Whether you are trying to give career advice to upcoming graduates decidingon a career direction or advising a professional who is recently unemployed,Green jobs or sustainable energy careers are a promising path to take.
New York State is participating in a National Governor’s Association PolicyAcademy on State Sector Strategies to collaborate with state leaders in anattempt to advance sector strategies and workforce development. Green jobs andrenewable resources were listed as one of the three priority sectors which willbe addressed-the other two being healthcare and advanced manufacturing. Theirgoal is to create employment opportunities for low-wage and high-wage sectorsin these areas.
To achieve these goals, the NYS Department of Labor, in collaboration withthe New York State Education Department, State University of New York and CityUniversity of New York, is immediately undertaking an inventory of existingworkforce training programs and implementing recommendations to achieve theState’s clean energy goals. The priority clean energy sectors to be focused onare Solar Energy, which consists of Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal; Wind Energyfor both on-shore and off-shore applications; and Renewable Fuels, whichincludes both bio fuels and improved energy efficiency (weatherization).
In addition to the major job boards, some web sites that are becomingpopular in searching for “green” careers are idealist.org, justmeans.com,stopdodo.com, greencareers.com (an offshoot of Monster.com), greendreamjobs.comand greenbiz.com.
The main thing to do when pursuing a “green job” is to first determine whatarea of this broad category would be of most interest to you — such asEcotourism, green building architecture, waste management, sustainable energy,or green sustainable agriculture. Then focus in on the companies in yourgeographic area that are in a growth mode. By networking with different “green”industries, you will eventually find one that matches your talents. You willthen be able to start a career in an industry you can feel great about.Hopefully, with continuing support from New York State, your career will beable to grow apace with the phenomenal growth projected for this vital, newbusiness sector.
Tricia Folliero is a Vice President for Sanna Mattson MacLeod Inc.http://www.smmadagency.com, a marketing andadvertising firm, and directs their recruitment advertising division. She hasmore than 15 years experience in such areas as employer branding, recruitmentmarketing, hiring process re-engineering, web solutions and staffingtechnologies. She holds a BA in Business Administration from Stony BrookUniversity, is a member of the Society of Human Resources Management, andserves as Chairperson of the One-Stop Committee of the New York StateDepartment of Labor’s Workforce Investment Board.