Penned by Tom

At Bright Green Talent, we’re always concocting new ways to help out our community. We’re not your typical recruiting company — we want to build lasting relationships with both clients and candidates and help you in the years to come as you settle into your green career.

Here are some ways you can engage with us today and tomorrow:

1. If you haven’t yet, register your resume:

• You’ll be the first to know as new opportunities arise that are relevant to your skill set.
• You’ll receive our monthly newsletter, with advice, information on green career events we’re hosting and/or attending, and up-to-date information on the green job market.
• Sometimes we work on positions that we don’t post on our site – you’ll be eligible for consideration in those special cases.
• As you apply for jobs, we will be your advocate. If you’re qualified for a position, we work hard to get you an interview and negotiate for the best possible compensation package

2. Sign up for career coaching.

• If you’re new to the green space, you might be disoriented by all the resources, job boards, and advice swirling around out there. Spend some time with Christina, our Career Coach Extraordinaire, to gain our unique perspective on who’s hiring right now, and create a smart strategy for finding your ideal green job.
• Check out the amazing feedback Christina’s gotten on her coaching so far.

3. Follow our blog and twitter!

• We offer daily tips, insight and advice from our unique perspective. Find resources for transitioning into a new space, hear what clients are thinking, learn how not to be a jobseeker horror story, and more.

4. Sign up for our new weekly tips, and register to enter the Greenhouse, our jobseeker resource center.

• You spend enough time job-seeking. Why not let the advice come to you once a week?

5. Refer a friend or fellow jobseeker to Bright Green Talent!

• We believe in “paying it forward” — no one gets a job all by themselves. Help out a friend and the good deed will come back around when you’re in need in the future.
• Give the gift of guidance! You can now opt to gift a career coaching session to someone who needs a nudge in the right direction.
• And to speed up those karmic returns on helping a friend find a job, we offer a $750 referral reward if we place someone you recommend for a position.

During my career coaching meetings, the topic of networking comes up pretty much every time because people:

1. Know they need to be doing it.
2. Are not doing it enough.
3. Have an averse reaction to it.

Let’s address #3 since that’s the most critical to deal with #1 and #2.  I tell people that it would be helpful to re-frame what networking means to them.  Rather than walking into an event assuming you are ‘on the prowl’ for a job and/or for someone who can give it to them, Why not just think of it as an opportunity to meet some interesting people, hear what they’re up to and perhaps talk a little about what gets you excited in the world? Huh.  That sounds a little more like a party than a networking event doesn’t it?  That’s the point.

I don’t want to make it sound quite so easy.  A true “re-framing” is difficult to achieve but the benefits to both your job search and sanity are endless. 

Also look for fun, interesting events that seem to be less stressful.  For one such example, join us when we host a rock-climbing event with Net Impact on April 21st – maybe I’ll see you there?!  We can network if you are.

We’re also out and about at GreenDrinks in San Francisco (which is moving to the first Tuesday of the month at 111 Minna), and will keep you posted with more details about a career fair/cocktail hour we’re sponsoring with them in late May.

Penned by Carolyn

This week I’m launching a To-Do list for students and grads who are getting into the job search.

LinkedIn is basically the cheap & easy way to start virtually networking. Here’s some homework for the uninitiated:

Step 1: Create a profile. Fill out your profile with the internships you’ve had, positions held.  My general resume tips apply — but you can be more concise on LinkedIn. Just the most relevant and impressive things you’ve done.

Step 2: Find folks. The genius little robots behind LinkedIn can get into your Gmail/Yahoo/AOL contact list and find folks you already know that are on LinkedIn. As you invite people to connect, take the chance to include a friendly hello — and, if you like, politely mention you’re jobseeking.

Step 3: Join groups! Find alumni organizations, interest groups, and, especially, Bright Green Talent‘s group. Groups are a great way to find interesting discussions, job postings, and links, and to connect with folks who share communities and interests.

