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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
No matter what field you’re in, if you’re interviewing for jobs, you’re likely to encounter interviewers who ask, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
It might sound like a straightforward question on the surface, but job seekers routinely struggle over how to best answer it. Often the struggle is because they have no idea where they see themselves in five years. Or they have some hopes about where they’ll be, but are acutely aware that even the best-laid career plans can change, and so they feel odd about giving an answer that implies certainty. Or they feel that their goals aren’t very specific; they want to do interesting work and hopefully make more money doing it, but most figure that’s not a strong answer and that the interviewer is looking for a clear plan with commitment behind it.
So let’s start by translating the question. “Where do you see yourself in five years?” is another way of saying, “How does this position fit in with your overall short-term and medium-term career goals for yourself?”
In other words, interviewers who ask this question aren’t asking you to write your plans in stone or commit to them with certainty. They’re asking you how you see this job fitting in with your overall plan for your career. If it helps, you can also think of it as, “How does this job fit in with where you see your career going?”
Interviewers want to know this because they want a better understanding of your overall goals for yourself and how this job is a part of that. That matters to them because they want to hire someone who will be excited about the job and where it will lead them, whether that’s to a higher-level position or just increased accomplishment or satisfaction. They want to know that you’re not just applying for jobs randomly and taking whatever you can get, because if you are, you’re more likely to get bored or leave as soon as something else comes along. By showing your interviewer how the job fits in with your overall goals, you can show that you’ll be excited to do the work and aren’t likely to leave prematurely.
So what might a good answer sound like? Here’s one example: “In five years, I’d love to have increased my skill level enough that I’m able to train others how to do this work. I love this work, and I’ve found that I really enjoy mentoring colleagues, so I’d be thrilled to be able to combine the two—continuing to work in a role like this one, but with a training or mentoring component to it.”
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
How much time do you spend every day at your job? How much of that time do you spend frustrated that your green personal life doesn’t translate in the workplace, wanting to do more with your professional life? If you daydream about aligning your personal convictions with a fulfilling and inspiring professional position, then maybe it’s time to think about a green job search.
With the stock market scuffling and the economy having a tough time, the conventional job market isn’t what it once was. How can you ensure that your job isn’t going to go the way of your portfolio? Heed the words of Van Jones, whose new book, The Green Collar Economy, lays out a path to a greener future that starts today. Jones says, “The time has come for the nation to give greater support to the problem solvers—the clean-energy producers, green builders, eco-entrepreneurs, community educators, green-collar workers, and green consumers. We have the chance now to create new markets, new technology, new industries, and a new workforce. Let’s do it right—with good wages, equal opportunity, and pathways to success for those whom the pollution-based economy left behind.”
If you’re ready to claim your piece of the pie in the booming green job market, be heartened that hundreds of thousands of jobs are springing up, thanks to green trends or laws and funding related to peak oil or climate change. The wages for many specialties in environmental or green fields are higher than average. But how do you know which one of the new or existing green-collar jobs fits your personality and skills? And how do you find your dream green job? The time is right to make the leap to a green job.
Maybe you have other reasons to think about a green job search, too. Once upon a time, being a greenie was about “us” against “them,” about standing on the outside throwing rotten fruits, marching behind banners demanding a better world, or even making the ultimate sacrifice of life or liberty to take action. The new generation of activists and greenies has found that “we” are “them.” Not only are our choices the choices that drive the markets, but we can be much more effective changing the world from the inside. You can make a real difference by working for sustainability.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
By official count, the United States has 3.1 million jobs where people make products or provide services to help the environment or conserve natural resources—in other words, green jobs.
Add in jobs that don’t make it into the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) formal tally—including anyone who works for themselves in a green business or works at a company where a minority of revenue comes from green goods—and the number is even higher, and growing.
If Earth Day, which takes place April 22, has you contemplating a career change to a green-collar job, here are some things to consider:
1. It’s easier to track green job resources.
In 2010, U.S. green jobs accounted for 2.4 percent of the country’s employment, according to a March 22 report from the BLS. The federal government began tracking statistics on green employment two years ago and since then has developed resources to help job seekers learn about green jobs, including the Green Careers section on the labor department’s website. Job hunters can use the section to look up employment and salary data for 202 occupations and get information on degrees and other training.
