Today’s employer advice is from Heather Burns, Founder of ESG Consulting Biz.
Q: Tell us about your organization.
ESG Consulting Biz provides training to professionals wanting to provide ESG (environmental, social, governance) and sustainability consulting to companies, organizations or governmental agencies. A recent survey shows that 52% of companies said they do not have the capacity to meet their ESG/sustainability goals. This has caused an unprecedented demand for trained consultants that can help companies stick to ambitious net zero and other ESG goals. I’ve worked as a sustainability consultant for more than 15 years and want to scale my impact by teaching others.
Q: What advice would you give to people in midlife who want to transition to a green job?
Get creative in how you think about it. Those of us in mid-life have deep experience and skills that can be applied in many different ways. