ENVIROlocity™

I occasionally receive messages like this: “I am currently studying environmental policy. I've done research with elephants, noise pollution, and ocean studies. I want to make a positive impact for global climate change. There's so many paths I could take, how do I know what to do?” 

Career seekers struggle with a few areas more than others. One of those struggle areas is coming up with an answer to the seemingly simple question, “What do you want to do?” Some struggle with the fear of making a choice. Once the choice is made the pressure of making it happen causes a high amount of anxiety from fear of failure. Others struggle with being interested in too many things. No one environmental-related degree equates to a single career path so even if your degree is in policy, you might find your interest crosses over into conservation or ocean science. 

Your career search will go much smoother if you have an idea of the direction you want to go in....

You’ve got an interview coming up for an environmental position. How do you prepare? What will they ask you? How can you stand out?

90% of the mastering an interview is standard issue, meaning it would apply to any job in any industry.

Things like dressing appropriately, making eye contact, and following up. What you need to know is the kind of info you can’t just find by searching “how to prepare for an interview?” You need to know that other 10%, the 10% that relates directly to environmental positions.

Here are some environmental interview specific example cases and recommendations for how to handle them: 

Stop waiting for the experience to fall in your lap and go out and get it.

Past experience

It’s common to think your college didn’t prepare you for that first job because the reality is that they didn’t. You know what permitting is but you haven’t done it. You understand the concept of water monitoring and sampling but you...

You may have noticed lately that we made some changes to our brand to more consistently infuse the word ENVIROlocity™.

You may be wondering what exactly does this mean?

At first, this was a word that we felt personified the phrase Work Worth Living and Environmental careers. It is a combination of "Environment" and "velocity". We personally feel that any work worth doing is going to have to include an environmental aspect. Ever since we chose the word it has expanded to mean all the things we consider valuable at The Environmental Career Coach including: 

• Seeking Work Worth Living
• Work with meaning and purpose 
• Passion for environmental careers
• More than just jobs, we focus on careers 
• Finding your spark to accelerate your career search
• Mastering the fundamentals of the job search to land your next job faster

From our experience, work that is just a job will always lead to frustration and feeling imbalanced as there is no way to find work/life balance when...

Getting your environmental degree most likely means you’ll need to complete at least one internship. One the one hand it seems exciting to have hands-on experience, on the other hand, it can be scary. Procrastination is one of the worst things you can do because of the good internships, the ones that pay or are at the local aquarium, go fast. Waiting until the final hour also increases your stress because you’ll get more rejections and feel like you’re running out of options.

Here are three things you can do to rest assured that the internship is coming:

1. Start looking early. The best time to start looking is now, even if you don’t need the internship until next year or another semester. Starting early will allow you to start networking in the right places (see #2). It wouldn’t hurt to ask if you can get on the waitlist for popular programs more than a semester out.
2. Network both online and in-person. You’ve got your LinkedIn profile up to date,...

Sustainability. What is it? Why do you want to do it? How do you get a job doing it?

The majority of people that I talk to for coaching, no matter their background, are looking for a “sustainability” career. The problem they all face is not knowing what that really means for them. It boils down to “I want to do good and I want to fight climate change.”

Sustainability itself is extremely broad. It doesn’t help that the definitions are not universally established as you can see in these different definitions.

“Sustainability has often been defined as how biological systems endure and remain diverse and productive. But, the 21st-century definition of sustainability goes far beyond these narrow parameters. Today, it refers to the need to develop the sustainable models necessary for both the human race and planet Earth to survive.” - Sustainabilitydegrees.com

The most often quoted definition comes from the UN World Commission on Environment and...

The best way to get an advantage in the job search, after networking, is to bring something special to the table. Of course, every job and industry are different but there are a few skills that are important to all industries that can serve you well no matter where you work.

The key is to choose one, or one at a time, and focus on building that skill. Often for entry-level positions, the applicants all have just a basic knowledge of any one of these. Being able to show that you have a passion for one of them, are really great at it, and have something to show for it can pay off big time.

So, how do you choose? For that, we turn to Key #2 of the Environmental Career Coach’s 3 Keys to landing your dream job. Key #2 is Knowledge, Experience, and Interest. Combining the three of these over time should develop into a passion. Start with interest. Which of the 4 cross-cutting skills is interesting to you? If they all are, or none are, then you can look at the job...

Time management is important for your job search because job search activities are usually low on our priorities list until something critical happens. Purposefully making time to research, learn something new, or submit applications is extremely important and not best left for when you are in a hurry. Not to mention, managing your time wisely will be a key factor in how successful you will be in the job when you get it!

For us environmental enthusiasts, we also have to balance our love and call for being outdoors. Who wants to stay in and apply for jobs when you can go out and explore?

Here are some things you can do:

1. Make a list of priorities. How urgent is your job search on this list or how big of a leap are you intending to make? Urgent and large leaps require extra available time.
2. Pair your social and environmental activities with things that are aligned with your job search. Find networking events that incorporate kayaking, hiking, or coastal cleanups. Routinely volunteer...

You had it! For one shining moment you were so sure the next position you applied for was yours! Then you didn’t get that one. Ok, that wasn’t “the one” but this next one this is it! I’m perfect, this is so right for me. And then you don’t get that one either. This can put you head first into a downward spiral very fast. You must have systems in place to intercede and keep you on track. How do you keep carrying that confidence, courage, and momentum forward when you keep getting punched in the guts?

“You can’t fail if you don’t quit” - Grant Cardone, Be Obsessed or Be Average

There is a huge drop out rate for STEM careers. Especially for women. It’s still a male-dominated industry and it’s tough to balance life and work in a STEM or environmental position. There are many reasons people leave before they reach their full potential in these roles. One reason is that it’s hard to get the exact job you want...

On March 12th I participated in my first Twitter chat. I thought it was great to be able to ask or answer questions from your couch without all the prep time that's involved with being on camera. It's also great that the chat will remain out there under the #EcoCareers2019 hashtag. There are two big downsides, however, 1) is that the tweets are quickly get lost in the noise of the other billions of tweets and 2) many people don’t have a Twitter account to access the info.

So here’s how you can still check out what’s going down and a little recap if you’d prefer to stay here or if you don’t use Twitter.

The hosts of the Nations Wildlife Federation’s Annual EcoCareers Conference wanted a way to allow people to continue to ask questions from some of the presenters. To do that, they scheduled 4 weeks of 1-hour twitter chats with a different presenter each week (you can still catch the other 2 live).

I was set to go on the first week and here are the...

Here is a question recently received from a participant in the coaching program: LinkedIn, who should you accept as a connection and who might you not want to connect with?

Here's my response:

LinkedIn is unlike most other social media platforms that it is intended to be a place for professionals to connect and share work-related information. The typical things one might post on Facebook like the massive plate of nachos you carefully crafted at 2 am, the cute pics of your dog, and random drama are not acceptable in this space.

That said, there are still people who don’t get that and those are the people you certainly don’t want to be connected with, as their likes and personal interest can end up in your news feed.

When you’re in job search mode, you should be using LinkedIn with purpose. Taking advantage of their job search tools and networking opportunities. 

Who you connect with is ultimately your call. Just know that who you connect with has a direct...