2. Location matters.
If you’re looking, look where jobs are most prevalent. Vermont has the highest ratio of green jobs to the general work force, with 4.4 percent of all jobs in the clean economy, according to the BLS green jobs report. The District of Columbia ranks No. 2, with 3.9 percent of positions classified as green jobs. More states are tracking green jobs and creating websites to share information. The Green Careers section of Minnesota’s ISEEK career website, for example, spotlights the state’s green industries and lists openings. Job hunters also can take self-assessment tests, find out what skills they’d need for various green occupations, and learn more about training, internships and volunteering. Maryland set up this Green Job page on the state’s Labor Department website to share information on jobs and training. Californians, who hold 338,400 green jobs, can explore eco-friendly occupations on sites such as GreenJobsCalifornia, California Green Jobs Corps and the California Energy Commission’s Clean Energy Jobs site.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Does career happiness seem out of reach?
According to a University of Wisconsin study about happiness in midlife, career satisfaction is possible, but it depends on your definition of “happiness.”
If you’re like me, you may have grown up with the idea that career happiness is related to an ever-larger paycheck and all the things it can buy. Or maybe you thought everything would be great once you achieved that important-sounding title or corner office with a view.
There’s no disputing that these things can bring pleasure. But this type of happiness, the kind that emphasizes status and materialistic pursuits, tends to be short-lived.
Career happiness comes from doing “good work”
The study found that a much longer-lasting type of happiness results from doing work you love rather than working for the sake of short-term gains. You experience this type of happiness when your focus is on relationships, community, and work that provides a sense of meaning and purpose.
Another study, this one from the University of Chicago, found the same thing – that career satisfaction is not related to prestige or income level, but rather involves “caring for, teaching, and protecting others and creative pursuits.” The happiest workers are those who serve other people in some way, and feel like they’re contributing to something larger than themselves.
All of this fits with what I’m seeing in my own clients. More and more people are looking for “good work” – work that’s meaningful and provides them with a sense of purpose. I don’t see people in midlife looking back at all the good times they had or how much money they made. In their 40s and 50s, they begin looking back to make sense of their lives – did they live purposefully, did they make the most of the gifts they were born with?
So, based on these studies, what can you do to have career happiness?
Find what you’re good at. Identify what you really enjoy doing. You have a set of unique gifts and talents that are there to be used. If you’re like many people in midlife, you’ve grown tired of outdated definitions of success and are ready to find work that fits who you are. Your priorities have changed. You’d like your work to feel like a calling.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
Monday, April 29, 2013
The growing field is currently dominated by men.
Claire, Carly, and Arzoo are ambitious, some of the hardest working people I’ve ever worked with. They are determined to make a difference with their college degrees in sustainability and communications when they graduate in 2014, and with supportive families and greats , they are off to a strong start.
Working with me at Green Connections Radio, they hear about all these cool green energy jobs, and how the average pay in STEM careers is about $7,000 above the average. They listen to successful women and men talk about the industry and the opportunities for rewarding careers in this field. They get excited about their own career prospects. But also see how few women are in this field.
A Promising Jobs Sector
Kate Gordon, Director of the Advanced Energy and Sustainability program at The Center for the Next Generation, compared the massive impact of the innovations in energy and sustainability to the high-tech revolution. “(W)ould you call a police officer in his patrol car…. part of the hi-tech economy? Probably not, but he’s using a computer every day during his job and it’s fundamentally changed his job…. The green economy is sort of similar to that…it will have a profound impact on the entire economy as we do these transformations.”
It’s starting to transform the economy already.
Employment in 2011 in Green Goods and Services grew by 4.9 percent, much higher than overall job growth, which was 1.2 percent, according to Nicholas Fett, an Economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This includes jobs in renewable energy, but not in fossil fuels.