More next week on how to get set up and start using these tools to find yourself a job. We’ll also be hosting a webinar with our friend George Kao in the coming weeks on more tactics for leveraging LinkedIn in your job search. Stay tuned!

Oh, and if you don’t believe me that LinkedIn is the way to go, check out what Guy Kawasaki has to say on the matter.

Penned by Matt

1. Focus on networking more than looking at job boards. People give you jobs. Most of the people I talk to that get a good job had some kind of “in” –  either with someone that refers them or recommends them for a job or works at the place where the job is offered.
2. Focus on the smaller, local companies. Great opportunities abound in your backyard. Small companies have less hoops to jump through, are often fun places to work, and you are more likely to develop a relationship that will result in a job. Compile a list of cool companies in your local area and be sure to check their websites, call them, or give them a visit (if appropriate!)

It took me years to figure these two things out. I hope that helps. Have a great weekend! – Matt

Penned by Nick

It’s been a peripatetic week. I’ve got just a few short observations to offer, all with one general theme: there’s a lot going on around us that we aren’t paying attention to. Most good, some bad.

Despite the fact I feel like I have few hours to myself every day, I still manage to parse the NY Times daily. Their article on things anyone can do to help be part of the solution to unemployment is refreshing, insightful, challenging, and inspiring all at once. Give it a read–it could change your whole frame of thinking.

My own frame of reference took a big step this week when I observed a few Everyday Heroes installing PV panels in Richmond. Solar Richmond inspired me in a new way this past week, and reaffirmed my belief that green jobs are more than just a pathway out of poverty–they are the path to the future.

Despite that, unemployment continues to climb towards double digits in states nationwide (North Carolina and Oregon now both in double digits). Bright Green Talent itself is feeling the squeeze, though still able to catch a few rays of sun. Our in-house Everyday Hero, Squire Tom, continues to champion and inspire. We’re chasing rainbows and believe we’re near the pot of green gold. Stay tuned…we’re running into new fields. More to come.

On our lunch break today, we saw this guy walking down Market Street in San Francisco: “sign of the times”? All puns aside, we know things are tough out there, but Bright Green Talent is here to help.

Penned by Carolyn

By now, you’re back from spring break and have been furiously de-tagging all those photos to keep them out of the hands of recruiters and hiring managers (here’s the New York Times’ take on personal branding – he’s even more disgruntled than me).

Before work kicks back up again, take a few minutes to refine your resume. Focusing on the actual meat of your resume — work experience and positions held — here are tips on making your achievements powerful and to-the-point.

As a general framework, career coaches sometimes talk about the CAR technique:

• Circumstance means setting the scene — what challenges were you facing in the role? What goals did you have?
• Action: describe what you did to handle the circumstance. Use verbs.
• Result: what was the outcome that you achieved?

Specifically, here are some tips and tricks:

1. Give context — the months or years you worked, a very brief description of the group or company if it’s not well-known, and where the position was located.
2. Use numbers — as many as possible. This will help you avoid being vague (though clearly make sure the content is relevant).
3. Use bullet points. Sentences glom together and are hard to glance over. Bullet points are easily digestible for hiring managers.
4. Make it relevant to the job you’re applying for. Map your achievements to the skills/qualifications the company is looking for, and get rid of or downplay the rest.

So, here’s what one of your positions might look like (this one’s a bit on the long end):

1/07-3/07 Research Assistant, The Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development, Stanford, CA.

• Chosen by a visiting professor as one of two research assistants to quantify and codify ecotourism operators’ manners of addressing the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from travel.
  
• Wrote and distributed a web-based survey of 150 tourism operators on 6 continents.
  
• Compiled and processed data on tourism operators’ use of carbon offsetting programs using SPSS; created 25 charts to display results using Excel.
  
• Co-authored 30-page report published on The International Ecotourism Society’s website in 2007.

Go wild! And if you need a breather, check out this list of hilariously stupid things people have written on their resumes.