Posts Tagged ethical jobs

First ever green job survey depicts a booming industry

June 5, 2009 at 10:51 am · Filed under ethical jobs, green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Finally, in the midst of the plethora of ugly headlines about redundancies, high prices and overstretched public services, there has been some good financial news. Even better, it comes from the environmental sector.

Reuters published its first ever Carbon Salary Survey in early June, and boy does it look good. A whopping 68% of green job holders said that they felt an increased sense of job security in the past few years, going against the grain of most industries, where workers are clinging desperately to their careers.

Most respondents in the survey put this warm, fuzzy and secure feeling down to increased enthusiasm from governments and businesses to go green and tackle the effects of climate change.

Being secure in your job, in the midst of a recession, is plenty to be thankful for, but wait; there’s more! The average salary in the climate sector came out at around £47,000, which is a promising indicator of a healthy sector.

The rapid growth of the green industry is partly due to government agreements to tackle climate change. In the UK, green jobs were given a lift by the EU agreement in December 2008 to source 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020 and to cut its carbon emissions to 20% below 1990 levels.

Now for a little patriotic pride; the UK remains the hub of the green job sector, with 28% of green business headquarters located in Britain. North America was close behind at 26%, with Europe at a close third with 24%. At least the UK’s flagging Prime Minister Gordon Brown has managed to hit one target; his pledge to keep the UK as an international leader in green technology seems to be in sight.

The Reuters survey goes to show one thing; that an environmental career is the way to go for stability, great salaries and progression up the ladder. The only negative aspect that the survey revealed was the fact that women, on average, still earn around 18% less than men working at the same level. So, girls (and open-minded boys), there is only one thing to do; check out the job listings on JuicyJobs and correct the balance!

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; 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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Vinspired projects kick off this summer with hundreds of volunteering opportunities

May 22, 2009 at 12:21 pm · Filed under volunteering ·Tagged , , , , , ,

We all know that volunteering jobs are great things. If you’re in college or university and are looking for a way to boost your CV, or just looking for something worthwhile to do in your spare time, volunteering can be the answer. What happens, however, if there’s something out there that needs to be done, and yet no volunteering position exists to tackle it?

Well, Vinspired have thought of that, and for that reason, created Vcashpoint, a system that grants people aged between 16 and 25 with the funding to run their own volunteering project.

Every year, Vinspired’s scheme Vcashpoint opens another round of funding. The organisation has £1 million to give away to young people who want to do something to empower their community. That community can be any; their local community, their religious community, their college, or any other gathering of people you care to think of. Grants range between £1,000 and £2,500, and are given on completion of a successful written bid. The project can literally take any form – the more innovative the better – as long as it benefits a specific community and involves young people volunteering.

This summer the projects begin, as young people take charge of issues around them. It’s amazing what people come up with if you give them the chance. Some are organising a centre for therapeutic treatment through caring for and riding horses. Some are creating awareness around male eating disorders, and some are setting up anti-knife crime committees in their local communities.

One project demonstrates particular innovation. The QueerPod Tour is a project set up by a young freelance journalist, funded by Vinspired and working in partnership with FYI Radio, a station that produces podcasts on alternative culture for and by young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The QueerPod Tour is comprised of a series of workshops with LGBT youth groups around the country this summer. The object is to teach the young people in each youth group to create podcasts, helping them to develop both their media skills and to define and use a voice within public dialogues. So far, youth groups in Hull, Leeds, Coventry, Wolverhampton and Exeter are participating in the tour, the material from which will be added to FYI Radio’s online LGBT resource.

If you are looking for volunteering work, check out the listings on JuicyJobs or alternatively, start thinking about your volunteering project for next year and apply to Vinspired; you never know, it could take off!

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; 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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National Trust rethinks panicky redundancies

May 22, 2009 at 8:57 am · Filed under Charity news ·Tagged , , , , , ,

The National Trust for Scotland has cowed under pressure from unions after threatening to make one-fifth of its workforce redundant. The little tête-à-tête between the union, the charity and its workers has demonstrated the tough times that charities face, and how charities will have to change in future.

The Trust originally said it would cut 91 of its 487 staff working in charity jobs. Further, it announced plans to shut 11 of its properties as they were temporarily making a loss. Naturally, the sudden and large sweep of potential redundancies alarmed Prospect, the union which represents 400 of the Trust’s employees, and a battle to protect as many jobs for the charity ensued.

