Читать книгу Global Environmental Careers - Justin Taberham - Страница 102

1 Continuous Learning of the World of Work and How you fit inNew environmental careers are emerging rapidly due to the global shift to a low‐carbon economy. Other sectors influence changes in environmental careers as well. New opportunities that might arise from this intersectional influence. To get the most updated picture of emerging environmental careers, check career database websites to see the latest updates on Green Economy (for example: www.onetonline.org/find/green). There are often jobs that you never even considered on the list. Never assume you already know all the possible job options that are available to you. Do the groundwork and your chance of succeeding will greatly increase.Other than job databases, it is also important to understand industry trends such as job availability, growth, salary, education and skills needed. The technical knowledge of the world of work will give you some initial ideas on what is possible and what you might pursue. There are also numerous career assessments that can help you decide what is a good fit for you.The other aspect of this tip is how you, as a whole person, fit into the world of work. Essentially, this comes down to understanding yourself, including things like your personality, your interests, your strengths, your expertise, your values, your likes and dislikes, your weaknesses and anything else that makes you the unique person that you are. All this information will inform you about what you want, but more importantly, what you don’t want. Incorporating a thorough understanding of yourself into your career planning helps to ensure that you are an integral part of your career development, which has an astonishing effect on your long‐term well‐being and happiness in your career.Most climate activists and environmental professionals I have spoken to suggest that education is key to understanding what to do about climate change. Without the necessary knowledge, it is nearly impossible to take actions that are coherent with your goals. The ability to learn autonomously and independently ensures that you will always be able to find the necessary knowledge to move forward.Once you dive into learning all about the environment, though, it is easy to become overwhelmed with information. A great way to not be overwhelmed is to be able to effectively organise the useful information based on your goals. Identifying a big‐picture goal will help you anchor both your learning and organisation.Identifying your big‐picture goal requires a sound understanding of both yourself and the world of work. Figuring out which is missing will help you move forward with ease.

2 Maintaining Well‐being, Hope and Resilience with NatureUnderstanding yourself ties in strongly with your career well‐being, which ties into your overall well‐being and happiness. Well‐being, in my opinion, is more important than pretty much anything else I will talk about. This is because if you are not happy, it is very hard to implement the knowledge and execute the steps necessary to develop your career in the way that you truly want. Well‐being includes aspects of our lives such as sleep, exercise, nutrition and finances. Problems in any of these areas can get in the way of your career development and take you further away from your goal, which can cause further discouragement.This negative cycle has a significant impact on our hope for our future. Hope is ‘the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways’ (Snyder 2002). Without hope, it is easy to think nothing matters and subsequently not take necessary actions towards your goals. A lack of hope might make you give up pursuing a career prematurely or settle in under‐employment or a position that you’re not happy with.One way to stay hopeful when facing challenges is to develop your resilience. A resilient person exhibits the ability to quickly recover from adversity and adapt to new situations with positive actions (Block and Kremen 1996). In the case of environmental careers, hope and resiliency not only influence our thinking regarding our career goals but also our goals and dreams for the planet. With the larger goal of protecting our planet, we can’t afford to lose hope in our pursuit of environmental careers. It is important to stay resilient when times get hard.One easy way to restore our resilience is spending time in nature. Research has shown that nature has restorative effects on our attention capacity for the elderly (Ottosson and Grahn 2005), aggressive behaviours in young adults (Kuo and Sullivan 2001), and mental fatigue (Berto 2005). It also makes sense that if you want to work to protect nature, you should spend time to really immerse yourself in it. Connect yourself deeply to it. We already live in an age of separation, where humans formed such a deep cavern between our built and natural environments. It’s not a narrative that is easy to unlearn and overcome. Take your time to understand all parts of nature, a massive and intricately connected system with millions of inhabitants. What is your relationship with nature? What does nature mean to you? What have you learned from nature? How is nature connected to your work and life? What is your mission?Working on something bigger than yourself can feel daunting. A deep, personal connection to nature will inspire empowering and intrinsic motivation for you to stay resilient in the face of challenges. Gratitude and love of nature will provide genuine drive to protect it. Nature will also revive you when you feel the stress from our human‐built environment. Nurture nature and it will nurture you back.

