Kross Preps Students To Land Sustainability Dream Job

Katie Kross (fourth from left) spoke at Poole College of Management on Oct. 28, 2015.
Katie Kross (fourth from left) spoke at Poole College of Management on Oct. 28, 2015.

Go ahead, ponder it. What’s your dream job? No, really, think about it. If you could write your ticket to any job, what would it be now? What about 10 years from now?

If a sustainability career is in your dreams, sustainability career expert Katie Kross has some advice for you. In her experience as Managing Director of the Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment (EDGE) at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business (as well as author, former president of the NC Sustainability Center and former director of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise at UNC Kenan-Flagler), she’s helped graduates nail their sustainability dream job. Her helpful career tips below are from an Oct. 28, 2015 presentation at NC State’s Poole College of Management sponsored by Poole College Business Sustainability Collaborative and the NC State Net Impact chapters.

Narrow your focus. What kind of impact do you want to make in the world? What big issue do you want to work on? What about industry preference? Do you want to work for a big company or a sustainability-oriented company? Would you like a role within that company that works on sustainability issues daily, or would you like to work in a traditional business or industry role? Remember that careers are about function plus impact. You could pursue a job with sustainability in the job title, or you could pursue a specific job function – such as marketing or accounting – and commit to infusing sustainability into your position.

Try Informational Interviews. Relationships and rapport matter, and informational interviews are a way to kickstart relationships while also gaining insight into potential careers. Ask someone to join you for coffee or to talk with you briefly by phone. Questions to guide the conservation include: What’s your job like? What skills do you use? What conferences do you attend and what news sources do you read? If I wanted to work in your company two years from now, what would I need to prepare? What’s the most interesting sustainability challenge you’re working on or would like to work on? You might able to connect a class project with his or her priorities. It’s easier for employers to say yes to a project or an internship if you can intersects with their priorities.

Network, Network, Network. Think of this process as building a network for life; not just this job search. In sustainability fields particularly, the circles are small and networking’s impact is large. Use social media or clubs to connect. Also, try attending conferences where sustainability-related professionals gather.

Target Your Search. Try orienting your job search by organization or company. Pick 30 or so companies where you’d like to work. Try to focus your networking efforts on meeting people within these organizations.

Be interview ready. At some point in the job search, someone will ask what sustainability means to you. Have an answer. If you’re in a job interview, know what the company calls sustainability. They might call it corporate social responsibility or some other term. Be sure you speak their language. If you have passion for the type of job you’re interviewing for, then be ready to demonstrate how your life reflects that passion. Authenticity matters.

Identify Any Gaps. Think about what would make you an ideal candidate for your dream job. What skills, personal attributes, subject matter expertise and work history would you need to have for that job? Then, write down where you are now and identify the gaps between where you are and where you want to be. Fill the gaps by volunteering, serving on a board, joining Net Impact, doing consulting projects, writing for a blog and other ways to build professional experience. Even if you aren’t searching for a job right now, set up RSS feeds or job search agents to email you when new sustainability jobs are posted. Save any interesting job descriptions so that you’ll have an idea of what skills, experience and knowledge you need to build in order to pursue a job like that in the future.

Stay Current. The sustainability field moves quickly. Make sure you subscribe to news about social impact and sustainability.

It’s important to keep the end goal in mind. Life gets busy. School gets busy. Ask yourself, are the choices I’m making in my daily life helping me get toward my dream job?