1) Federal Stimulus injection of over $1bn.
This, coupled with private efforts like Khosla’s $1bn+ fund are stimulation innovation across the board.

2) Return to Corporate Values
Industry leaders agree that green is good: for brands, for economies of efficiency, and for shareholders. Jobs in the CSR and environmental fields are blossoming at every level and location across corporate America — and the rest of the world.

3) Labor Markets got Engaged
Best-in-breed corporate citizens realize that going “green” is more than just a marketing proposition. Employees are driving change from the inside of organizations, pushing out new products and services that maximize the value in building lasting brands that invested in environmental sustainability.

The Bottom Line: Green Jobs are back, and poised to explode in a big way.

We see this in San Francisco, where for the first time in nearly 9 months, we see multiple jobs posted, firms calling inbound, and the pace of placement picking up.

We hope you’ll join as we build this movement, and help 2010 be the year of the environmental leader.

This morning, my brother sent along this article on the importance of emotional intelligence as a hiring criterion - though it’s 3 years old, the take-aways hold more true than ever.

Demonstrating that you are emotionally intelligent will go a long way towards lowering the barriers between you and the hiring manager - if they feel you are someone they can trust and connect with on a personal level, they are much more likely to hire you. The opposite is also true - coming across as rude, unreliable, or disengaged will likely give the hiring manager an excuse to cut you loose from the process.

The article’s guidelines for demonstrating your EQ are below - if you’re interested in more reading, check out the class “Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman (he also just put out a new book, Ecological Intelligence).

Read the full article: `Emotional intelligence’ a new hiring criterion
By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff  | September 10, 2006

Pay attention to key EQ buzzwords in the job description, (“innovative,” “flexible,” and “friendly,” for example) and incorporate them into your cover letter and resume.

Know yourself, and learn everything possible about the values and culture of the company you hope to work for. “It’s not emotionally intelligent to force yourself into an office culture where you won’t be happy,” said Edelson.

Demonstrate reliability and trustworthiness. One of Edelson’s favorite stories is about a 23-year-old woman who wrecked her car en route to an interview for a sales position at a pharmaceutical company. Instead of being a no-show, she called and explained the situation, and got a ride to the interview. “She was determined to show them she was reliable and would show up when she said she would,” said Edelson. (Impressed, the firm hired her on the spot.)

Never fib about anything. Don’t say you’re fluent in Spanish when you haven’t spoken a word since high school. Assess your skills realistically, but follow with a pledge to improve quickly if the job requires proficiency.

Send a thank you note to show off your good manners, another component of EQ. Handwritten, via snail mail.

Monday Raj and I slipped over to Berkeley for a panel on “Money, Mobs, & Media” with Change.org, Kiva, and Virgance. Great panel–truly deep discussion on how social entrepreneurship is changing the rules of the game globally and virtually.

Especially liked the closing comments by the speakers when they provided advice to their peers (Ben Rattray: “Dont Do Domestic” (lending) to Kiva, and “Focus on one business” to Virgance).

The advice was good all around, particularly when I asked Steve Newcomb how he handles poor performance in his socially-minded business: “I fire them.”

At a time when business is becoming more like the third sector, it’s nice to hear that social entrepreneurs are also sticking to the rules of the corporate game: ” ‘get shit done’ no matter what” was the surprising mantra from all three panelists.

The crass catchphrase was the key takeaway for many social entrepreneurs in the audience (~200), and if I was any indication, it inspired me to act by first remembering that if we are to change the world, we must act decisively.

Penned by Nick

The question of ethics for environmental employers is a landmine issue that few people explore. In Wendy Jedlicka’s recent article, she suggests that getting a job at a firm with “eco-ethics” is both difficult and desirable. Though true, this misses the more pressing questions about how ethics apply to environmental organizations.

Finding employment with any employer right now — green or otherwise — is difficult. However, this insight doesn’t cut to the core of the question of ethics. Ethics aren’t constrained to “eco” companies alone. As business schools teach the world over, ethics are universal — both in business and in life.

What’s interesting in the domain of environmental companies is that these companies rely on their “ethical business models” to attract employees more than do traditional “brown” employers. The dirty little secret is that employers — from solar companies to sustainability consultancies and the like — rely on jobseekers’ assumption that they are ethical more than other firms because of their “eco” business models.

Having worked with employers worldwide to find and secure the top green talent, its become clear that not everyone embraces the same level of business ethics. Indeed, many businesses fail to highlight their ethics at all when we ask them what separates them from other employers.

Ethics in the environmental business are — at present — largely taken for granted. Yes, most employees at these firms believe they have a more ethical occupation, but the business practices themselves often don’t exude ethics. Quite to the contrary, many of these businesses fail to push their ethical practices as far as their products or services.

At a time when the very value of long-standing business models has been called into question (read: investment banking, insurance, etc), it strikes me that more employers should be focusing on their ethics.

More importantly, both employees and jobseekers of green companies should be challenging these firms to “walk the walk” and create a truly triple bottom line enterprise that embraces sound ethical practices, sound environmental practices and sound business practices.

Jedlicka’s article is right to raise the question about ethics, but readers should examine a company’s purpose/service to determine who’s ethical and who’s not.

Use the interview itself as a place to ask questions about how an employer’s environmental practices translate into more ethical business practices. Questions like these leave little room for maneuvering, but if a jobseeker’s goal is to find an ethical employer, those that are truly ethical will jump at the chance to respond to such a question. If they don’t, you may have found a case where an organization doesn’t truly “walk the walk.”

Continually pushing employers to keep ethics at the center of their businesses — green or otherwise — is the best way to ensure that your values align with your employers’.

[Originally published on GreenBiz.com]

Penned by Nick

Earlier this week, we partnered with Wal-Mart to find them a Sustainability Manager for their China operation. Despite their efforts to improve their environmental practices, many folks still view Wal-Mart as guilty and negligent:

“Before Wal-Mart Hires a Sustainability Manager, they need a Morality Manager to assure that their painted toys do not contain lead, that their milk does not contain toxins, and other crimes that we are not aware of. After they make significant progress in this area and their environment is not held hostage along with their sweat shop workers are treated with respect, then we can address sustainability issues.”

The quote above came from an individual who’s sincerely concerned about corporate practices, and whether or implied or otherwise, this quote strikes at the core of what we do at Bright Green Talent.

At Bright Green Talent, our credibility is our currency. To the extent we work with organizations who have questionable environmental or ethical practices, we risk tarnishing our own reputation.

“Reputational risk” is often overlooked and hugely under-apppreciated. Living up to Wal-Mart’s sustainability standards means we have to raise our bar — if we’re going to represent them and find them the greenest of employees, we need to be better recruiters ourselves.

I always joke that I love my job so much because it makes me be a better person. In the professional context, my personal life is just as much part of the story as anything else. And so, when we work with someone like Wal-Mart, it’s not because they are the most green of all employers (though they are up there), but because we believe in the vision they’re pursuing. Removing lead from toys and toxins from milks is what this relationship is about.

Casting stones is no way to engage people in the environmental dialogue — whether it be personally or professionally. If we’re going to talk, lets talk about how to make it better and be part of the solution, and in the process, keep everyone’s reputation intact.