to an encore career where they can use their skills to make a difference. Consider this: 5.3 million to 8.4 million people age 44 to 70 have already made a transition to an encore career. Of those who haven’t made the transition yet, over half of them want to! Thirty-one percent of these individuals want to address environmental issues in some way.

This generation has an important role to play in the unfolding and evolving green economy! Think of the collective wisdom, knowledge, and experience within this group! Your real-life experience is an asset that you can leverage in the new economy. In fact, what you know may be highly sought after as companies run into a shortage of talent on key positions they need to manage their growth in the coming years. (I know it’s hard to believe given the state of the economy at the moment, but there are already green/clean companies having a hard time finding the employees they need.)

Encore Careers With Potential Right Now

A new report “How Boomers Can Help the Nation Go Green: Emerging Encore Career Opportunities in the Green Economy” by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, Civic Ventures, and MetLIfe Foundation, provides a list of eight green positions that are personally fulfilling, provide continued impact, and have an impact. As they were preparing this list they considered a number of factors to ensure these jobs are readily available, likely to be in demand into the future, and suit the needs of those wanting an encore career.

Energy Efficiency – Jobs in this arena include energy auditors, crew leaders, and installers.

Clean Energy Generation – Positions in this area focus on solar in the form of contractors and trainers.

Conservation and Sustainability – For those interested in this area, consider outreach, advocates, and consultants.

For more information about these positions, including why it’s an area worth exploring and the relevant training requirements, see pages 6-12 of the report.

Other Encore Careers to Watch

I agree with the areas they’ve highlighted in this report, and I believe there are additional opportunities out there as well. Although I can’t guarantee exactly when the following careers will take off in large numbers, I do believe they will become critical parts of our economy moving forward.

Smart Grid – This sector is likely to have a bigger impact on our economy and our lives than computers and the internet! Estimates vary as to the best way to quantify the market potential, but suffice to say, it’s going to be big! If you have worked in utilities or have been in IT or telecommunications, I’d recommend you learn as much as you can about the transition that’s underway to transform the existing grid into a smart grid. Specific job titles aren’t easy to list at this point, but starting to learn about the sector now will help you see where your skills will be an asset.

Environmental Education – As companies become more committed to becoming more sustainable, employees will need to understand issues associated with climate change and sustainability. It’s likely training efforts will be required to get all employees up to speed. Whether education happens in house or through third party organizations, the training is going to have to happen. If you have an environmental science background, or experience educating others, this may be a good encore career for you.

Carbon Accounting and Carbon Trading – Another green industry to watch is a brand new field. Although you’ll need to watch for policies and laws that will define this industry, it’s likely that companies will need to account for the carbon and greenhouse gases they emit. The people who will track, report on, verify, and trade based on these numbers will need to be well trained and reliable. Whether we will have a cap and trade system or a carbon tax is unknown at the moment, but at some point it’s likely there will be a system of some sort to manage carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.

Don’t worry if you aren’t drawn to these three areas; there are other industries and sectors to explore! Remember there are at least 50 industries and sectors that are making concerted efforts to green their business practices.

Copyright © 2010 Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc.

Green Career Central Blog:

Follow the Green Money: Solar manufacturing, biofuel labs and lithium ion batteries all received funding this week. Check this post for details.

Green Career Trends: New trends this week include an artificial leaf that mimics photosynthesis, official new efficiency standards for vehicles, and a thin, light, recyclable packaging. Amazing stuff.

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

Coming Soon

We are working behind the scenes on several new services that we’ll be announcing this month in celebration of Earth Day… can’t wait to share them!! Watch your email each Tuesday for news of these services.

Explore Your Green Career Options

If you’ve identified your green niche, then your next step is to investigate your target industry. At this link you’ll find time effective ways to investigate your green niche.

If you’ve just become a member this is your #1 destination! This step will help you determine what you want to do within the green economy.

Did You Know...

...if you missed a Tip of the Week, you can read the archived publications?

Green Career Tips Archive

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Copyright (c) 2007-2010. Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Green Career Central^TM is a trademark of Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc

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