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Reaching Out to Your Network to Enrich What You Know About Your Target Green Industry
March 18, 2010
By: Randi Bussin-Career Coach, Personal Branding Specialist
Today is our last guest post by Carol McClelland, author of Green Careers for Dummies. If you have questions for Carol, visit our blog anytime today and ask her your questons LIVE! Thank you Carol for all your great widom and advice.
After gaining a basic understanding of your target green industry through online research, it’s time to reach out to your contacts. The people who are doing work in your target industry are your best source for up-to-date trends and industry information with a local/regional emphasis.
Whether you reach out to people in person or through online social networking methods, remember to keep your focus on your exploration of your target industry during the initial phases of your research. In other words, your goal is not to search out job openings at this point in your journey. Your job is to connect with people who can help you discover as much as you can about your target industry.
(1) Define your current research goal.
· When you first begin your focus will be on understanding the industry in general.
· Then your need for information becomes more specific as you begin to refine
your green career goal based on the information you are gathering.
· As you build a picture of your target career, focus your networking
conversations on the topics where you have gaps in your own knowledge.
· Eventually your research focus will shift to identifying companies that hire
people with your expertise.
(2) Plan ahead. Review what you know about your contact. What can you discern about their background and work history that is relevant to your research goals? What questions can you ask to tap into their knowledge and experience?
(3) Know how you are going to describe your green career aspiration. Be as clear and concise as possible. If you aren’t completely clear yet, focus on the elements of your career goal that you are clear about.
(4) Be specific when stating your requests. As you ask your contact for information, referrals, and resources, state your need as precisely as you can. Rather than saying, do you know where I could network with others interested in green/sustainable business? Craft a specific question, such as, I’ve been researching various professional associations that meet locally. I’ve identify X and Y. Are you familiar with any other professional associations in this industry area that meet in our area? If they don’t know of anything, ask if they know someone who might.
(5) Focus on building and strengthening your relationship with your contact. Don’t think of your contact meetings as a one time event. Establish ways to build an ongoing relationship.
(6) Keep your contacts informed of your progress and direction. Remember, your contacts are very likely to be the people who will point you to job openings that will fit your needs. To make sure you stay in their minds, be sure to be in touch with your contacts on a regular basis with updates of your progress. If you change or refine your direction, be sure to let all of your contacts know so they will know what resources, referrals, and job openings will be best for you.
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Thanks for your questions. There are a number of strategies I recommend for finding companies in your geographic area. Here are a few to get you started.
* Your local media - regional newspaper or business journal - can be a good starting point. Watch for information about companies that are highlighted for receiving funding or for making an announcement about new initiatives or results.
* Identify the industry/trade association in your field to see if they have a local chapter. If they do, attend the meetings and scour their web site to see if you can tell which companies belong and are active.
* See if you can locate a blog or other resource that tracks funding announcements. The companies that are in renewable energy are likely to be receiving VC funding or stimulus money.
If you haven't checked out www.recovery.gov and www.recovery.org for your geographic area, I recommend taking a look. You can drill down to street level to see which companies and projects in your area are receiving stimulus contracts, loans, and grants.
* And lastly, use your favorite search engine to do the searching for you. Enter "target industry" + "company" + "your region" and then work through the results to see what relevant information has surfaced in your area.
These are just a few of the research strategies I describe in Green Careers For Dummies. See Chapter 14 (Getting to Know Your Target Industry) and Chapter 18 (Targeting the Right Eco-Friendly Companies) for even more strategies.
Good luck with your search.
Carol
Thanks for your questions. There are a number of strategies I recommend for finding companies in your geographic area. Here are a few to get you started.
* Your local media - regional newspaper or business journal - can be a good starting point. Watch for information about companies that are highlighted for receiving funding or for making an announcement about new initiatives or results.
* Identify the industry/trade association in your field to see if they have a local chapter. If they do, attend the meetings and scour their web site to see if you can tell which companies belong and are active.
* See if you can locate a blog or other resource that tracks funding announcements. The companies that are in renewable energy are likely to be receiving VC funding or stimulus money.
If you haven't checked out www.recovery.gov and www.recovery.org for your geographic area, I recommend taking a look. You can drill down to street level to see which companies and projects in your area are receiving stimulus contracts, loans, and grants.
* And lastly, use your favorite search engine to do the searching for you. Enter "target industry" + "company" + "your region" and then work through the results to see what relevant information has surfaced in your area.
These are just a few of the research strategies I describe in Green Careers For Dummies. See Chapter 14 (Getting to Know Your Target Industry) and Chapter 18 (Targeting the Right Eco-Friendly Companies) for even more strategies.
Good luck with your search.
Carol
Thanks for your questions. There are a number of strategies I recommend for finding companies in your geographic area. Here are a few to get you started.
* Your local media - regional newspaper or business journal - can be a good starting point. Watch for information about companies that are highlighted for receiving funding or for making an announcement about new initiatives or results.