The Pew Clean Energy Action Plan 2012 declares the global economy is at “The Clean Energy Tipping Point” with worldwide clean energy investments 600 percent higher than in 2004, to $263 billion, creating “thousands of jobs in the United States and around the world. Globally, an estimated 5 million jobs were connected to the clean energy sector by the end of 2011.” They predict the clean energy sector “could expand to $1.9 trillion in revenues between 2012 and 2018….” And says, “The International Energy Agency forecasts that clean energy will provide half the electricity generation capacity installed over the next 25 years….(attracting) up to $5.9 trillion worth of investment.”
The fossil fuel-based energy sector is bursting at the seams, too, especially in natural gas, expecting to create up to 3 million jobs over the next few years, according to George Blitz, Vice President of Energy and Climate Change at Dow Chemical.
Public and private Investors are investing in disruptive and incremental energy-related technologies, because they all see the need for and transformative nature of clean-tech—and the economic boom it will bring.
Arzoo wondered aloud in blog post whether there will indeed be a job for her upon graduation. “With the U.S. mired in political gridlock, ‘sequester’ spending cuts taking effect, and an economy riddled with unemployment, does a focus on green energy make sense in this financial climate? Will there be a job for me in this field when I graduate college in 2014?”
Maybe Not
Of the millions of jobs in the energy sector, only 12 percent are held by women, according to the renowned research firm Catalyst, and the BLS reports that only 13.6 percent of engineers and architects are women. One key job growing as a result of clean tech innovation is that of electrician, especially with development of the smart grid and new energy efficiency technologies. The BLS projects the number of electricians to increase by 23.2 percent by 2020. How many electricians are women? Just over two percent, the same as in 1970, according to the Census. Another economic opportunity lost to women.
Furthermore, the most growth in Green Goods and Services jobs in 2011 by far, according to the BLS, came from the heavily male-dominated manufacturing and construction industries. What’s worse, the jobs being cut are generally held by women, that is, state and local government jobs. Heather Boushey, economist with the Center for American Progress, explained in Slate that, “State budget crises have led to job losses that disproportionately affect women, who make up the majority of state and local government employees.”
Only 18.4 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering are awarded to women, 22.6 percent of master’s degrees, and engineering Ph.D.‘s to women decreased one percent to 21.8 percent in 2011.
A key entry point for entrepreneurial innovations and the funding to back them are Small Business Innovation Research grants, or SBIRs, awarded by the government. SBIR grants provide seed funding and are a kind of “seal of approval” that attracts more investment from both public and private investors. How many cleantech SBIRs go to women?
Only six to seven percent of the applicants for SBIR grants are women and that number hasn’t changed since 1983, according to Dr. Tina Kaarsberg, SBIR/STTR Lead in the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office.
Women not getting these critical research grants, or energy and STEM jobs, or engineering degrees, means that women are not in the pipeline for the economic gains from these innovations and jobs of the future.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Monday, April 22, 2013
Green the Job You’ve Got
Whether you work in a small or a large company, or founded your own business, there are probably ways eco-performance can be improved, which is a good way to get some green momentum going before you take the plunge and hit the open market. Get inspired with our How to Go Green: At Work. You can start with some great EnergyStar Tips, like going paperless in your office or cubicle, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Green your commute, or telecommute. Find your professional wardrobe at the thrift store. Green your office environment and your lunch habits. Then get your colleagues in on the fun. Your green efforts now will make great fodder for conversation when you finally get your job interview with Green & Co.
Go Where there’s Growth
The green job market is booming. The demand for environmental or atmospheric scientists, hydrologists, urban planners, landscape architects, sustainable designers and environmental teachers outstrips the average economic growth rate. Consulting firms are all targeting this juicy market and hiring to serve it. Opening your own business in green niche markets may be attractive. Funds and donations for environmental causes are supporting more non-governmental organizations and activist groups. Financial types are all running after the “triple bottom line” and windfarm investments. All this adds up to one thing: going green is big business, and there are new jobs created every day to support the burgeoning industry.
