Career Key

Author: Career Key's President and CEO, Juliet Wehr Jones, GCDF, J.D.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Top 2010 Green Jobs and Green Career Exploration Resources

For people exploring green job and green career options, here are my Best Green Jobs and Green Career Exploration Internet Resources for 2010:
  1. 15 ways to rev up for a job that's good for the environment, fills your wallet, and makes a difference, from the American Solar Energy Society.  This advice is not limited to careers in the solar energy industry.  Honestly, I think this is one of the most helpful green job articles I've seen.
  2. Match Your Personality to Green Jobs, at The Career Key website (yes, I'm biased, but you will not find Green Careers accurately organized by Holland personality anywhere else.) 
  3. Careers in Wind Energy, an excellent, new article at the USDOL's Occupational Outlook Handbook website. Thanks to federal funding, more articles like this on other green careers are coming. 
  4. "Green Economy" section of the O*NET's OnLine resource center.  Link directly by occupation to some of this information from "Match Your Personality to Green Jobs" at the Career Key website.
  5. CareerOneStop's Explore Green Careers.  What I like about it is that you can explore careers in 12 green economy sectors, where for each occupation they will show you the level of education required and link you to local college and training programs.
  6. Green Careers Resource Guide.  This free PDF eBook by Jim Cassio is a great resource with one exception, the "career assessments" section recommends free resources with an invalid Holland measure*. Otherwise, it's very helpful.
  7. Job-Hunt.org's Green Industry Job Search Guide.  This series of articles covers a variety of helpful topics, including some I think are very needed but you don't find much about elsewhere like "Non-Technical Green Careers"and "Any Job can be a Green Job".
  8. Khake.com's Environmental Career Guide.  Khake.com is one of my longtime favorite websites with so much great information - this environmental section is no exception.
  9. About.com's Job Searching Green Jobs & Careers resources list. The "Job Searching" section of About.com is very comprehensive and helpful if your focus is on finding a green job right now.
*Career assessments on nearly all government websites like the O*NET and CareerOneStop are not scientifically valid (learn more ...), so I recommend taking a valid Holland measure (Career Key offers one, but is not the only one - ask a counselor or career development professional for recommendations), selecting careers and occupations at our website that match your personality, and then visit these other websites for career information.

If you can recommend other online resources that offer high quality green career exploration information (as opposed to job boards (more about job openings than career information), marketing gimmicks, or link farms), please let me know. I'd love to hear about it!

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