The pendulum around “what’s hot” in job hunting swings regularly.
In the not to distant past we had the swing of the dot-bombs, companies were being started almost every minute of each day. Then came the swing of the pendulum, companies folded, jobs went away, and now ten years later many of those offices remain empty.
Then we entered the “oughts” and the hot industries were bio-tech and health-care. The Bay Area saw a growth of schools training people in the medical field; even the EDD started training people for the medical field. Unfortunately, after a few years, the number of professionals looking for healthcare jobsfar topped the needs of the industry and today many of these people are now seeking a new hot field.
The new buzzword for jobs in 2009-10…and maybe beyond…is “cleantech”. The government has injected extensive amounts of cash for companies in a variety of connected areas – like batteries, energy grid, PV solar, wind. These sums are allowing these companies to expand and also helping new companies to get a start. According to CNN Money (11/18/2009), the government stimulus money has made 110,185 jobs in California. In discussions with Paul Davis, V.P. of Client Services here at the AA-Careers job hunting center, this year 25% of new clients are seeking career changes, and over 20% of them are taking “Green” jobs. The career positions cover the entire spectrum from accounting to development and testing developers to project planning and sales.
According to an article done by CareerBuilder, hiring in the 2009 period in “Green” jobs increased across the US by 13 %, and that will increase once again in 2010. Clean Edge.(October 2009) states “President Obama and Chinese President Jintao have both made clean-tech development and deployment a cornerstone of their leadership, targeting the creation of millions of new clean-tech jobs”. “Many believe we are just at the beginning of the clean-tech job creation era.” It could be the biggest growth area since the coming of the computer and the Internet.
The top 5 sectors for clean-tech career activity, according to CleanEdge are:
1. solar thermal
2. Bio fuels & Biomaterials
3. Conservation and Recycling
4. Smart Grid, and
5. Small Wind.
Making job transitions has never been simple. Many people using the old “Historical Style” resume have no success and tend to give up, using excuses like “they are only hiring people with prior experience”. Paul Davis and his staff at AA-Careers have been extraordinarily successful for years using targeted resumes which contain more information regarding the client’s ability to make the company money or save them money, based upon past accomplishments. Think about your own accomplishments and how could they apply to the new rapidly growing “green” sector.
Stay tuned for more hiring trends with our new job hunting blog!