This document discusses green careers and career advising. It defines green careers as those focused on sustainability and having a positive environmental impact. The outlook for green careers is strong, with an expected 40 million clean energy and efficiency jobs by 2030. Career centers are increasingly helping students explore green career options across many industries and majors. The document provides resources for researching green organizations and jobs and emphasizes gaining experience through internships or graduate programs. It also discusses how career advisors can incorporate sustainability values into their advising approach.

1. IT’S EASY BEING GREEN
Doug Hanvey
Career Development Center
and Arts and Sciences Career Services
Indiana University Bloomington

2. Overview
• Defining “green”
• Job outlook
• Green career advising
• Career center trends
• Green career options
• Values in career advising

3. Definitions of Green
• Green careers vs. greening of economy
• “Green” definitions
– Sustainable
– Triple bottom line

4. Outlook
• Outlook for greening of economy?
• Growth in green careers
– Like Internet boom of 90’s
– 40 million jobs in clean energy / energy
efficiency alone by 2030 (Business Week)
– “All sectors of the green economy growing faster
than their conventional counterparts” (Green
Jobs)

5. Outlook by Sector
• For-Profit / Corporate
– Next Google or Microsoft?
– Major sustainability initiatives
– Entrepreneurial opportunities
• D.light Design: people, planet, AND profit
• Nonprofit
– WiserEarth
• Government
– Largest green employer

6. Green Career Development
• 2007 MonsterTrak survey: 80% of college
graduates wanted a job that had positive
impact on earth
• Educate students about possibilities
• Top skills for green professionals
– Regular “transferable skills”
– Emphasis on
• creativity/innovation
• broad environmental knowledge

7. Liberal Arts Majors and
Green Careers
• Options in business, science, engineering
• Liberal arts?
– Wide variety of opportunities for most majors
(Kevin Doyle):
• Geography, Political Science, Economics
• Journalism, English, Communications
• Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, and
Psychology

8. Green Self-Assessment
• Focus on problems of concern in world
• Relationship to interests, values, skills, etc.

9. Green Career Research
• Organization’s policies/initiatives
– “Greenwashing”
• Web resources
– Working on reducing carbon footprint? (cdproject.net)
– Global Reporting Initiative: globalreporting.org
– CoopAmerica’s Green Pages: coopamerica.org/pubs/greenpages
– Ecopreneurist: ecopreneurist.com
– Global Reporting: globalreporting.org
– Green Biz: greenbiz.com
– Grist: grist.org
– Net Impact: netimpact.org
– Sustainable Business: sustainablebusiness.com
– Wiser Earth: wiserearth.org
• Books
– Eco Guide to Careers that Make a Difference
– Green Jobs: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment
– WetFeet: Insider Guide to Green Careers

10. Getting Experience / Job Search
• Getting experience
– Suggest green volunteer work on or off-campus
• Job search: networking ideas
– Green Professional Associations
• umich.edu/~meldi/4_genprofass.html
– Conferences / Trade Shows
• environmental-expert.com (scroll down to Events
Calendar)
• organicexpo.com; expoeast.com; expowest.com
– Basic Networking
• greendrinks.org
• indianagreencampus.org

11. Emerging Diversity in Green Jobs
• Climate Economist
• Coordinator of Sustainable Practices
• Environmental Educator
• Climate Health Coordinator
• Green Buildings & Infrastructure Intern
• Green Communications Specialist
• Green Kitchen Designer
• Solar Energy “How To Guide” Writer

12. Green Job Resources
• GreenBuzz newsletter (via greenbiz.com)
• green-jobs.monstertrak.com
• greenjobs.com
• jobs.grist.org
• Green Dream Jobs at sustainablebusiness.com
• idealist.org
• bsr.org/resources/jobs/index.cfm
• jobs.treehugger.com
• environmentalcareer.com
• americorps.org
• ecojobs.com

13. Suggestions for Students
• Have skills? Begin search
• Need skills?
– Get experience
– Graduate school
• Many innovative green graduate program options
• Entrepreneurship
• “Green” a current or prospective job

14. Greening Career Centers
• University of Colorado
• University of North Carolina
• Arizona State University
• University of South Carolina
• University of Vermont
• IU Bloomington
• IUPUI

15. Brainstorming Activity
• Choose a note taker. Brainstorm and list:
– How might sustainability issues affect or
change common occupations in this field?
• How might people now working in the field need to
think or do things differently?
– What new occupations in this field might be
useful or necessary? Be creative!
– How might this discipline begin working
synergistically with other disciplines on
sustainability concerns?

16. Values Exploration for
Green Career Advisors
• Learn about sustainability
• Keep up with trends
• Consider discussing environmental impacts of career choices:*
– “Career counseling should take into account and create awareness of the
environmental impact of vocational choices.”
– “Career development services should play a proactive role in establishing
training and educational opportunities with a positive contribution in
environmental terms.”
– “Career development services themselves should inspect their own
practice: How ‘green’ are our routines in the office/school in terms of, for
example, recycling waste and cutting down on power consumption?”
*Plant, P., in the Journal of Employment Counseling, Sept. 1999, Vol. 36, pp.
131-140

17. Values in Green Career Advising
• “Some career counselors will find this approach
dangerously fundamentalistic . . . and directive as
opposed to non-directive Rogerian counseling. At its
best, however, green career development could be
proactive, questioning, probing, reflexive, and client-
centered in the real sense: it still leaves the decisions
to the client, but, perhaps, on a higher note of
personal commitment. Moreover, especially in
relation to globalization, it puts career counseling into
a central position – environmental issues and
concerns have no boundaries.”*
*Plant, P., in the Journal of Employment Counseling, Sept. 1999, Vol. 36, pp. 131-
140

18. The End
• Want Powerpoint?
– Email Doug Hanvey: dhanvey@indiana.edu
– Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery!