Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation is hiring an Economic & Environmental Planner with the Bronx Initiative for Energy and the Environment.  It’s a great opportunity to gain experience in planning and economic development in NYC, as well as good exposure to government. (more…)

The Green Building Forum is held on the third Wednesday of each month (except December) @6:30 PM and features presentations by green building practitioners followed by discussion. The events are always free and open to the general public.

Delivering on the Promise of Green Collar Jobs: Challenges & Opportunities

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Presentation 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: Pratt Manhattan 144 W 14th St, Rm. 213

This event is co-sponsored and hosted by Pratt.

Speakers

• Kris Reed, Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation (Moderator)
• Emmaia Gelman, Center for Working Families
• Rob Crauderueff, Sustainable South Bronx

Kristine Reed is Director of the Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn, within the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation. BEDC, founded in 1979, focuses on neighborhood and business support to create and sustain living wage jobs for Brooklyn residents; the Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn identifies specific industry segments with special potential to grow and thrive over the next 5-7 years. She joined BEDC in 2006 after 25 years in financial services, both on staff and freelancing, with a specialty in marketing and product management with Citibank, Chase, and Mellon among others. A graduate of Barnard College, she and her family are long time Brooklyn residents

Emmaia Gelman has worked on housing, queer rights and other democracy issues in New York, Palestine and Ireland over the last 15 years. She is currently Senior Policy Organizer at the Center for Working Families, focusing on scaling up New York State’s green economy with mass residential retrofits, green job ladders and tenant affordability safeguards. Her work includes bringing together labor, housing, environmental and community workforce groups to generate greening policy plans.

Rob Crauderueff, Policy Director of Sustainable South Bronx, oversees the political advocacy component of SSBx that focuses on creating equitable and effective land use, economic development, and environmental policies. Rob co-founded and chairs the Policy Committee of Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.), a coalition comprised of over 50 organizations citywide that advocates for swimmable waterways throughout NYC through green, cost-effective solutions. S.W.I.M. was instrumental in New York City Council’s passage of Local Law 5, which mandates the city to create a Sustainable Storm Water Management Plan that includes green-collar job training & development. He also spearheaded S.W.I.M.’s successful effort to pass a green roof tax abatment for property owners in New York City. Rob earned a degree in Urban Studies from Columbia University, where he worked for the Columbia Earth Institute. He also performed a program analysis of sustainability initiatives in the “ecological and healthy” city of Loja, Ecuador, voted the 3rd most ecological city in the world by the United Nations.

Our thanks to Andy Padian and Sharon Griffith for their presentation on July 20, 2005. See pictures of the event here.
Is your parachute green? If you are committed to green and sustainable causes, and you want to work or change jobs in that field, where do you go? There are many local and regional firms that are looking for intro, mid-level, and advanced staff, and are having trouble hiring. Learn who hires, what experience is needed, and how to present your resume and credentials to get the job you are looking for.

---

FORUM NOTES

---

Job Search Sites, Organizations, Networking, and Tips:

www.energycentral.com — Energy and power industry website with numerous job listings under www.energycentraljobs.com
www.energyusernews.com — More dedicated to industrial/commercial, with job listings
www.sustainablebusiness.com — Seems to have a fairly extensive job listing
http://www.buildinggreen.com — Publishers of Environmental Building News, Building Green and GreenSpec, all industry bibles.
http://www.usajobs.gov — listing of all federal job listings
http://www.nyrag.org — NY Regional Association of Grantmakers has links to philanthropic orgs
The New York Times Sunday Classified — Spend the 4 bucks, read it cover to cover for a few weeks; you’ll be surprised how many sustainable jobs are not listed in the categories you would look in. Just Google “sustainable jobs” and you’ll get buried.
www.GreenHomeNYC.org — You’re here tonight, aren’t you?
www.usgbc.org — US Green Building Council
www.nesea.org — The Northeast sustainable Energy Association (GreenHomeNYC is the New York City chapter) has at least one great networking conference a year.
www.affordablecomfort.org — great for small residential building science practitioners who want to learn a lot in a week’s time. At least one conference a year.
www.greendrinks.org NYC and Brooklyn divisions that offer good networking
www.nyserda.org They have more programs than you can shake a stick at. Learn them. Use them.
www.energystar.gov Really good appliance and electric efficiency site
www.buildingamerica.gov Research from Department of Energy and Building America Teams
www.huduser.org Amazing amount of info on HUD and Housing research undertaken by HUD
www.pathnet.org HUD and National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) website on housing innovation and technology
www.nyc.gov With a little navigating, you’ll find the NYC government job listings
www.aceee.org American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
www.need.org National Energy Education Development Project

