Green Jobs for 2011: Myth, Magic or Something Else

There is a program in North Charleston, SC being offered by Trident Tech that is called "Career Pathways for a Green South." It is touted as a training program for low-income, unemployed and disadvantaged people to get new careers in the Green age. The graduates of this wonderful opportunity to dive headlong into all the "green" jobs of the future will be able to get some great work in home weatherization.

Wait . . . home weatherization??

Yes, this is what passes for "Career Pathway" for low-income, unemployed and disadvantaged people in the Green Job industry in South Carolina.

According to Harve Jacobs in a WISTV.com report, "they [the students] are taught how to seal leaks to keep homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter. " This is some hard hitting news journalism from a Brooklyn College graduate.

But hey, it isn't all sour news. If you are in college right now for Chemical or Mechanical engineering and will get a BS by September 1, 2011, then Dow is looking for you. They also want you for R&D if you have or will have a PhD by then as well.

Really, though, what IS a "green job"?

According to a September 2008 report by the United Nations Environment Program, they define "Green Jobs" as "work in agriculture, industry, services and administration that contributes to preserving or restoring the quality of the environment."

Exactly what that means is kind of vague. As is evidenced by the jobs available from local Green job boards.

For instance, on greenjobsearch.org, one can find an obvious green job choice such as one for Project Manager, Advanced Manufacturing. Although it is not the primary duty of the job description, there is mention that "other Project Manager duties" include " Select and manage vendors required for select projects. Projects such as Energy Reduction, Green Efficiency and product line transfer will be common requests, all focused on cost reduction. " This is for a company called Apple & Associates and is in Columbia, SC. (NOTE - as with many of these types of jobs a Bachelors Degree and several years experience are required. Not something you can readily be "retrained" for.)

Other jobs, on this exact same job board, are ones that might leave you scratching your head. It lists jobs such as Occupational Therapist, Independent Sales Representative or (if you can believe it) Regional Truck Drivers.

So there seems to be a plethora of confusing signals out there when it comes to searching for jobs in the so-called Green Industry. But one thing is for certain. If you are planning on going into the Green Job arena, in South Carolina or anywhere else, you need to do both intense research and get a degree in Engineering, Mechanics, or Business Administration before you go applying. Because they will either not even bother answering your application or will call you in and you'll find you are way over your head.

(Disclaimer - author has no ties to the green industry, the job boards or companies listed in this article; and gets no monetary remuneration nor other considerations for making mention of these resources or companies.)

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