Many people are wondering what are the best ways to get into Green sectors in North America. This seems to be the industry that has defied the recession and continues to grow. Indeed, we did an extensive research while preparing our American Green Employers Guide, and we are delighted to see that many firms are still hiring, some are even hiring large number of new employees.

This is a quick post describing what we have found during our preparation of American Green Employers Guide – which sectors have jobs available for those interested in getting in Green industries.

The first rule is Green jobs are not all related to technical jobs, and indeed, majority of the jobs are non-technical jobs like sales, marketing, finance, operations, project management, human resources, training for instance.

The sectors we have highlighted are:

1.      Government agencies – from environmental protection agencies to individual counties and agencies that are involved in policies and waste management

2.      Waste management companies – the first edition has listed many companies in the waste management industry, they are hiring from basic employees to more senior employees supervising the facilities and also technology operators

3.      Medical waste management companies – a very good opportunity – this has several opportunities – the actual facility operators, R&D for new medical waste technologies and sales & marketing professionals (many are also involved in exporting) – this is where US leads the world at moment.

4.      Environmental Engineering & Consultancy firms – we have also included hundreds of engineering firms. Many are specialized engineering firms, others are civil and construction firms that require professionals for environmental impact analysis and remediation services.

5.      Solar companies – North America remains as the hub of global solar R&D center and there are many solar companies out there – while some manufacturing facilities have moved offshore, R&D has not. In fact, many Chinese and Japanese solar companies are also opening up their plants in US servicing the North American markets. There are also opportunities in solar installation companies.

6.      Emergency Response Clean-Up and Remediation Companies: A sector that many have not thought about it. It basically relates to environmental sector as well, as both are major businesses in USA and Canada with hundreds of companies operating in these sectors. The recent oil spill is a good example for the demand of these services – many companies in this sector are actually hiring at moment, both professional & non-professional employees.

7.      Water management technologies – another shining sector in North American green industries, ranging from irrigation technology, water flow technology, also filter technologies used for residential and industrial uses. This is a sector where we wish to expand further in finding more such companies in United States & Canada, as it is a becoming a major employer in the Green industries.

In our first edition of American Green Employers Guide, we have included over 1,000 employers operating in the Green related industries, this Guide also comes with monthly updates, so whether you are looking for a change in career, or if you are a recruiter specialist looking into the Green industries, this will be a very useful guide for you. Please visit our website http://researchwhitepaper.com for more information.

A Financial Career in Green Industries

If you are currently looking for a new career opportunity, or perhaps you are wondering if you can utilize your financial skills in the booming green industries, then you should read on and look at some opportunities that are being created worldwide.

The green industry is an interesting industry, while a large number of positions have been taken up by technical people such as engineers, there has been a consistent increasing demand in hiring financial professionals – as green industry, similar to the IT & Internet industry, requires a lot of professionals with strong financial skills.

Here are some opportunities for you to consider:

Capital Raising Professionals / Corporate Advisors

As you can see from IPOs announced globally this year, especially in USA and UK, Green companies has taken up very significant proportion of the IPOs. Capital raising is the word in Green industries, for the first 6 months to date, Venture Capital firms have poured funds into green industries more than other industries. Therefore, if you are an ex-investment banker, or if you have worked for venture capital firms, or if you have good financial analytical skills, you should consider joining one of the Greentech or renewable companies to help them to raise capital.

Financial Marketing Professionals

One position that has been quite interesting is those with good financial writing skills, such as journalists, investor relations professionals and financial writers. Many greentech companies tend to produce news & editorials with technical information, and need public relations & investor relations firms to help them to market the products as well as improve the branding awareness. Therefore, if you are a PR/IR professional, you should certainly consider targeting greentech companies for your services.

Financial Analysts

Trained financial analysts are also in demand from several sectors. First is the greentech companies themselves including renewable energy infrastructure companies, which require analysts to carry out pricing analysis, budgeting and also large scale infrastructure due diligence. Second, are the investment institutions who require analysts to analyse listed green companies, these include stockbroking firms, mutual funds; also venture capital & private equity firms.

Traders – Energy & Government Sectors

Another demand derive from energy & Government sectors; these include traders who understand financial derivatives, or who are professional options / commodities traders, or maybe those who have worked with financial exchanges in the past to set pricing and trading strategies for different types of financial instruments relating to energy and green industries.

