Comments on: Bright Green Survey Results: Jobseekers Willing, Waiting, Wondering

By: juliekinnear

juliekinnear — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:59:12 +0000

Interesting numbers. Pity we can’t employ all the well educated people in green sector

By: John E

John E — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:30:51 +0000

The big problem is simply the shortage of jobs, and this is likely to persist for at least another year, as Great Depression 2.0 grinds on. Employers are reluctant to hire “overqualified” candidates, because they expect us to jump for the first higher-salary position which comes along. I am also convinced that age discrimination is hitting those of us who are willing to retrain for re-entry positions, even though the average retirement age is likely to keep increasing steadily.

By: Royce Fullerton

Royce Fullerton — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:24:42 +0000

The results of this survey are a little bit disheartening to see. It is very apparent that there are few jobs for people with postgraduate education (me) in the green industry right now. I hope to gain experience and training in desired fields if a job is not immediately available and would welcome any information on training that is going to be marketable and not just an easy buck for those doing the training.

This was a great survey, would be interesting to revisit it in 6 months after you predict the dust will settle.

By: BenParis

BenParis — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:57:12 +0000

I want to thank Carolyn for her note above, because it’s the first time I can read such an analysis on a website dedicated to green jobs. I definitely fall into the category of unemployed people willing to make it into the renewable energy space, but my experience with sales and energy was not enough to land a job where I wanted.

So, yes Carolyn is right, there is not really appropriate training program, or re-tooling program, in place for people like me. I understand that if you are an engineer or a biologist, you might be in high demand right now, compared to business people, but with the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors growing, new openings will appear.

Maybe, BGT can help jos seekers like me, willing to go back school in order to acquire the appropriate skill set, by facilitating their search for already existing very good programs, like the MBA one at Presidio.

Thanks

Ben