Bio / Introduction Started out in 2005 as an Electrical Engineer Started to develop an interest in the environment, which for me at the time meant marching across fields trying to shut down power stations. By 2007 I’d had enough engineering to last me a lifetime, and decided to become a full-time environmentalist. Last year I finally graduated with a degree in Environmental Studies from The University of Manchester and since then have been trying my best to start a career in this field. I’ve been invited here today to try and give a perspective of the Environmental profession as a recent graduate.
Career History After graduation - minimum wage job selling boilers over the phone for British Gas! In the meantime, volunteering with environmental charities. In August, my contract was over with British Gas, so I upped my volunteering to 20 hours a week with Action for Sustainable Living and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, and spent the rest of my daytimes searching and applying for every environmental job going. After a few weeks I saw a back-to-work (Future Jobs Fund) position advertised for an Environmental Intern at the Fire Service. It took some nagging of the Jobcentre and my local government office, but I was eventually allowed to apply, and was offered the job in October 2011. It’s now more than a year down the line, and since then I’ve been promoted to a full-time Sustainability Advisor on a graduate salary, joined IEMA, gained some professional qualifications and experience and am now covering the Environment Manager role for GM Fire and Rescue. On the next slides I’ll run through some of the big challenges along the way, and I’ll try and answer any questions you’ve got about working in this field.
Challenges Getting a foot in the door! Can be difficult, no doubt about it. Graduate schemes offer nice perks but aren’t the only entry point: Job searches on environmentjob.co.uk, ENDS, the environmentalist (IEMA), Acre sustainability recruitment, your university careers service, the Guardian, charityjob.co.uk will often turn up entry level/administrator type roles which could lead to good experience. Rather than searching every day, you can set up an RSS feed or email alert for some of these sites to stay up to date. Proactively contact organisations, for example sending speculative CVs to companies with a sustainability/environment management team. If you’re after contacts – check out the delegate list for big conferences such as Green Monday. This time last year, environmental organisations such as Groundwork were using the “Future Jobs Fund” to recruit unemployed people aged 16-24 for junior positions. This scheme has now been discontinued but the new Work Programme may end up being used in a similar way. Whilst often these will be aimed at people who have been unemployed for months, they’re still good experience in the environmental field. If you find yourself out of work it’s definitely worth nagging the jobcentre or even your local government office for a chance to put your name forward for these jobs. (Worked for me!) Make yourself stand out! More on that in a minute.. Once you’re in, making changes isn’t easy! Unfortunately not everyone is a keen and passionate environmentalist. Whilst you might not meet many climate change sceptics or fly tippers, you’re almost guaranteed to face resistance to change, whether it’s getting people to agree to turn down thermostats or investing thousands of pounds in a new technology. In a graduate-level role you’re not yet able or expected to influence by authority or lead the whole organisation through example, but you still need to engage with people and make changes happen or you’ll have no impact at all. From my experience so far, you’ll get a lot further by: Anticipating and preparing for resistance b) Being persistent but enthusiastic c) Giving people ownership Examples might include setting up briefing meetings or writing guides for staff interested in ‘going green’, recruiting environmental volunteers, inviting people with an interest in the environment to help on a project in their field. It might sound a bit obvious, but even 3 or 4 people chipping in help for an hour a week makes a world of difference – at the fire service we’ve now got 120 environmental volunteers, and 20 ‘Sustainability Lead’ managers putting in their own time to drive environmental improvement. You’ll have a lot to juggle! I’ve found the work to be pretty varied, one day you might be out visiting sites and checking that your company isn’t leaking toxic waste everywhere, the next you might be sat at your desk analysing pages of data to work out how to save on electricity usage. Most of the time, you’ll have lots to do with multiple deadlines and priorities to manage, which can definitely be challenging. At the same time though, it keeps the work interesting.
Being an IEMA member Keeping up to date environmentalist monthly magazine brings together a lot of information, policy updates etc. that you’d maybe otherwise miss, adverts are all aimed at environment professionals. Maybe doesn’t sound exciting but if you’re just reading to get a quick overview of what’s going on it’s far more easy-reading than the in-depth expensive subscription alternatives, i.e. ENDS Report. Similar to how you might read the metro or ‘i’ compared to the Economist or the Times. Professional development, and often asked for specifically in job advertisements Almost every job application includes a section for ‘Professional Qualifications, Memberships etc.’ If you’re going for any environmental jobs then IEMA is highly regarded, and if there’s any aspect of environmental management or auditing, membership is often asked for specifically in the Person Specification. This is the main reason I joined; it lets me apply for jobs that I’d otherwise be under qualified for. Standing out! It’s one of the best ways to stand out from other applicants, especially as a graduate when professional membership may well be above and beyond what employers are expecting. If the job does specifically ask for professional membership then the number of people you’re up against is that much smaller.
Standing Out Experience - Volunteer! IEMA membership is one way to make your application stand out, even better is having great experience to draw on and examples to give at interview. Unfortunately when I graduated I found most of my student work experience only goes so far For gaining that proper experience, volunteering is brilliant. Almost every charity is overworked, understaffed and under-funded, so if you’re willing you can easily find yourself taking on jobs and responsibility that you wouldn’t be offered for years in a paid position. I started with Action for Sustainable Living roughly a year ago, and took on a post as a volunteer project manager. In that role I’ve ended up managing a team of 50 volunteers, writing funding bids to the local council, organising events and even giving interviews to BBC Radio Manchester Enthusiasm! This one’s from my manager. Nobody really expects you to walk through the door and turn the place upside down with your incredible opinions and ideas, and you probably won’t ever be asked to quote the Brundtland definition of Sustainable Development. It’s more important to be enthusiastic and keen to learn, a grounding in environmental issues and a solid grasp of maths and environmental science is a good foundation, but there's a lot to be picked up on-the-job. Skills That said, there are some great skills that you get from a science or environmental degree that are really useful in this field, and that you can also show off in an interview or application: Search and research – You might get a brief to summarise recent environmental legislation changes and how they impact your business, or be asked for advice on what the best practices are for reducing fuel consumption. 3 or 4 years of internet and library research is great experience in quickly finding the salient facts. Understanding Data and Statistics – Especially if you get involved with energy management and carbon reduction, being able to make sense of resource consumption figures and trends is a really handy skill. Making complex information easy to understand – Following on from understanding data, it’s important to be able to communicate environmental information to colleagues in an accessible way, e.g. turning usage trends and resource cost projections into “reducing our electricity consumption by 10% could save us £1,000,000 by 2015”. Presenting and Influencing – Whether it’s a face-to-face meeting with colleagues, a formal pitch to senior managers, or an IEMA event at Lancaster University, there’s definitely an element of public speaking in the environment field. Leading / taking part in group projects – Love it or hate it, addressing environmental impacts tends to be something you can’t do on your own, so if you’ve already been doing group coursework, it’s a great starting point to working with a team of colleagues. In conclusion… I’d definitely recommend the environmental management profession as a rewarding area of work to be involved in; it’s a natural extension from an environment degree and a good choice if you’re interested in making businesses and other organisations more socially conscious and sustainable. It’s challenging and varied, and gives you the chance to gain experience in all kinds of fields that you might not otherwise have considered; whether that’s logistics, transport, energy, waste, procurement, building management, advertising or ICT. Finally, you get to make real changes happen, and can go home knowing that your work has reduced pollution risks, knocked thousands of pounds off energy bills, or saved tonnes of CO2 from being emitted.
