Over the past year or so, I’ve written a few pieces on the levels of job creation that can be expected as we “go green,” i.e., move to greater levels of energy efficiency, renewables, electric transportation, etc.

Last week I met Tom Konrad, one of the world’s most visible proponents of the green economy, at a conference in NY City. During one of our numerous conversations, I learned that he and I had been trying to get to the root of this very issue – and through very similar analyses. In particular, we had both investigated the work of Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (PERI) and one of its most senior people, Robert Pollin.

Here’s an article Tom wrote on green job creation that breaks some of this out. Note, however, that both this article and PERI’s work seem to reduce the question at hand to this: For each million dollars in spending, how many jobs do we get – and of what kind and duration?

While this is interesting, to me, it misses some central issues. Consider the following line of thinking:

A million dollars? Who’s doing the spending? The federal government? Are we proposing a kind of New Deal program? Why? Why can’t this spending come from the private sector?

But what are the conditions under which that will happen? Private money isn’t going anywhere at all right now, and most certainly not into unproven technologies (of which clean energy represents several).

So what would stimulate private sector spending? How about real economic opportunity?

OK, what’s standing in the way of demonstrating real economic opportunity? It’s the nature of the playing field. Depending on how one does the accounting, fossil fuels receive between five and six dollars in subsidies for every dollar going to renewables. That’s fundamentally a matter of corruption; it’s a simple transfer of wealth from an impoverished taxpayer to an extremely rich oil company. And of course, essentially no attempt is being made to force oil and coal companies to pay for the externalities their industries produce (e.g., lung disease and long-term environmental damage).

Trust me, once this inequity is rectified, you’ll have private capital coming into clean energy in torrents, and we won’t be asking questions like “How much further in debt does the federal government have to go to build green jobs?”

In other words, we’re simply asking the wrong question. It’s like asking, “How can I improve my reading comprehension while I’m beating myself on the head with a hammer?” The answer is this: “Just stop beating yourself on the head, and the issue will disappear.”

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Japanese government and industries are likely to invest $6.4 billion in green energy technologies over the next 15 months.

The Japanese government would offer subsidies worth $1.9 billion while the rest of the investment is likely to come from some 142 companies which include Fuji Electric Holding, Toda Kogyo Corp, Toshiba Corp, Sharp Corp and Panasonic Corp. Investments would be made in a wide range of green technologies like fuel-efficient cars, energy-efficient appliances, LED lighting systems and solar panels.

The $6.4 billion investment is expected to create about 10,000 jobs directly within the next 15 months as companies expand their manufacturing infrastructure and production capacity.

Other industries which provide services and equipment for the production of these green products would indirectly contribute in generation of another 85,000 jobs. This investment is likely to create an annual product demand worth $22.9 billion.

The Japanese government is pretty serious about lending credit to companies now that the country has learned the lessons from the global economic crisis. The government has made it clear that it wants to see solid results in terms of meaningful economic growth.

The head of green job creation and industrial facility section at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Gun Saito said, “we regularly check the effect of job creation with companies that receive subsidies, and if there is no positive feedback we would deal with it strictly, including forcing them to return subsidies.

Japan is not rich in natural energy resources and is heavily dependent on import of energy products. After the global economic crisis and a slump in the domestic economy, the government unveiled massive long-term plans to invest in green energy sectors to ensure sustainable economic growth.

In 2009, the government announced an ambitious plan to expand its $745 billion green energy business sector to $1 trillion by 2020 thus creating about 800,000 new jobs.

Article by Mridul Chadha, appearing courtesy ecopolitology.

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Are you looking for a renewable energy job with a leading cleantech company, maybe a solar energy job with an installer or a wind energy job with a project developer? While summer is known as a season with limited hiring going on, there are plenty of renewable energy jobs posted on green job boards like the CleanTechies Job Board. Energy is a large industry with thousands of companies focusing on renewable energy solutions, and you can choose from a long list of renewable energy jobs. Wind energy and solar energy are only two renewable energy industries with interesting career opportunities in engineering, business development, and many more fields.

Below are some of the latest renewable energy and cleantech jobs. You can find more green jobs in cleantech industries (including solar jobs, wind jobs, utility jobs) here. And if you’re a recruiter or hiring manager, use discount code “free10″ to post jobs for free!

Latest Solar Energy Jobs

Sales Manager – Wafers (West Coast, USA or Canada)

Wet Process Sr. Technician – Solar cell developer  (Orinda, California)

Latest Wind Energy Jobs

Electrical Project Manager – Wind energy company

Business Development Manager, Research Funding – Clipper Windpower (Carpinteria, California)

photo: Dave Dugdale

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According to a new report [Fr] from ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency), 90,000 jobs have been created in green sectors in France between 2006 and 2008.

These jobs have been created mostly in the fields of energy conservation and the development of renewable energy.

Overall, the French green sectors now employ over 294,000 jobs (up from 204,000 jobs in 2006). The ADEME is optimistic that this trend will continue and believes an additional 200,000 jobs could be created by 2012.

