Transitioning into Sustainable Careers for Non-Environmental Professionals
As the sustainability sector continues to expand to tackle the climate crisis, more non-environmental professionals are considering or in the process of making career changes to find a career in the sustainability sector. According to recent research conducted by ECO Canada, the environmental sector is predicted to have 173,000 new job openings by 2025. While many people assume that the sustainability sector is a niche field, the sustainability sector intersects with various industries such as finance, technology, law, and construction. Making a career transition into a sustainable career can be stressful as many people believe that it requires post-secondary education in the field. Moreover, a major green skills gap between the available green jobs and the skills of workers who want to transition into green careers is further exacerbating the difficulties of transitioning into a green career, especially since there are a limited number of programs that provide green skills development in the form of work training programs. However, there are various career development journeys that an individual can take to transition into a green career path. These paths can vary in education requirements. If you are a non-environmental professional, here are the strategies you can use to transition into a sustainable career.
Identify your area of expertise or interest and how it relates to sustainability.
Before you start looking for environmental employment, you need to determine the ideal career path that you are looking for in the environmental sector. This will be based on your career interests or your current area of expertise in non-environmental fields. There are various resources available to determine your environmental career path. ECO Canada offers a portal of career profiles that include a “day in the life” description of the environmental career, education and skill requirements, and job responsibilities.
2. Identify green skills and identify transferable skills that can help you transition into a sustainable career.
One of the major barriers preventing non-environmental professionals from transitioning into a sustainable career is the green skills gap. This is problematic since the median growth in LinkedIn job postings requiring at least one green skill increased by 15.2% from 2022 to 2023, and almost seven in eight workers lack green skills, making them less employable in the environmental sector. Workers who transition into a green career are more likely to have a resilient financial situation during economic downturns and are more likely to be hired for new jobs at a higher rate. For instance, if you are an oil and gas well drilling worker looking to become a wastewater collection operator and technician, your transferable skills are mechanical operations and equipment maintenance. However, you need to develop green skills such as water quality monitoring, water characterization, and desalination control systems maintenance. Identifying this green skills gap will help you be eligible for more green jobs by identifying which certifications and work experience placements will help develop those skills. Check out our Green Skills Mapping Tool to help you identify skills that you can propel you into a sustainable career. With this tool you can be paired with micro-credentials and trainings that will help you build your green skillset.
3. Network with sustainability professionals
Networking is a crucial part of transitioning toward a sustainable career. Approximately 70% of people who land their jobs do so through networking, and some studies estimate that 80% of new jobs are never listed on job boards but instead are shared internally or by networking. The Green Career Centre hosts various events, such as career fairs, workshops, and webinars that provide the opportunity to network with like-minded sustainability professionals to expand your network. Networking can help you land a job faster by obtaining a referral. A referral can speak positively of your work ethic, work experience, and professionalism. This is effective considering that 40% of new hires are made up of referrals. While networking can seem like the more effective approach to securing a green career as opposed to applying on online job boards, it is recommended to use both strategies since there are green job seekers that also land jobs through online job applications. The Green Career Centre offers resources that help you stand out in your job search while networking, such as the LinkedIn Optimization Guide, a career development resource that provides the best practices for networking on LinkedIn.
4. Seek professional development opportunities.
Professional development opportunities can come in the form of attending career development workshops, taking courses relevant to your career path, and obtaining industry-recognized certifications. The Green Career Centre offers various workshops that can help green job seekers polish their resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles to stand out to recruiters. Obtaining industry-recognized environmental certifications helps green job seekers establish more credibility, develop new green skills, and demonstrate their commitment to supporting sustainability standards in the industry. While the required certifications vary by environmental position, common certifications across many subfields of the environmental sector include an Environmental Professional in-training Student (EPt Student), Environmental Professional In-Training (EPt) certification, and Certified Environmental Professional In Training (CEP-IT). These certifications are for entry-level environmental professionals who want to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise in the environmental sector. Environmental organizations such as ECOCanada and the Academy of Board Certified Environmental Professionals offer these credentials. Unlike many certification courses offered by platforms such as LinkedIn Learning and other online course providers, these certifications are more valuable on your resume because they require extensive education and work experience requirements. For many of these certifications, you also have to take a test to examine your soft and hard skills and achieve a passing score. Obtaining relevant environmental certifications will make you a more competitive candidate in the green job search.
5. Find internships or work experience programs in the sustainability sector.
Securing internships or being in a work placement program with an environmental organization catered to your career interests. Moreover, internships and work placement programs provide you with the chance to learn and apply green skills to environmental projects. These opportunities provide you the chance to determine if the career path that you want to achieve is something worthwhile to your interests or something that you may no longer be interested in. Short-term work placements can expand your professional network since many interns will regularly connect with their co-workers. You can leverage those connections to ask for professional advice about how to advance your career development to get to the green job that you want. Volunteering for environmental organizations can help jobseekers transition into paid internships since environmental volunteer work provides valuable work experience.. Moreover, landing short-term paid opportunities in the environmental fields improves the chances of working on more impactful projects and paid internships are 52% more likely to result in a full-time job as opposed to unpaid internships. Therefore, it is recommended to search for and secure paid internships and paid work experience placements. Career development resources such as the Green Career Centre’s Wage Subsidy Matching Tool provides tons of work-integrated learning opportunities and insight on how to find funding for internships and full time roles. We also have the Youth Green Jobs Network, which provides daily green career opportunities for green job seekers. Using these resources frequently and in conjunction with each other can maximize your chances of landing a green career.
Takeaways
With a wide green skills gap and a shortage of transition programs into environmental careers, transitioning into a sustainable career can be challenging for those who have limited to no experience in the environmental sector. The climate crisis requires a rapid transition into sustainable careers that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By developing relevant green skills, networking, landing work placements, and taking advantage of professional development opportunities, non-environmental professionals can transition into sustainable careers and contribute to advancing the green economy.
