From Passion to Profession: How to Attract More People to Climate Jobs

Every Day is Earth Day

The Climate People team has a lot to be grateful for this #EarthWeek! Our sole mission is to get as many people working on climate solutions as humanly possible. As we reflect on all of our hard work in parallel to this year’s earth week theme to “restore our Earth,” one thing has become abundantly clear — our job has only just begun.

The most enjoyable part of our day-to-day is talking with each and every one of you. It’s inspiring to hear about your unique journeys and the fuel propelling your climate passion forward.

That being said, it isn’t enough.

Talent acquisition will be the primary barrier preventing us from reaching our global climate commitments in the coming years. The next decade will serve as the turning point for the outcomes of the climate crisis and we need sheer numbers to combat the worst effects.

The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report has proven that we have the solutions, and we know they are enough to combat some of the worst effects of climate change. The two things that will prevent us from scaling at the rate required are capital and staffing.

As a recruitment agency, we will focus on what we know best — the hiring roadblocks. Terra.do, a climate education platform, predicts we will need 100 million people working in climate by 2030. We currently have around 5 million — 99% of the people needed in the next decade have not yet begun.

Climate is currently in its early adopter phase. The people working in this space are innately passionate about the mission and go out of their way to land a job (queue all those wonderful job seekers I just mentioned).

However, to evade the catastrophic effects of climate change, we must be innovative in our attempts to make climate mainstream. We must prioritize the real-world factors that go into the job decision-making process and undercover ways to encourage those who are interested in climate to transition their careers. In ’23, Climate People’s goal is to break through the climate bubble and directly reach those unaware of their potential impact.

Before we do that, we must collaborate alongside leaders and hiring managers in this space to ensure our platforms are set up to encourage, entice, and foster potential climate job seekers.

In an effort to do this, we conducted a survey where we went straight to the source and asked potential climate job seekers what was preventing them from taking a job in this space. We concluded these three takeaways for hiring managers.

1. Awareness:

People not already in the climate community are not using climate-specific resources to find jobs. It’s absolutely critical to source outside of the climate community to attract a diverse set of candidates. Doing this will help us amplify the message that climate jobs are for everyone.

2. Mindset:

I encourage you to ask yourself, is climate experience really necessary? There are countless people out there who care about climate but may not have hands-on experience in the field. To get 100 million people working in climate, it’s statistically impossible to require climate experience. The wider your scope, the greater success you will have in hiring the best talent.

We can't afford to miss out on fresh perspectives and diverse talent by demanding years of climate experience that simply don't exist yet. Let's encourage and empower individuals from all backgrounds to join the climate movement and help us build a more sustainable future.

3. Incentives:

To compete in this competitive market, climate companies must prioritize the real-world factors that go into the job decision-making process. Even if job seekers care about the mission, they often can’t sacrifice salary, flexibility, work-life balance, etc. Climate companies must compete with traditional industries to obtain the most valuable people. Using your climate mission as a crutch will only hurt you.

It’s not only our goal by our responsibility to dismantle these barriers and encourage more people to take jobs in this space. Further, it’s the obligation of each and every one of us already in the climate community to do our part. This embodies two concrete things: incentivizing and sharing.

Let’s dive into incentivizing first. As we’ve touched on, “climate mission” simply cannot be enough. As hiring managers, we must do everything possible to level the playing field for climate jobs. This can look like a variety of things: increasing pay, promoting flexibility, not requiring climate experience, etc. At the end of the day, we must think critically about the state of our planet and the role that our companies, our employees, and us as individuals can play in getting to that 100 million job seekers focused on climate.

The beautiful thing about the climate community is its openness and support. In traditional realms, this type of environment would lead to inherent competition. However, we’ve observed that climate has the opposite effect.

The second is sharing! The most powerful form of protest is a story. The more we share, the more conversations we have, and the more the word travels, the more people we will directly impact. Even just two years ago, when Climate People was first launched, the tone of our conversations looked completely different. Far fewer people understood the role of climate jobs and how people from all industries and sectors can take a job in this space. Thanks to due diligence and commitment from people like you, we’ve spread the word further, and more and more people now know about the direct role they can play. Again, this is just the beginning. We must continue to echo these sentiments and encourage millions more people to follow suit.

In honor of #EarthWeek, we encourage you to share your climate story and encourage others in a similar boat to transition their careers to climate. As always, the Climate People team is here to help spread the message far and wide and help you help others to get a job in climate solutions!

Let's continue to echo these sentiments and work together toward a more sustainable and equitable future.

Happy Earth Week, we can’t thank you enough for doing your part!