Resume/Job Hunting General Tips:

• Your resume is an advertisement for you; make it interesting and to the point
• Resumes: Small margins, reduced white space, bullet or paragraph information
• Tailor your resume to each job listing
• Open your resume with what your experience or employment objective is
• Describe your relevant experience first, even if it’s volunteer work
• Show responsible jobs, like making money through college to pay bills
• We know you went to a good school, but it and your GPA are not the most important things
• Relevant school jobs/activities that show interest and responsibility are important
• Use active verbs in each job description to denote what you did: managed, supervised, etc.
• Five page resumes are for Nobel laureates and pompous a-holes; 1 to 2 pager is plenty
• Get a mentor, or a few of them, in different fields of your interest
• Cover letter is as key as resume; describe your interests and knowledge of the company
• Research the company before you apply and/or interview
• Know the company before you apply; display your knowledge in cover letter and interview
• Volunteer for good organizations, like GreenHomeNYC!
• Read all of the trade rags, particularly industry-wide ones that do not interest you
• Become proficient in a niche or two, and have a good understanding of associated niches
• Be assertive if you want a job, the squeaky wheel DOES get the grease
• Don’t pester — there are plenty of pests but not dedicated employees
• If you want to work for a specific company and you have some skills but not all, try to create a niche by multitasking for the company to start
• If you are interviewing, ask what the company dress code/style is; overdressing or underdressing
• Use spell check and have someone (or two) proof your resume; an error on YOUR RESUME shows lack of attention to detail and disinterest in writing quality
• Offer references and writing samples; don’t include them unless they are asked for
• Have good writing samples at your fingertips if asked: small, medium, detailed
• Ask people you want to work for/with — “What do you do?”
• Volunteer to write for publications — they always need writers, and you’re published.
• Don’t be intimidated by “experts” — Like all people there are good and bad ones
• Join professional organizations that are associated with the field you’re in: AIA, AEE, ASHRAE, APA…
• Good technical, practical experience and knowledge in your field always impresses
• Writing, math, reading comprehension, conversational and LISTENING skills are all important.
• Did I say Listening skills are important? Guys, don’t over-demonstrate your gender.
• Presentation skills/public speaking skills can be very important.
• Are you interested about expanding your knowledge? Demonstrate it.

---

SPEAKER BIOS

---

F.L. Andrew Padian, Steven Winter Associates (SWA).
Andy has 25 years experience in the for-profit, non-profit, government, and acedemic fields in energy efficiency, policy, engineering, and program mangement aspects of high performance buildings. He has been with SWA for over 6 years; SWA is a leading high perfomance building engineering and architecture firm with 33 years in business.
Sharon Griffith, NYSERDA.
Sharon is a Project Manager with NYSERDA’s NYC office, and is responsible for local and regional residential energy efficiency programs. Prior to working for NYSERDA, Ms. Griffith was a field inspector for the NYS Weatherization Assistance Program. She is a nationally known speaker on energy efficiency and high performance buildings.
When: Wednesday, July 20th, 6:30-8pm
Where: Kimball Lounge, NYU - 246 Greene Street