3 Thinking Outside of the Box and Prototyping your IdeasAs we shift towards the low‐carbon economy, the way we work now will shift as well. This means new sectors, new methods, new leadership, new ways of collaborating and thinking are emerging every day. Creativity is the key that gives us that flexibility to adapt in an unpredictable world.In addition, the low‐carbon shift is the perfect time for us to dream up a new future that is sustainable – a time to really think about what has worked and what hasn’t, and where do we collectively want to go from here. Coming up with a new story about how we operate on this planet takes creativity, imagination, and courage, but it will serve as the foundation for your new reality – so dare to dream, be bold, and claim the future you want.Don’t let the old definition of environmental careers limit you. Even now, there are many jobs that don’t immediately seem environmental‐related but are actually connected in unexpected ways. In fact, I would argue that all jobs can be related to the environment as long as we are willing to explore the possibilities. Start with your own unique skills, talents, strengths, points of view and how you want to contribute to the environment, you will find where you belong.But what if your new‐found possibilities become too overwhelming and paralyzing for you to make a decision? How do you know which path is the right one for you? A lot of times, a dream is very different from the reality. This is where prototyping comes in – a concept from the world of design and engineering, where a simple model of an idea is built out and tested before further development. Prototyping helps you avoid huge time, energy or monetary commitments before you decide to jump into something. Prototyping is coming up with a quick way of actually experiencing your idea so you can make a decision on how to proceed.Decision making is not unique to environmental careers. Decision making also doesn’t only happen at the beginning of your career. Choosing a path to pursue is only the first of millions of decisions you have to make throughout your career. Getting good at decision making is going to make your life and career a lot easier.

4 ‘Networking’ – Leadership, Collaboration and Building a CommunityMany environmental careers are about making the world a better place, which goes beyond personal gains and advancement. So, what are the bigger goals that you are serving?We so often think career development is just about the individual, but it’s not. It’s about what values you can bring to others and the world. What the world really needs right is good leadership and systemic change, which ultimately requires you to be good at working with others from a place of selflessness and service.What might networking look like from a place of selflessness and service? No matter what stage of career you are in – networking and building a community is important for your career wellbeing and development. My preferred way of ‘networking’ is a big‐picture approach where you focus on building a coherent personal brand with a solid mission.Personal branding is not just for entrepreneurs or businesses – everyone has a brand, even if you don’t think about it that way. Your ‘brand’ will naturally influence the way you attract, reach out to, and interact with like‐minded people. Networking, in this context, is just authentic and enthusiastic interaction based on your genuine passion and interest. Figuring out your personal brand starts from understanding yourself.Personal branding should be developed while you undertake solid actions to learn about environmental careers – things such as internships, volunteering, extracurricular activities, improving communication skills on and offline, joining local chapters or groups for environmental activism or careers, contacting university or community career centers, and more. Don’t stop networking even when you are studying or at another job. Having a purpose or a mission in mind (these are part of your personal brand) will help motivate you and anchor your actions in the long run. In addition, don’t just network for your resume or other personal gains – always try to offer something in return. What can you offer in return? Dig into your uniqueness and you’ll see many ways you can contribute. In the spirit of learning, have a curious conversation with someone you’re interested in. Ask about them and their stories. Ask about anything – things you don’t know and things you do know. It’s always great to have a different perspective.Finally, and perhaps more importantly, your community will become your support system on the often difficult road of an environmental career or the activism that you may participate along the way. Burn‐out and disillusionment are common in environmental careers for many reasons. The systemic changes you long to see from your hard work may take years to happen – or never at all in the timeline of your career. While there is no quick solution for this, being surrounded by the right people as you work towards your goal is absolutely crucial.

5 Working with a Career CoachA career coach acts as a trusted partner, a listener, a cheerleader, a truthsayer and a guide to help you navigate through all the points below. Your coach can help you identify your goal and plan strategic steps towards it. As you move towards your goal, your coach can keep you motivated and resilient when times are hard, by helping you overcome any problems that might keep you stuck. Your coach is also a neutral voice that will provide you unbiased guidance that your friends and family may not be able to do. From an unbiased point of view, a coach could also effectively lead you to discover new options that you may have never thought of before by yourself.If you’re starting fresh in an environmental career, a coach can also help you rebrand yourself and make sure all your past experiences and transferable skills are presented in the best light possible. Together, you can also plan strategic and intentional actions to establish your personal brand and network as you advance in your career. Most importantly, whatever it is that you want to achieve, your coach can keep you accountable to the actions you decide to take, so that you can move forward in the right direction with strong momentum.You can follow Charlotte’s work at www.greengrowthcoaching.com

Source: Charlotte Lin, Founder & Career and Climate Action Coach at Green Growth Coaching, Canada. © John Wiley & Sons.