How to Find a Bright Green Job in the Dull Gray EconomyDan Smolen

Managing Director, The Green Suits, LLC

April 16, 2015

My Green Job Journey

• Accidental environmentalist (1978)

• Marketing, communications, sales executive (1983-1998)• Developed successful campaigns for large consumer goods brands• Shocked by brands’ hazardous environmental and societal impacts

• Talent recruitment (1998-current)• Started own recruiting firm (2005)• Brief political career reconnected me with environmentalism• Few recruiters address the workforce impact of green jobs and careers• Rebranded as The Green Suits, LLC (2010)• Talent search, workforce planning, and success management for green

business and social good• Wrote

Tailoring the Green Suit; Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy (2010)• Op/ed columnist, speaker, radio program guest (2010-current)

2Leaders in Energy: Green Jobs (April 2015)

This Green Business Recruiter’s Perspective: The Skies are Clearing…

• 5.5% unemployment (3/2015) vs. 10%+ (2009)• 295k jobs added in 2/2015,

follows a year of month-to-month gains

• Strong turnover• 5.1 million job openings 2/2015

(highest since 2001)• 2.7 million “quits” 2/2015 (53%)

• Positive consumer outlook

• Green job availability is increasing, 3.1 million created (2012)

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…But the Economy is Dull Gray• Actual

unemployment exceeds 10%ShadowStats: 23%

• New hires earning less than before• AARP: 47% of laid off

mid-career talent get new jobs paying less

• Millennials making gains, but struggling

• Green job creation hasn’t scaled as we thought (2008 forecast: 5 million)

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And the Green Jobs that are Available…

• Many go unfilled

• Managers often require talent to have green job skill, experience, and training

• One’s advanced degrees, good for non-green tracks, may offer no benefit

• How does one get skill, experience, training, without a green job?

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You can overcome the obstacles, to find a bright green job in this dull gray economy

• Now is a great time to find a green job

• Use our 10 process points to guide you to a successful outcome

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1. Establish Your Green Job Value Proposition

• What are your green career goals?

• What skill, experience, and training do you already bring to the table?

• What makes you unique?

• What motivates you?

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1. Establish Your Green Job Value Proposition

Become familiar with available opportunities:

• TheGreenJobBank (15k national listings)

• Regional Groups

• Industry and Trade Groups

• Company Websites

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2. Acquire Green Skill, Experience & Training

Whether seasoned talent or entry-level, there are gaps you may need to fill:

• Relevant accreditation tracks

• Certification through community colleges, industry groups, etc.

• Advanced degree programs

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Association of Energy Engineers

3. Gain Green Job Experience

• Join apprenticeship programs such as EcoApprentice.com

• Join a Green Team

• Pursue skill-based volunteer opportunities at work (Deloitte)

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3. Gain Green Job Experience

• Rather be the boss?

• Make a huge impact as an eco-entrepreneur

Grossman Marketing

Yuck Old Paint, LLC

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4. Build Your Green Professional Network

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4. Build Your Green Professional Network

• Make the most of your LERCPA membership

• Aggressively pursue new LinkedIn connections with green professionals, join LinkedIn green business groups

• Facebook (becoming more useful for green business networking)

• Most important…get out there, meet face-to-face

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5. Create Your Own Green Job Advisory Board

• Advisory Boards help start-ups and entrepreneurs fill experience cavities

• Why not create an advisory board for you?

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5. Create Your Own Green Job Advisory Board

Possible advisors:

• Clean energy/cleantech leaders

• Sustainability managers

• Corporate Social Responsibility experts

• Academics in business and environmental science programs

Connect with them on LinkedIn

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Juliana Deans, Corporate Social Responsibility Advisor, Silicon Valley Community Foundation

6. Craft a Great Green Résumé

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7. Create Your Own Green Job

During performance review at your non-green job:

• Met/exceeded your boss’s and personal goals

• Established your credibility, reliability

• Propose green projects that you can supervise

• With each success, add more projects

• Exit with real green job experience

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8. Perfect Your Green Job Elevator Pitch

A great green job elevator pitch says “I am worth it!”

• Seizes opportunity

• Communicates your green subject-matter expertise

• Establishes your worthiness for a green job

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9. Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk• Become a green

thought-leader

• Write, publish, promote your own content on LinkedIn Pulse

• Speak at green industry events and gatherings

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10. Frame for Green Job Success

• Language framing in green job hunt is EVERYTHING!

• Know your audience well

• Use frames that satisfy their needs and preferences

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10. Frame for Green Job Success

Framing that helps green job candidates succeed:

• Subject-matter expertise

• Adaptability

• Team leadership

• Track record of positive results

• Financial sustainability focus

• Triple Bottom Line? Maybe…but be careful.

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It All Starts…NOW!Our best days lie ahead!

• Green job economy set to scale. Over next decade: 60-70 million new jobs (executive ranks alone)

• Clean energy will lead new job creation, barriers to entry disappearing

• Growing societal acceptance

• Millennials (90 million strong) demanding workplace that offers purposeful employment

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Thanks!Dan Smolen +1 703 835 9900dan@thegreensuits.com

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© 2015, Dan Smolen/The Green Suits, LLC

Photo and Graphic Credits

Leaders in Energy: Green Jobs (April 2015)