I have a number of friends for instance left futures stock exchanges and joined JP Morgan, as well as different utilities companies as energy contracts trader, another had joined JP Morgan as a fund manager specializes in carbon credits and water rights analysis and trading desk.

As more and more green companies join onto listings, it will eventually become a very significant sector of many stockmarkets worldwide, we predict this means the demand for Green Financial Analysts will also continue to grow.

So, who says Green industries is just for technical people – I think Green industry is the great industry for financial professionals like you and me!

The new 2010 USA Green Employers Guide is coming out on Researchwhitepaper (http://researchwhitepaper.com) in June 2010. We have also published several reports relating to Green industries including Global Solar Companies Guide, Global Green Investors Guide and Top 200 USA Environmental Engineering Firms. All these are available from our website.

Mining Career Analysis: Geologists in demand?

We are starting to publish a series of articles relating to mining career opportunities. Although the global recession has impacted on the demand for geologists, it is one position that has been least impacted by the recession.

Indeed, our survey has shown that, in fact, there maybe more opportunities for geologists than ever before, this was impacted by the rising environmental awareness and issues; and geologists are no longer just in demand from natural resources sectors, but also being employed by new industries.

Here are some examples:

1.      Mining companies which continue to have demand for geologists as always

2.      Environmental Engineering firms now require geologists either on full time or contractor basis to carry out due diligence works

3.      Policymakers such as Government agencies looking for geologists for research and analysis

4.      Research firms looking for geologists that can carry out research reports

5.      Financial investment firms looking for geologists to analyse listed mining companies around the world, this also includes fund managers, pension funds

6.      Also, interestingly, pre-sales and sales professionals for mining related technologies, IT services, engineering services firms

We have seen a lot of similarities as in the telecommunications industry actually, where you need “technical sales people’ to sell “technical solutions”. Therefore, we believe that the job opportunities are actually more diverse for geologists than say, 10 years ago.

Salaries and demand for geologists often mirror the price of geological commodities such as fuels, metals and construction materials, which means, depending on the resources the company is producing, it can have a great impact on the potential salary.

For instance, geologists work in gold mines may be more in demand now than say, uranium, which has dropped significantly from its peak price in 2008. Similarly, the demand for oil & gas geologists have declined from the 2008 level, but demand for base metals and coal are always constant.

Environmental or Government firms have opportunities for geologists, although, the pay maybe less than mining companies, but the job can be more secure, mining companies tend to use contractors more frequently other than appointing senior geologists to manage the overall project.

It’s actually not a bad idea to work as an independent geologists, I have known 2 geologists who have been working with 3 or 4 junior mining companies and on board as consultants; the salary maybe less than big employers, but overtime, they can own large part of shares in companies, and some have earned over $300,000 a year working with junior resources companies through salary, shares and options.

Good employment prospects are found in USA, Canada, Australia and Middle East. There are also emerging job opportunities for geologists in areas in geothermal and other renewable energy projects.

As many mines are located in remote areas; good compensations or packages are often in place for geologists; either in the colder areas of Canada, or extreme hot deserts of Western Australia; while many do not mind the environmental changes, they are worth considering as this often means separation from families.

Or, if you prefer to be in office more than field works, some of the best places to find geologist related positions are: Calgary (Canada), Perth (Australia), Brisbane (Australia), Vancouver (Canada – finance & mining companies), most parts of Texas, some parts of Arizona, some parts of Colorado, Oklahoma; there is also very big demand for geologists at corporate level in UK, and also in Montreal & Toronto which also have a large number of mining headquarters but also mining engineering firms and mining technology firms.

There are reputable universities for geology around the world, the most reputable ones are found in North America and Europe, some Australian universities also offer Geology, and have been expanding the courses in the recent years.

Many earn a master’s degree to compete more effectively in the job market, one good advice is to do a double degree (in Geology and Environmental Science) or Degree and Master, say Geology & Environmental Engineering; that can really open up a lot of job opportunities in both booming sectors, I wish I have done that before.

Language is also very useful asset for geologists, if you look at the world mining map, the next 20 years, the major mining activities will be from South America, SE Asia, maybe some parts of Western China, Central Asia and Africa. French, Spanish and Chinese speaking geologists are in very good demand, especially French and Spanish at moment.

If you are looking for career ideas or opportunities, you may find our reports of interest which include many major employers in the mining & energy sectors. We have published Canadian Mining Companies Guide, Australian Mining Companies Guide and Global Oil & Gas Companies Guide, these guides are available from http://researchwhitepaper.com