Green Careers

Fighting climate change isn’t just about protesting and volunteering, Love Your Chelmsford wants to support anyone who is interested in pursuing a greener career path. Which is why on this page you’ll find information on taking your first steps, where to look for green jobs, where to find financial support to help you pursue an environmental qualification, plus our ‘Green Career Interviews’, in which we interview individuals working in all sorts of green minded career paths right here in Chelmsford.

With policies, laws and public expectations around what industries must do to reduce carbon emissions and help fight climate change becoming a hot topic, there has never been a better time to consider a ‘greener’ career path. Once you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll find nearly every industry has opportunities to work in a role that gives you that important monthly pay check, whilst also allowing you to spend your working hours helping to prevent climate change.

Read more

Of course, there are the more obvious sectors; conservation, energy management, land use and planning, pollution control or waste management but there are far more opportunities out there. You could work as an Engineer helping to design and build electric vehicles, you could work as a Fashion Designer creating clothing that is 100% reusable and biodegradable, or even as a Barista working in a coffee shop that sources Fairtrade coffee beans and refuses to use single use coffee cups. So how do you get started and how can you get the right experience and qualifications?

green career install solar panels
What is a Green Career?

If you’re still in education you might like to choose to study GCSEs or A-Levels that will suit the type of job or industry you’d like to go into within the environmental field. The same can be said for choosing a degree however it’s important to point out that many schools, colleges and universities don’t offer environmentally focused subjects yet. But there are other things you can do to gain knowledge on environmental issues.

The good news is that if you’re interested in climate change, there’s plenty of information online in the form of documentaries, videos, articles, essays, podcasts and interviews. Climate change is a continually evolving issue so there’s always new research and projects being released to learn from.

Read more

If you’re already working and are considering a switch in career path, here’s a great article that goes into this in detail for a later read.

“When I finished my A-Level studies I wanted to be a graphic designer, so I studied to do that at a degree level, but my interests shifted as I got older from art to sustainability and environmental issues. I couldn’t wrap my head around why all these terrifying scenarios were on our horizon, but nothing was being done to stop it happening.

It’s because of this that I went off my own back and used my free time to learn and understand the environmental issues we face and what the solutions might be. This meant I would attend talks, read reports and essays, watch films and documentaries and then wherever I could, slot that into my degree projects. This meant that when I graduated, I had a degree in design based subject but a knowledge of climate issues.”

Sam Warren, Love Your Chelmsford Officer, Chelmsford City Council 

green careers job hunting
How do I get qualifications and knowledge?

If you’re considering going to university but have concerns or limitations due to your financial situation, or if you’d just like to try and cut down on the amount of student debt you will undoubtably rack up, grants, bursaries and scholarships are certainly worth looking into.

–  Grants – Available to anyone who satisfies the general criteria, such as the subject you’re planning on studying, your ethnicity, gender or place of birth

–  Bursaries – Money available but with narrower criteria, such as students from lower-income backgrounds, care leavers, or for those where the money will be earmarked for specific expenses, such as childcare.

Read more

–  Scholarships – Funding aimed at supporting high achievers. This could mean being gifted in a particular subject or sport (e.g. rugby, football, the sciences or art)

–  Sponsorships/apprenticeships – Degrees sponsored by a company, meaning you get a salary and your fees paid for in full. The trade-off is that it takes longer to get a degree as you’ll most likely be working at the same time, plus you may have to sign a contract to stay within that company for a number of years after graduation, which can be limiting.

Degree level scholarship directory for environmental subjects – British Education

university environmental studies
Is there any financial support available for my studies?

Of course you have the typical sites like Indeed, Reed or CV Library. But there are also job search websites out there that either specifically focus on environmentally minded jobs or allow you to look for jobs only in that category. Here’s a few of the best ones to check out:

The Guardian Jobs – Environmental Section

Environment Job

Countryside Jobs

Charity Job

Find an apprenticeship.gov

Jooble

If you’re still in education (school, college or university) and want some personal help or guidance, you will have access to a careers adviser. Ask your teacher/ tutor where to find them if you’re not sure, going and having a chat with them is always a great place to start.

green career wind turbine engineer
Where should I look for jobs and apprenticeships?

If someone said you could work in Chelmsford fighting climate change day-to-day, would you know what kind of job role that could be? Do you know what experience or qualifications you might need? Or what your day to day life might look like?

To help answer these questions Love Your Chelmsford has teamed up with People On Work to produce a series of interviews with individuals working in all sorts of green minded careers right here in Chelmsford.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR LIBRARY OF GREEN CAREER INTERVIEWS

Read more

We’ve spoken to individuals working in all sorts of jobs, from the construction industry to the renewable energy sector, we’ve interviewed a zero-waste retailer, a public health practitioner and even a natural burial site manager.

But we don’t want to stop there, our hope is to interview as many people from as many industries as possible. Whether that’s working at an electric car showroom or in a coffee shop that’s pledged to be plastic free. We want to prove that you can work in nearly any industry and still have a positive impact on our planet.

Do you work in a green minded job role? Would like to support this project by being interviewed by us? We’d love to hear from you, email lyc@chelmsford.gov.uk and let us know what you do!

people on work montage
Green Career Interviews