Читать книгу Global Environmental Careers - Justin Taberham - Страница 29

The Internet is an amazing resource for job seekers, especially those in such a diverse field as the environment. The process of job hunting and linking to employment agents and jobs websites has become streamlined and simplified. Unfortunately, as many of us are beginning to realise, using Internet searches for many elements of green career development is becoming an exhausting process unless you’re willing to trudge through what could be termed ‘dross’ all day, seeking a single gem of a site. It is particularly complicated for those who have not yet focused in on a specific area of work.

Information on global environmental careers, both in print and online, is messily scattered and most is very out of date. Most information is either UK‐centric or aimed at US career hunters. There are few resources available that outline in an organised and selective manner what sectors are available and how to get a job in those sectors. A very high proportion of roles and internships in some sectors are not advertised externally and some are only visible on specialised blogs or mailing lists.

Many online resources are just jobs boards, with no supporting information for a career hunter. Where there is careers information, it is often out of date and limited in scope. Even the most promising online resources are hard to find and are not securely funded, often depending on short term charitable funding.

In the current maturing environment sector, there are clearer routes to environmental jobs, and careers services have more computing and search power in their hands to advise on the sector, although careers services worldwide tend to be under appreciated and under resourced. In addition, the internet has helped with job and information finding, but it has also caused a decline in information quality and a clogged internet of old ideas and urban myths.

National governments have supported numerous jobs websites in order to encourage growth in the sector. In the United States, the Government‐supported website Careeronestop (www.careeronestop.org) aims to provide comprehensive careers information in a similar way to the National Careers Service in England (www.nationalcareers.service.gov.uk). However, because these websites are a ‘catch all’, finding the information required and then jobs available in the sector can become an exhausting process.

The global environment sector is growing rapidly and there are millions of roles which are open to those who can use the right resources to get them into the sector. Competition for environment sector jobs is very fierce and job hunters need the right advice, resilience and ‘stickability’. Rapid change in the sector leaves career professionals playing catch up in terms of being supportive to job seekers.