* Identify the industry/trade association in your field to see if they have a local chapter. If they do, attend the meetings and scour their web site to see if you can tell which companies belong and are active.
* See if you can locate a blog or other resource that tracks funding announcements. The companies that are in renewable energy are likely to be receiving VC funding or stimulus money.
If you haven't checked out www.recovery.gov and www.recovery.org for your geographic area, I recommend taking a look. You can drill down to street level to see which companies and projects in your area are receiving stimulus contracts, loans, and grants.
* And lastly, use your favorite search engine to do the searching for you. Enter "target industry" + "company" + "your region" and then work through the results to see what relevant information has surfaced in your area.
These are just a few of the research strategies I describe in Green Careers For Dummies. See Chapter 14 (Getting to Know Your Target Industry) and Chapter 18 (Targeting the Right Eco-Friendly Companies) for even more strategies.
Good luck with your search.
Carol
How would I find out about places to network in New England that are specific to the green economy?
Randi
The green economy is in the early stages of growth. As a result it is difficult to go to a single source to get salary information. Traditional resources like occupation profiles or salary sites aren't likely to have up to date information on jobs that are just forming.
A couple of pointers. When you do see salary averages regarding green jobs in general, be sure to read the small print to determine how they are defining "green jobs". If they are only including a subset of green jobs, then those numbers are not likely to be very informative.
Some jobs in the green economy are quite similar to jobs in the traditional economy. An engineer, a marketing specialist, a designer can work in both worlds. It's likely their salaries will be similar, (with one caveat... see point below). Traditional salary research tools will be able to give you a ball park figure at least.
Employees who work for start up companies or in cutting edge industries may not make as much income as peers who are working in more established industries. The good news is that these employees are early adopters and gaining valuable experience that will put them in the forefront of their field.
Over time, as the green economy has more time to develop, the resources we are accustomed to referencing will become available.
All the best,
Carol
One web site to check out immediately is www.greendrinks.org. This informal network meets all over the United States and throughout the world! Using links on the home page you can drill down to your local geographic area to find Green Drinks gatherings. Some of the local groups have an online component through Google Groups or Yahoo Groups as well. These meetings are a great way to begin to plug into the local network of people who are committed to a green/clean/sustainable economy.
Net Impact is a group that's committed to using business for good. They have undergraduate, graduate, and professional chapters in the States and in other countries. You can use this map to find a chapter near you. http://www.netimpact.org/associations/4342/usa_chapters.cfm
You can also use Meetup.com to search for like-minded groups in your area. Use keywords to pull up relevant meetings and organizations in your geographic area. If you get inspired, start your own event or activity and invite others to join you!
Another group, EcoTuesday, has a monthly networking meeting. Although there isn't currently a meeting in New England, you might still take a look. They invite people to become an EcoTuesday Ambassador to start meetings in various regions. What better way to build a thriving network than to start the group yourself!
I would also encourage people to pay attention to what's happening in their local city or town. Many communities have active green teams that may work with the city officially or informally to create greener actions throughout the community. You might check the map on www.coolcities.us for groups. Although Cool Cities groups tend to have an activist slant to them, not all local groups have that focus. Look around.
If you see an Earth Day event or green festival scheduled in your area, attend to meet vendors and exhibitors.
Be sure to check out Green Careers For Dummies for more ideas. I dedicate Chapter 15 to ways to build your network both in person and online.
Hope these ideas give you a good head start.
Carol
Sustainability professionals all have a similar function: to help organizations rethink their business practices from top to bottom to find options that have less impact on the environment and the communities touched by the company.
People in this field work in a number of different settings:
* Working within their employer's company as a C-Level employee, a director, a manager, or a specialist...the level of the job will depend on the company culture and where they are with integrating sustainability into their approach.
* As a consultant employed by a consulting firm, working with a variety of companies both large and small.
* Working as an independent consultant.
In the long term, we may not look at sustainability as a separate function. The hope is that sustainability will become a guiding force within all departments of the company. Until then, sustainability consultants will play a key role in facilitating the the transition from business as usual to a more mindful business model
Sustainability consultants must have a strong understanding of sustainability issues, assessment methods, and solutions. In addition, they must have a good understanding of the industry they are working within as each industry has unique challenges when it comes to sustainability. Knowledge is critically important.
To learn more about the field:
I recommend exploring the International Society of Sustainability Professionals at http://sustainabilityprofessionals.org/. On the site you'll find resources, conferences, webinars, and cutting edge development for professionals in the field of sustainability.
You can also visit the Green Economy Post Blog (http://www.greeneconomypost.com), which dedicates quite a bit of space to updating sustainability issues.
You might also explore The Natural Step (http://www.naturalstep.org/), a research-based approach to sustainability. Reach about their approach and check out their elearning course to gain more insights.
For a inside look at how sustainability can change a company, read the story of Interface, a modular carpet company. http://www.interfaceglobal.com/Sustainability/Sustainability-in-Action.aspx. Both inspiring and informative.
Hope these resources give you some ideas on where to start.
Carol
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