Podcast: shifting into a climate, sustainability or ESG career
For Earth Day 2023, my friend Steven Goldman of Cleartrace invited me to join him and his colleague and co-host, Dana Dohse, to come on their “The Decarbonization Race” podcast for an episode dedicated to discussing the ongoing “impact careers and connection crisis”.
If you’ve been following me on LinkedIn or reading my GreenBiz articles, then there’s a good chance that you’ve heard me talk about this “crisis” before. This is characterized by the fact that there’s a tremendous amount of work to be done to decarbonize the economy in the limited time we have left to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As sustainability job openings proliferate, so do those wishing to fill them. Yet, many folks struggle to get hired even as companies have a tough time hiring. Something isn’t adding up.
I’m not a career coach nor a recruiter — but simply a sustainability professional who cares about the sustainability of our profession. Here are some of the takeaways from the episode:
Nobody has perfect experience in the sustainability sector – even if you have deep experience in one sector, shifting to a new one usually requires a fresh learning curve on the specific issues that sector faces. But those shifts are possible, requiring you to master the story you have to tell around your experience and how it translates between industries.
When pursuing an ESG or sustainability career, make sure to focus on your soft skills – communications, ability to advocate for new initiatives, working across a range of teams – as much as technical knowledge.
Become a lifelong learner if you aren’t already, because this space is changing so fast. Even if you recently got a degree or finished a certification, regulations and standards continually change, and you need to stay on top of relevant areas for your sector.
A career in sustainability takes grit and optimism – there are lots of learning curves, failures or setbacks along the way. It’s a constant – but rewarding – battle as you work to solve problems and get the right initiatives in place to meet your organization’s sustainability goals.
Have a listen to the pod, and let me know what you think in the comments!