Follow your Heart
Join green groups, read green blogs, enjoy an evening at green drinks (or start a green drinks if there’s not one in your area). Keep track of which topics draw you in. Do your ears perk up at the mention of organic corn; does alternative energy spark your interest; do you have a desire to design? When you meet someone whose green career you envy or admire, start asking questions: What do they love about their job? What do they hate? You may find your rosy picture dulled by reality. Or your interest may be further piqued. Even if you don’t make it all the way to career change, you will have a lot of fun learning and make new friends.
Inventory your Strengths
If you are like most people, you will be happiest doing the things you do best. So think of this step as a quest for self-fulfillment rather than as a thankless chore necessary for putting bullet points on a new resume. Write down the three things you like best about your current job. Then write down the three biggest successes you have had in the past several years. What are the skills you used to generate that success? Finally, write down the three things you think you could do or would like to do. Do you have the skills to realistically pursue your wishes? Which skills should you improve for your dream job? Use this improved understanding of your own drives and capabilities to steer your search for the next step in your career. (And put them on your resume: that way you’ll get the job you were put on this blue earth to do.)
Decide: Are you an Outsider or an Insider?
Sustainable development needs all types of people. Activists’ demands spur social trends which regulators must respect. Without regulators, businesses would react only to market demand. But committed designers, engineers, planners, managers, operators and others inside of business and industry are essential to drive real change, rather than simple greenwashing. Is it sacrificing your green principles if you take a job with the “worst company in the business”? No! In fact, that may be where you are best placed to make the biggest potential difference. So if you have the gumption, consider going over to the “dark side” to see if you can make it brighter. At a minimum, do not fear that you are betraying your principals by going to work for the company that lags in the green field; they need you.
Start Networking
By now, you have some contacts in a few green fields and you have an idea what you want. It is time to get strategic in your networking. Ask your contacts in the area of your interest for introductions, and references. Katherine Hansen reports in A Foot in the Door that over 75 percent of jobs are never advertised (it’s not what you know, it’s who you know!). Your network will be the key to finding your dream green job.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
Monday, April 22, 2013
How much time do you spend every day at your job? How much of that time do you spend frustrated that your green personal life doesn’t translate in the workplace, wanting to do more with your professional life? If you daydream about aligning your personal convictions with a fulfilling and inspiring professional position, then maybe it’s time to think about a green job search.
With the stock market scuffling and the economy having a tough time, the conventional job market isn’t what it once was. How can you ensure that your job isn’t going to go the way of your portfolio? Heed the words of Van Jones, whose new book, The Green Collar Economy, lays out a path to a greener future that starts today. Jones says, “The time has come for the nation to give greater support to the problem solvers—the clean-energy producers, green builders, eco-entrepreneurs, community educators, green-collar workers, and green consumers. We have the chance now to create new markets, new technology, new industries, and a new workforce. Let’s do it right—with good wages, equal opportunity, and pathways to success for those whom the pollution-based economy left behind.”
If you’re ready to claim your piece of the pie in the booming green job market, be heartened that hundreds of thousands of jobs are springing up, thanks to green trends or laws and funding related to peak oil or climate change. The wages for many specialties in environmental or green fields are higher than average. But how do you know which one of the new or existing green-collar jobs fits your personality and skills? And how do you find your dream green job? The time is right to make the leap to a green job.
Maybe you have other reasons to think about a green job search, too. Once upon a time, being a greenie was about “us” against “them,” about standing on the outside throwing rotten fruits, marching behind banners demanding a better world, or even making the ultimate sacrifice of life or liberty to take action. The new generation of activists and greenies has found that “we” are “them.” Not only are our choices the choices that drive the markets, but we can be much more effective changing the world from the inside. You can make a real difference by working for sustainability.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
Monday, April 22, 2013
Searching for a job, especially when you’re unemployed, is one of the most stressful and anxiety-producing experiences adults face. Here are eight ways to keep your sanity during your search.
1. Don’t obsess over one particular job. If you tend to agonize about particular jobs—did they like you? When will you hear something back?—Stop it! The best thing for your state of mind is to move on mentally after sending off your application or having an interview. There’s nothing to be gained by obsessing and waiting and wondering. Instead, move on. Pretend you were already rejected, or that you never applied. If the employer calls you, great. If they don’t, you’ve already moved on anyway. And there’s nothing to be gained from stressing yourself out waiting.