Now, the Trust has backed down a little, and is now planning only 65 redundancies and nine building closures, which seems to have sated the union for the meantime. The issue blew open questions over the Trust’s previous handling of finances, however, and about its long-term vision.

Whilst the Trust has repeatedly claimed that the need for redundancies has been the onset of the recession, Prospect begs to differ. The union claims that the black hole in the charity’s finances is actually due to its fundraising campaign for a new Robert Burns National Heritage Park, the building of which is due to be finished by 2010.

Meanwhile, Conservative MSP Jamie McGrigor has implied that the charity was too hasty in its initial decision to simply close down 11 of its properties. In a discussion about Arduaine Gardens, Mr McGrigor told The Times that:

“These gardens are also 100 years old and mean a lot to many people.

“To be scrapped on the whim of the Trust after not making income over a short period of time would be ridiculous.”

The incident highlights the inefficiency in the charity sector that has been bemoaned for some time. Whilst the recession has had many unfortunate casualties, charities might come through the other side of this downturn having become more efficient through necessity, whilst keeping charity workers on. Essentially, a short sharp shock like a recession could have been just what charities needed.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; 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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Europe coughs up cash for green jobs

March 12, 2009 at 11:51 am · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

For some Brits, “EU” is still a dirty word, inducing stiff upper lips and self-righteous sniffing, and quite disproportionate fits of rage in some cases. Naysayers should take a look at the latest Euro initiative to create green jobs and boost the economy the next time they go Brussels-bashing.

Most of the whining about the EU boils down to comments such as “how dare those dashed foreigners tell us what shape our cucumbers should be!”, or complaining about the cost of being a member of the EU. Little is said about what the UK gets as a part of that big European melting pot.

The next time I encounter someone having a die-hard anti-EU tantrum, shouting about sovereignty and foreigners wasting our money, I can counter it with the fact that the European Commission has just announced it will be investing €105 million in green economies in order to revive long-term employment. The money is available through the EU Cohesion Policy, and promises to deliver “a solid platform for job creation and a significant boost for regions and cities in their quest to maintain Europe’s global leadership in the field of green technology.”

Of the funding, €6 billion will be marked to develop greener urban transport; €4.8 billion will go towards renewable energies; €4.2 billion to boost energy efficiency, and €28 billion to improve water and waste management. All of this spells saving for consumers, a cleaner environment, and the creation of thousands of green jobs to implement the new policies.

Critics of Gordon Brown have complained that he has said much to this effect already, but taken no action to green the UK out of recession. The Tories have hidden their natural blue under a more friendly green shade, with Dave Cameron harping on about the environment and posing for pictures with melting ice caps. Now, critics of both Brown and the EU will have to stick this funding in their pipes and smoke it the next time they wish to bash the Union over the head with recession woes.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; 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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1 million UK green jobs by 2015

January 16, 2009 at 10:37 am · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

The Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson on Monday 12th January unveiled a new plan to create thousands of environmental jobs over the next five years.

This comes after the Mayor of London made public his plans for greener jobs in the capital, and as Northern Ireland hosts a large-scale conference on creating environmental jobs in the region.

Lord Mandelson was addressing the Jobs Summit in London when he outlined the governments proposals for a Low Carbon Industrial Strategy. He said that whilst recruitment slows in other areas and redundancies sweep the UK every day, the environmental goods and services industry could rescue the economy from further difficulties.

The forthcoming proposals highlight the importance of government commitment to develop the environmental sector through helping green job seekers develop the appropriate skills for the sector.

Lord Mandelson went so far as to describe the environmental sector as becoming “fearsomely competitive” in the future, demonstrating the shift of high flying careers from retail and banking to ethical and environmental jobs, and spoke of a desire to ensure that UK companies are “world leaders” in green business initiatives.

“Essentially,” he continued, “we are talking about an industrial strategy that is rooted in the diversification of the UK economy and the deepening of its specialisms; where its comparative advantages lie in a changing global economy.”

The new government proposals hold promise for green job seekers in the future. If you are looking to start a more ethical career, or have been trying to break into the environmental sector, the next few years look set to be successful. With green technology at the top of the government’s agenda, however, even industrial jobs look to be becoming more green. Keep checking JuicyJobs.biz for great environmental job opportunities!

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