Archive for September, 2008

Green Technology: What’s the Big Deal?

September 26, 2008 at 1:18 pm · Filed under Environment ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Calling all green business bods! Want to hear more about how environmentally-friendly technology can benefit your business? Or are you looking to further your environmental career by boffing up on the latest green science?

Green technology certainly is the way forward for smart business owners and job-seekers looking to move into a successful company. Advocates of green technology claim that the green revolution will be just as explosive and all-encompassing as the advent of information technology in the last 20 years. The main goals of green technology advocates are to end the cycle of disposable products, replacing it with one where products that can be reused are created; reducing waste and pollution; finding alternatives to fossil fuels; and creating new, sustainable methods of production that can meet society’s needs.

So where can you find out more?

Next month, ecoConnect, facilitator and promoter of innovative green technology, will host a green business forum with guest speaker Zac Goldsmith. Son of billionaire Sir James Goldsmith, Zac is a renowned environmentalist, anti-globaliser and the director and editor of The Ecologist magazine.

The forum is for anyone with interest or involvement in green technology and sustainablity. It will provide fascinating discussion on the environmental technology sector, as well as a showcase of examples of the most innovative green technology. The forum will take place on Tuesday 21st October at 6.30pm, at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Want to get involved? You can book a place by searching for ecoConnect’s website.

EcoConnect is a not-for-profit, social enterprise organisation, which holds regular green networking events useful to anyone pursuing an environmental career. Its mission is to champion green technologies and services, connecting them with commerce and industry.

If your business is lagging behind in the 20th century model of wasteful technology, or you are a job-seeker tired of working for a company like this, watch this space for more news about green technology, and keep checking Juicyjobs.biz for companies that are already part of the green revolution!

Author and resource box

Rachel Charman, a writer for Juicyjobs.biz Green Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal Environment jobs in London.

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The Green Escape!!

September 26, 2008 at 11:35 am · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Get out of the rat race and into your dream Green Job, fast!

Looking for the perfect charity job?  Desperate for an ethical career, but stuck working for the bad guys?  Want to start looking for green jobs, but overwhelmed by all the options? JuicyJobs.biz understands your plight.  The internet is full of job sites, and searching through them all can seem like an endless task with little reward. So, we bring you the top five strategies to maximise your search for ethical jobs in the minimum time!

  • Use email updates: Trawling through websites where 90% of the jobs aren’t suitable takes hours.  Get yourself an account on www.juicyjobs.biz and each of your other favourite job websites; create a search that will flag up the vacancies you’re interested in and have the results sent to your email account.  If you’re in a hurry or very specific in what you want i.e. the area you want to work in etc, it would be advised to get a daily job update to make sure you don’t miss an opportunity.  If you’re flexible and not in a hurry to find that perfect job, then a weekly job update would be good.
  • Create an “ethical career” email account: Getting into your perfect green job is an important task, and warrants its own email account.  Locating job application forms, shortlist notifications and job search updates in amongst those “READ THIS HAHA LOL!” forwarded emails and your Amazon recommendations is time consuming, and important stuff gets lost or deleted by accident.  With a separate account, keeping track of your applications and job searches will be a piece of cake.
  • Bookmark your favourite sites: Select useful websites for finding the jobs right for you.  That doesn’t just include ethical job websites like JuicyJobs.biz; who do you want to work for? ActionAid? Amnesty International?  Set a bookmark directly to their recruitment page and click it weekly to keep up to speed.  This will save you hours of googling and page navigation and ensure that you go to the right site every time.
  • Don’t trust the machines!: Automatic searches save time, but even the most specific searches still lack human judgement.  Some searches operate differently too; whilst some search via categories you choose such as location, sector, and salary, some search for keywords, which is why completely unsuitable jobs can pop up every now and then.  Sometimes great jobs slip through the net too.  Spend an hour a week searching sites manually yourself, with the jobs listed in date order starting with the most recent, to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
  • Go old school: You’d be forgiven for thinking that the whole world operates through the internet these days, but remember that there is a real person on the other end of all those flying back and forth.  If your job application is being handled via a recruitment agency and you have been allocated an advisor who has forwarded your CV, keep their contact details close at hand.  If your application has been forwarded to your prospective employer, but you haven’t heard anything for a few weeks, call the recruitment agency, ask for your advisor by name, and find out what stage your application is at. This way you will be far better informed than if you wait for them to call you.

Happy Job Hunting!

Author and resource box

Rachel Charman, a writer for Juicyjobs.biz Ethical Green Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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Morgan Lovell to hold Green Workplace Seminar

September 22, 2008 at 11:15 am · Filed under Environment ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Morgan Lovell to hold Green Workplace Seminar

Employers in the Midlands looking to attract ethical job seekers; sit up and pay attention!Morgan Lovell, the office refurbishment specialist, is to hold a green workplace seminar in Birmingham next month.

“Sustainable Office Design: A how-to approach” is aimed at facilities managers, property professionals, and business leaders. The breakfast seminar will be led by Morgan Lovell’s sustainability manager Lara Conaway. The aim of the seminar is to present affordable design ideas for office spaces that will help make your workplace more green and sustainable.

