Penned by Carolyn

Watching this one minute video review of the energy bill in the House, one word resonates again and again: jobs. The potential for job creation in moving towards a clean energy future has become a rallying cry for proponents of the Waxman-Markey Bill — because who can argue with job creation when unemployment has officially hit 9.5% nationally?

In the past couple weeks, the Labor Department announced $500 million in grants for green jobs training programs. States and cities have also started to distribute stimulus dollars for training programs. If you’re interested in who’s getting funding and how, sign up for updates from Green for All — they’ve been giving a number of conference calls to keep folks in the loop and share information nationally about training programs. Most of the money that’s being doled out focuses on helping blue-collar workers transition into the green economy — providing “pathways out of poverty” as the nation undergoes energy retrofits, solar system installation, and more.

But some concerns remain. Yesterday, the New York Times brought into question the effectiveness of retraining programs in giving trainees a leg up in the job search. As the Times wrote, “a little-noticed study the Labor Department released several months ago found that the benefits of the biggest federal job training program were ’small or nonexistent’ for laid-off workers. It showed little difference in earnings and the chances of being rehired between laid-off people who had been retrained and those who had not.”

Hopefully, the green jobs training programs will avoid the pitfalls that have led to the concerns raised by the NYT article, and will lend a hand to folks from all backgrounds and work histories — we hear from a lot of people who are looking to transfer technical skill sets and haven’t yet found a clear pathway in helping them do so. We have to believe that, with all the energy and enthusiasm focused on the green sector right now, there couldn’t be a better moment for these programs to succeed in training the next generation of environmental leaders.

To that end, we’ll continue to provide advice and resources to our jobseekers (keep an eye out for Bright Green Seminars starting in the next couple months), and we’ll support our partner Solar Richmond as they seek stimulus funding to support their amazing solar installation training program.

Stay tuned… more exciting developments are surely on the way.

Our very own, sometimes snarky, always insightful Tom has been recognized as one of the top 75 environmentalists to follow on Twitter - amongst the likes of Al Gore and Andrew Winston (author of Green to Gold).

In addition to all his colorful commentary on the state of the green jobs market and other random thoughts, Tom will be posting daily definitions for all those confusing acronyms you come across in the green sector - ASES, LEED, NTFP, etc.

So whether you’re after a daily dose of enviro-education or just some relevant distraction, follow Tom!

Penned by Carolyn

• The Department of Energy published a 48-page e-book called “Smart Grid: An Introduction,” which explores in layman’s terms the nature, challenges, opportunities and necessity of Smart Grid implementation in the U.S. and beyond. There’s a great glossary of terms in the back.
  
• The Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition has information on the companies in the sector. Its member list (copied below) will give you a sense of some of the big players in the field.
• This map of 101 Cleantech Startups shows several Smart Grid companies.
  
• Smart Grid News gives information on companies in the sector, deals and transactions and trends in the industry.
• Wikipedia has some basic background and interesting links.

And now, dive in to these companies and see where you might be interested in fitting in. Our usual thoughts on networking apply - run a search through LinkedIn to see who you know there; join some groups that the company’s employees are a member of to get exposed to the industry dialogue; read through the company bios; and check out job openings.

Aclara
Ambient
Amplex
CalAmp
Comverge
Conservation Services Group
Corporate Systems Engineering
CPower
Direct Energy
Echelon
Eka Systems
eMeter
Energy Capital Partners
Energy Curtailment Specialists
EnergySolve
EnerNOC
Enfora
Enspiria Solutions
General Electric
Google
Honeywell
IBM
Ice Energy
Itron
KMC Controls
Landis + Gyr
Lutron Electronics
Oracle
PCN Technology
Sensus
Silver Spring Networks
SmartSynch
Steffes
Tendril
Trilliant Networks
Ziphany

Penned by Carolyn

I’ve gotten some great feedback and questions in response to the post on 3 Reasons Why Your Resume is Being Passed Over When You Apply Online.

In response to the questions we’ve received, here’s a closer look:

Is it preferred and OK to attached the cover letter as the first page of the resume?

Yes and no. To qualify what I wrote last time (that you should put your cover letter into the body of your email), I would do so and then attach a copy of your cover letter below your resume, as the second attachment. That way it will also go on to your automatic file (depending on the back-end system the company is using).

As for combining the two documents, avoid it at all costs. It’s cumbersome, and where employers are making quick judgments based on a glance at your resume, having to scroll past a 1pg cover letter may be just enough of an annoyance for them to overlook your application entirely.

Is it an acceptable format to convert the Word document into a PDF when asked to include an attachment?

PDF certainly looks cleaner and you can make sure the formatting won’t get screwed up when someone opens your resume with a different version of Word.

My only hesitation is that some back-end systems have trouble parsing PDFs correctly, or creating “previews” of these documents for the recruiter to easily glance at. However, if a company or recruiter prefers one type of file to the other, they’ll probably specify, so just read the instructions and do what seems appropriate.

What if you’ve been heeding these recommendations since day 1 and you still never get any job interviews?

Unfortunately, following these guidelines for submission of your resume doesn’t necessarily mean that the content of your resume is what the company or recruiter is looking for - it just makes the resume and application more likely to be read and properly judged.

As for content of your resume and formatting, check out the Jobseekers section on our site for tips and guides.

