Green (Re)education - from ecomii blogs

Green (Re)education

By Tracy Crawford
May 7, 2009
File under: Business News, Green Jobs


Pursuing a new career after being laid off is challenging and scary. Now, with an uncertain future and plenty of time on their hands, laid off workers are faced with no other option than to explore new avenues.

Many laid off workers finding themselves in this predicament are faced with making serious changes to their professional portfolio, which oftentimes require retraining or updating existing skill sets.

In today’s current tide of social and lifestyle changes, a lot of these workers are choosing the green route and are going back to school for green certification and training.

There are many choices one can make and many depend on the professional background one has in possession up until now.

Out-of-work engineers and technicians may go for certification in technical roles but simply apply and tweak them to a clean tech profession.

There are also those who are able to take this time and totally retool their experience or make an about-face to previous work experience and choose to become a home auditor or solar technician.

The economic stimulus bill includes $1.7 billion for adult employment services, including training, according to the Department of Labor.

With green and clean tech being the biggest growth sector in our economy right now – to include jobs in renewable energies – it’s no wonder folks are making the choice to go green in their professional choices. Green jobs provide a feeling of greater stability at the moment - never mind the personal and ethical reasons for making this change.

Medical and health care positions are always in high demand and many people look at these jobs as green too. There are plenty of programs in higher education institutions as well as certification programs in these fields.

People are also going back to school for certification in solar and wind energy, and in green construction.

California’s Community College Workforce Development Centers of Excellence (COE) have released a recent study on energy efficiency occupations. According to the study, the biggest growth will be in green building retrofitting and certifications and energy auditors or home energy raters.

Getting certified in these fields is relatively easy and can be done through a one-year certification course. Many of these courses are found through local, regional and national energy organizations, and in some instances, can even be acquired online.

Local technical schools, community colleges, online learning, renewable energy organizations, and even larger university systems are providing certification programs in renewable energy and other green sector occupations as building auditors and inspectors.

It seems it’s not so hard being green!