The energy conservation and renewable energy sectors grew by 28 percent and represent a market worth €50 billion ($75 billion). They could grow to up to €90 billion ($135 billion) by 2012.

Energy conservation in the building sector represents an important share of the new jobs — as many as 110,000, including 90,000 jobs in the field of renovation. Renewable energy comes second with as many as 70,000 new jobs between 2006 and 2008.

In support of this trend, the local government enacted a zero-interest rate loan for housing renovation to enable people to weatherize and install heating systems based on renewable energy sources. This allows homeowners to borrow up to €30,000 ($45,000).

However, the number of green jobs increased by around ten percent per year, which is less than the government’s objectives — known as the Grenelle de l’Environnement. It expected the French green sector to go up by 20 percent per year. It is worth noting that in 2009, the sector employment went up by 14 percent.

According to a previous report by the Boston Consulting Group, the Grenelle de l’Environnement could create or keep up to 600,000 jobs by 2020. The study also noted that French greenhouse emissions would decrease by 27 percent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels, or 14 percent by 1990 levels. The majority of these jobs are expected in the building sector as up to 20 million of apartments and buildings need to be retrofitted in France. Transportation and renewable energy would add  most of the other jobs.

Despite the fact that 78 percent of its electricity comes from nuclear and 10 percent from hydro, France is progressing fast on the renewables front, with four gigawatts of wind energy capacity already having been added.

[photo: iulian nistea]

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In previous posts, we’ve demonstrated the effect a professionally written accomplishment can have on your resume. Clearly highlighted and dynamically written accomplishments facilitate resume skimming and ensure that your achievements get readers’ attention. But what if your achievements aren’t quantifiable? What if you haven’t been managing million-dollar projects, generating triple-digit sales growth, or increasing the size of a critical team? This doesn’t mean your accomplishments are any less impressive or important. Here are 3 before-and-after examples to show you how to make your own unique achievements stand out.

Example #1

BEFORE:
Did a variety of tasks on several software development projects, which helped provide experience in this new area.

AFTER:
Gained thorough knowledge of complete SDLC by serving as team member on 5 key development initiatives.

If you’re starting out in a new field, you can highlight what you’ve learned — and how — as an accomplishment. In the Before example, “did a variety of tasks” is weak and ineffective; you don’t necessarily have to detail every task you undertook, but you can write it in a way that more strongly shows the level of your participation. In the After example, “did a variety of tasks” has been transformed into “serving as team member.” The After example also follows the golden rule of accomplishment-writing: effect first, then cause. Your new expertise in the full SDLC is what you want to call out here.

A note on acronyms: If an acronym is common in your field and, most importantly, in the field in which you’re applying for a job, you don’t have to spell it out. If, however, you suspect your readers will be unfamiliar with the acronym, spell it out the first time you use it and put the acronym in parentheses: software development life cycle (SDLC).

Example #2

BEFORE:
I earned a reputation for making good impressions with potential new customers. Many told us they chose our business because of the relationships they had with me.

AFTER:
Contributed to growing customer base by forging strong relationships with potential new clients.

The first-person pronouns (“I earned,” “with me”) strike a note that’s too casual and informal here. But the biggest problem is that the actual accomplishment isn’t clear. You made good impressions — so what? What was the effect? Clarifying the cause and effect solidifies what you contributed and emphasizes how your relationship-building skills benefited the business.

Example #3

BEFORE:
The time for responding to customer inquiries was reduced with a new system I developed for managing queries from phone and email.

AFTER:
Accelerated customer inquiry response time by developing and implementing process improvements to facilitate phone- and email-based query management.

Once again, the After example provides the effect up front — “Accelerated customer inquiry response time” — which shows immediately what you contributed. The how of it — process improvements — then follows. The other tip-off that the Before example needs a makeover is the use of the passive voice — “was reduced.” Passive voice obfuscates the actor, leaving readers with the question “by whom or what?” Always steer clear of passive voice when crafting your accomplishments. Active voice is much more effective.

CleanTechies offers professional resume writing services specifically targeting green positions. Certified expert resume writers with years of experience and almost thousand of resumes written help job seekers at any career stage craft professional resumes. CleanTechies writes resumes targeting roles in renewable energy, resource efficiency, green building, and sustainable transportation as well as other environmental and sustainable positions. CleanTechies is dedicated to helping green job seekers pursue their dream careers.

[photo credit: Flickr ]

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Nearly 4 million green-collar jobs could open up in the U.S. in coming decades. How can you land one? Submit a stellar cover letter, and you’ll vastly improve your chances.

A lot of employers put great stock in these tidy summaries of why you want a green job and why your qualifications make you the best candidate. Follow general guidelines for good cover letter writing. Make sure to tailor each letter to the specific job you seek. (Generic letters reek of resume blitzes from people looking for any old job.)

After that? Green up your letter with these rules of thumb.

Get personal. A green cover letter is the perfect place to mention your passion and resolve about the environment. Don’t simply regurgitate information that’s already in your resume. Instead, use the letter to expand on the information or offer new details. Touch on the reasons you care about the cleanup at the local river; mention your organic garden; describe how you’ve declared every Monday a “no-consume day” and never spend a dime; or explain why your detail-oriented nature makes you uniquely suited for the job.