Ms Conaway will also give employers the lowdown on how organisations, simply by making their workplace more sustainable, can receive money from the government.

Publishers Egmont UK are also taking part, providing their representative Kerri Culff to the seminar.  Ms Culff will present her real life case study, sharing her experience of going green at work and how this has benefited the company.

Julian Lebrey, managing director of Morgan Lovell in Birmingham, based in Fort Dunlop, said: “There’s a compelling case for creating offices in tune with the environment, as they can cut costs in areas such as energy usage.

“They can also enhance staff wellbeing, with a positive affect on a company’s productivity and the bottom line.
“This seminar offers real, applicable advice that can be incorporated into today’s office design projects and offers a good starting point for businesses looking to create a more sustainable environment.”

Looking for an ethical job with sound environmental credentials?  Maybe Morgan Lovell is worth checking out.  It was named as one of the Sunday Times’ Best Green Companies this year, recycles 50% of its overall waste, and its environmental training for staff was ranked at 80%.

Registration for the event is free, but spaces are limited and the same seminar held recently in London was oversubscribed.  To register go to

http://www.registrationline.co.uk/ml/event261/regform.asp

The seminar starts at 8.30am and lasts until 11am, and takes place at Birmingham’s Radisson SAS on Wednesday 22nd October.

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Graduates demand Ethical Employers

September 21, 2008 at 7:41 pm · Filed under ethical jobs ·Tagged , , , , , ,

The mood of graduate potential recruits is changing. Whilst career-seekers are still hungry for good salaries, training, vocational qualifications, opportunities and personal development, more and more are researching prospective employers’ track records on sustainability and ethics.

The very existence of JuicyJobs.biz demonstrates the growing demands for ethical and environmental careers, volunteering, and charity jobs.
The Higher Education Authority is a body which pledges to improve the standards of higher education in the UK through research, reports and dialogue with universities.

Last year, the Higher Education Academy carried out a study entitled Employable Graduates for Responsible Employers. The purpose of the study was to determine, amongst other things, how ethical and green job seekers want their employers to be, and vice versa. The findings were telling.

According to the report, “the graduate employability agenda is now more closely linked to the employer sustainability agenda.” In short, increasing numbers of students are considering the social and environmental policies of employers before choosing to apply to work for them. Whilst this was not the main factor in their decision-making, a large proportion of graduates said that it was a differentiating factor in their choice of job.

The trend was confirmed by university careers staff. Many have often requested more information on the social and environmental reputation of employers, as this has become more important to students. Careers staff too felt that the employers’ green and ethical credentials are important factors in career choices.

All of this points to a general trend, both in education and employment, towards concern for the environment, human rights, equality and greater corporate responsibility.

Some critics have claimed that ethical produce such as Fairtrade and corporate responsibility policies such as those of coffee giant Starbucks are merely fashionable fads that will crumble in the face of market forces.

This research, however, suggests graduates’ desires for green careers and ethical jobs are increasing, rather than reaching a plateau or declining. As well as this, the concern seems to be mutual; the report found that increasing numbers of employers seek socially responsible recruits too.

In the face of such research, smart employers will stay one step ahead. In order to attract the best and brightest graduates, it seems employers are required to think hard about their corporate ethical and environmental responsibilities.

Author and resource box

Rachel Charman, a writer for Juicyjobs.biz Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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Is the UK one Huge Global Plughole?

September 15, 2008 at 1:46 pm · Filed under Environment ·Tagged , , , , , ,

World Wildlife Federation Report in brief

Those of you looking to break into NGO jobs or environmental careers would do well to check out WWF’s new report, snappily entitled UK Water Footprint: the impact of the UK’s food and fibre consumption on global water resources, published at the end of August.

According to the report, the UK uses 4,500 litres of “virtual” water (that’s water used to our food and clothes) every day.  With less than 40% of the UK’s water coming from its own water reserves, the WWF suggests that Britain is hogging thousands of gallons of water it need not use, damaging some of the world’s most precious rivers whilst other countries struggle with dirty water supplies.

Stuart Orr, WWF-UK’s water footprint expert, said in a recent WWF article:

“Only 38% of the UK’s total water use comes from its own rivers, lakes and groundwater reserves.

“The rest is taken from water bodies in many countries across the world to irrigate and process food and fibre crops that people in Britain subsequently consume.

“What is particularly worrying is that huge amounts of these products are grown in drier areas of the world where water resources are either already stressed or very likely to become so in the near future.”

Mr Orr urged action from concerned consumers.  He continued: “As a consumer you can ask businesses, including your local supermarkets, to tell you what they are doing to ensure good water management along their supply chains.

“As a citizen you can urge your government to make good water management a priority both in this country and overseas.

“If we do nothing to alleviate the acute pressures on water resources at home and abroad, then our inaction could have far reaching consequences for people and habitats.”

If this sort of thing really gets your goat, check out JuicyJob’s listings for Environmental Jobs & Careers.  If you already work in your dream green job but still want to change the world, search our volunteering section for how you can campaign on green issues.

UK Water Footprint can be downloaded from the World Wildlife Federation’s Website.

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