2. Stop trying to read “signals” into what interviewers do and don’t say. Job seekers often try to read between the lines of all sorts of things: If the interviewer didn’t say they’d be in touch, does it mean you didn’t get the job? They sent back a nice response to your thank-you note; does that mean your chances are good? Most of these “signals” don’t mean anything at all, and looking for meaning in them can drive you crazy.
3. Don’t feel you have to give perfect interviews. If you play over every interview in your head and kick yourself for not giving better answers—or if you’re terrified before interviews because you might mess up—know that interviewers don’t expect you to be perfect. In fact, there’s no such thing as a “perfect” interviewee, and your competition isn’t giving perfect interviews either. You’re not a professional job interviewee, and employers don’t expect you to be. They know you’re human. And they are too.
4. Don’t agonize over why you didn’t get a job. There’s generally no way to know from the outside why you didn’t get hired. Sure, maybe they hated your interview answers, but more likely, someone else was simply a better candidate. Or they hired the CEO’s niece, or promoted someone internally, or canceled the position altogether. There’s no way to know, and you’ll drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out.
5. Don’t stress over things that don’t matter. The way you name your resume file, the fact that you can’t find the hiring manager’s name to put on your cover letter, whether you wear the grey suit or the navy one—these things don’t matter. Focus on the substance: using your resume, cover letter, and interview to show that you’d excel at the job.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Trying to set yourself apart in the entry-level job market can be a challenge. Although the number of jobs are increasing, employers are still looking for talented candidates with in-demand skills.
Multiple Internships
College students who want to truly want to stand out will make sure they have several internships on their resume. Internship experience connects to personal branding because it provides the foundation for what makes you an ideal entry-level job candidate. If you can learn in-demand skills during your internship, this will provide you with something unique for your personal brand and make you a marketable candidate.
Employers are looking for entry-level candidates who already have industry experience. By building up your resume with a variety internship experience, you will be ahead of the game. Most college grads already have one or two internships on their resume – but if you can have three or four solid internships – employers will automatically put you at the top of their list of potential candidates. These internships will give you the extra push in the job market and contribute to your personal brand.
Personal Brand
Employers want to know what makes you unique as well as your marketable skills. Students who want to be marketable college grads can build their brand through a blog or personal website. This will allow you to add something to your portfolio that showcases your personality and experience to recruiters and employers.
However, this can be hard to do for college students in their first year of school. If you’re only a freshman or sophomore in college, you may not know what kind of career you want. When beginning your personal brand as a college student, start building it around a hobby you are passionate about. This will be one of the easiest ways to find inspiration for your personal brand.
For example, let’s say you enjoy baseball. Start up a blog about your experience going to games and your favorite players. As you develop your brand, evolve your blogging into news and opinion pieces focusing on the latest trends in baseball. After having a few internships in sports communication under your belt , you are able to provide industry advice in your blog. By the time you graduate college, you will be known as the passionate, baseball-loving college grad ready to work in sports communication.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
Thursday, April 18, 2013
A statewide campaign is underway to urge Governor Cuomo to create jobs and grow the economy with renewable energy.
With windmills spinning at the former Bethlehem Steel plant as a backdrop, members of nearly a dozen environmental groups and community organizations helped launch the Sierra Club’s “Let’s Turn, Not Burn” campaign at the Small Boat Harbor in Buffalo Tuesday.
Cornell University Professor Robert Howarth says he and several other climate change scientists are alarmed by the rate of global warming.
“The Earth has warmed seven-tenths of a degree Celsius over the last few decades and we’re on track to be one-and-a-half to two degrees warmer within the next 15 to 35 years unless society starts to do something differently,” Howarth says.
Howarth says controlling methane and carbon dioxide can be done with technologies available today like wind and solar. He says the program is cost-competitive once the healthcare costs of burning fossil fuels are factored in.
Linda Schneekloth, Chair of the Sierra Club’s Niagara Group, says the governor can take administrative action to level the playing field between fossil fuels and renewables. Schneekloth says a four-year-old “feed and tarriff” program in Ontario is proving successful.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National, News
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