Don’t overlook the green. Employers want to know what relevant green experience you’ve had, even if it’s not necessarily work experience. Perhaps you took classes in environmental studies or are handy with statistics (an important skill for many green jobs). Maybe you have experience fighting bushfires or grew up in grizzly country. Talk about your green-related experiences to keep your application from landing in the “don’t call” pile.

Spell out how your greenness will pay off. If you’re trying to snag a job as a sustainability coordinator, for example, and your resume lists eco actions you led on your college campus, your cover letter could describe why the campaigns mattered to you, what they taught you, and how you could bring similar successes to your employers. They need to know why hiring you will bring page hits, customers, profits, or similar rewards.

Be specific. Address the key points raised in the job posting. If a non-profit that deals with energy efficiency is looking for an “experienced, take-charge individual who is self-motivated,” use those words in your cover letter to help prove you are that person.

On the other hand, avoid hype. Employers are looking for an honest assessment—not blather. Job hunters sound clueless when they write, “You won’t find a better-qualified candidate than me.” And, alas, it’s usually not true.

CleanTechies offers professional resume writing services specifically targeting green positions. Certified expert resume writers with years of experience and almost thousand of resumes written help job seekers at any career stage craft professional resumes. CleanTechies writes resumes targeting roles in renewable energy, resource efficiency, green building, and sustainable transportation as well as other environmental and sustainable positions. CleanTechies is dedicated to helping green job seekers pursue their dream careers.

This article was written by Amy Linn and originally appeared on SustainLane.

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Looking for a job can feel like a lonely enterprise. Despite the dozens of emails you’ve sent, the phone calls you’ve diligently forced yourself to make, and the strangers you’ve tried to befriend at LinkedIn—not to mention your heartfelt intention to do work that changes the world for the better—some days you may find yourself alone in your apartment, your inbox collecting more e-mail newsletters and your phone silent, like it forgot it belongs to you.

You may even be tempted to give in to feelings despair. And who’s to blame you if you do. There are compelling reasons that go well beyond the job search to feel down and sometimes, it’s impossible for even the best of us not to indulge them.

But as you know, that’s a reasonably unsatisfying job search strategy. And the deeper reality is that you aren’t cut off or divorced from the world. In fact—as hard as it can be to believe when you’re feeling the wave of despair—the world is desperate for you to bring your creativity to bear on solving the technological and business issues involved in spreading clean technologies from sea to shining sea, and beyond.

Don’t Get Down—Meet Up
Savvy job seekers realize that their job search is about community as much as it’s about anything else.

Because people connect people with jobs—as many as 80 percent of job offers come through networking, or through one’s personal contacts.

No matter what area of the clean tech sector you want to join, there are others already in it. And some of these people are showing up at events like Green Drinks, EcoTuesday, and industry conferences and events. So get out of your pajamas, put on your personality hat, and meet them.

The bottom line of the job search is that you don’t know where you’re going to find out about your job. Maybe it’ll happen through a Facebook community. Maybe it’ll happen when you tell somebody of your career objective at a Green Festival. Maybe a stranger you strike up a conversation with on the train will connect you. You just don’t know.

Engage with Online Communities
Okay, some of you might be thinking, “if the only thing that’s clean is my pajamas, how am I going to get out there?” In fact, you can wear your pajamas and make new friends at the same time, too.

Along with networking in the real world, get involved online, through a LinkedIn groups or through Facebook or other, more targeted social networking sites, like Greenwala, Creative Citizen, SustainLane, or Wiser Earth. Ask smart questions. Throw up a thought from some the trend tracking you’ve done, and find out what others think about it. Interact, share, converse, and listen.

Find and follow some blogs that cover topics related to the industry sector you want to join. Comment and try to get a conversation going. By getting involved in the broader clean tech community, you’ll create relationships, build your knowledge base, and hone your understanding of the marketplace. Day to day, you may not recognize the effects on your hire-ability, but over time you’ll develop an increasingly sophisticated level of understanding that will stand you well as you network. You’ll probably make some new networking connections, and maybe some new virtual friends, too.

Fundamentally, Work Is a Social Act
There are plenty of jobs where you’ll work alone on isolated, individual tasks—but even then, you’re part of something bigger than you. And that’s one of the things that makes solar, wind, biofuels, and other clean technologies so exciting. These are not projects of one. They involve many people, in many places, trying out many things. Solutions emerge because people are in conversation, butting heads, collaborating, trying to reduce inputs and maximize outputs, making bets and often losing, sometimes winning, but always learning.

So get started in doing all that now. Join communities, talk up your ideas, share your thoughts, be curious, ask questions, get involved in moving yourself up the learning curve. These are the things that very well could lead to a job, and will give you valuable practice in what you eventually end up doing.

This is the third in a five-part series on clean tech job search strategies by Frank Marquardt, author of The Solar Job Guide. Read part-one and part-two of the Green Tech Job Hunt: Succeed with Clear Goals and Track the Trends.

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