Help in Finding a Green Job

by the staff at JuJu.com

There’s a lot of talk about “green jobs” these days, but no broadly accepted definition of exactly what the term means or which industries and job functions it applies to. So, if you’ve decided that you want to use it to describe the job you’re looking for, the first step may be to answer the question, “what does “green” mean to you?” Does it involve wildlife protection, climate policy, energy efficient technology, or something else? Which aspects of those issues/industries have the most personal appeal? Which can you apply your existing skill sets to?

Once you’ve established a personal definition of “green jobs”, check your work by looking at what others consider to be “green” employment. The California offices of the Environmental Defense Fund have put together a Green Jobs Guidebook. The guide has a stated emphasis on climate change (and California), but seeks to treat the topic broadly and offers lots of detail and many specific job titles/categories it considers to be green, like forestry and conservation jobs. Use it, and other resources, to help you enhance your personal definition of “green” and to ensure that you’ve covered all the areas you might be interested in.

Once you’ve figured out what you’re looking for and how it relates to your existing skills, you’ll need to update your resume to reflect that focus. Professional skills should definitely be front and center, but you may also want to consider beefing up material related to your personal interests and activities. If you’ve spent lots of time volunteering for organizations that are related to your chosen “green” field, then you should definitely highlight that experience. If you haven’t, and it’s relevant, then you might want to seek out those opportunities to bolster your resume and demonstrate your personal commitment to the issue in question.