Have more questions? Post them here and we’ll respond.

We just started using Scribd to post our documents, such as a sample resume and our extensive interview preparation packet. Log in to our Greenhouse to access the others!

[scribd id=15629617 key=key-2929zxlc3buxgg8qptz3]

Penned by Carolyn

There’s been a fair amount of news and public service announcements recently about kids and cyber-bullying - the basic concept being that kids will say things online that they would never say to a friend or peer in person.

This phenomenon unfortunately sometimes applies to adults as well. In your jobsearch especially, e-mail etiquette is just as important as phone etiquette, the way you’d speak to someone in person, or how you’d present yourself in a cover letter.

We’ve had several cases recently of finding people we were excited about putting forward for a job… and then we received an email from them that was rude, out of line, or just so strange that we had to reconsider whether we really wanted to support that candidate.

A golden rule of online jobsearching and interaction: you’re still dealing with PEOPLE. There is a real person - with feelings, and an ego, and their own personality - on the other end of the communications you send out.

Think to yourself - If you met the recruiter or hiring manager in person, would you still communicate in the same way as you do on email? Make the same claims? Use the same tone? Be as pushy?

There is a thin line between assertiveness and aggressiveness that is even harder to walk in the online space. While we’re not telling you to be too meek or passive, it’s better to err on the side of politeness than rub someone the wrong way and get blackballed altogether by the company.

Some thoughts from our founder, Paul Hannam, on why people are so intrigued and inspired by the idea of a green job.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ2Ruox3jlM&hl=en&fs=1]

Penned by Nick

With Justice David Souter retiring, the Obama campaign has an early opportunity to leave the “conservative-liberal” politics of old behind. In its place, the Administration should consider expanding on its progressive message that reaffirms we are “not a red America, or a blue America,” but a united, green America.

Environmental justice issues are poised to shape much of our future in America, though remain poorly understood and underrepresented on the Supreme Court. Bringing an environmental justice activist to the bench would align stakeholder interests across economic, human rights, and international horizons.

Admittedly, Van Jones, though a Yale-trained lawyer, is probably not qualified for the job (if only due to his lack of time on the Circuit). But his ideas, and what he represents, are sufficiently large and inclusive to constitute a seat on the highest court in the land.

For environmentalists, seeing their agenda brought to the fore would be a giant leap forward. Industry, too, would benefit by getting greater visibility into the priorities of the Courts in the years ahead. Haromizing legislation is a big obstacle towards greater environmental investment, but could be a huge opportunity with a green hand rewriting the laws of 21st century business.

At a time when activists, lobbyists, and business people alike are all looking to preserve their own long term economic interest by preserving the environment, it makes sense to bring these pieces together. What more, the environment agenda desperately needs a strong advocate.

With unemployment starting to subside and businesses getting back to business as usual, green jobs remain a priority for the US Administration. The reality of these jobs remains somewhat hard to measure, though there are signs of life. Giving Justice Souter’s job to an environmnetal justice advocate would be yet another sign that we’ve moved the discussion about our common environmental fate beyond dialogue and into action. This decision would be a watershed event that could, in decades ahead, be the very event that saves our our planet, our politics, and our economy.

Paul made the media rounds during Earth Week as everyone was wondering where green jobs are and whether they’ll live up to all the hype. Paul speaks here with San Diego News Network; he also spoke on Saturday at the San Diego Green Careers Conference.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=putdR4jFXmI&hl=en&fs=1]

Since February, we’ve been putting out daily advice for green jobseekers. If you’re new to our blog or want to poke around in a specific topic, here’s a nearly-complete list of our advice posts. Have a look around!

General:
Bright Green Talent’s 5 Ways to Ramp up your Job Search
Getting Oriented to Go Green
Getting Radically Tempered: Creating Change from the Inside
Paying it Forward
To School or Not to School?
Job Search Tip: Quality over Quantity to Keep Your Sanity
Linking People and Planet: Our Partnership with Solar Richmond
“Oh no, please don’t make me NETWORK!”

Sustainability Consulting:
Sustainability Consulting: What is it, and am I qualified? Part I
Sustainability Consulting: What is it, and am I qualified? Part II

Career Transitioning:
Perspectives from a Green Career Transition-er
To School or Not to School?
Getting Oriented to Go Green
Getting Radically Tempered: Creating Change from the Inside

Engineering:
Renewable Energy Inroads
Solar Opportunities to Match your Skill Set
Solar Classes and Certifications

Students and Recent Grads:
The Real Deal on Green Jobs for Students and Recent Grads
Get Skills; Get Savvy Part I
Get Connected (Networking 101)
How Not to Be a Jobseeker Horror Story
Resume Boot Camp I
Resume Boot Camp II
Resume Boot Camp III
Get Linked(In)

Networking:
“Oh no, please don’t make me NETWORK!”
Get Connected (Networking 101)
Get Linked(In)

Career Coaching:
Here to Help: BGT Launches Career Coaching
Career Coaching: Launch is a Success!
Kudos to Christina: Career Coaching Feedback

Tom’s (Rules of) Thumb
Green Jobs: The Definitive Article
Top Skills for Getting a Green Job
What’s the Best Way to Find a Green Job?
Twit Your Way to a Green Job
On Eco-preneurship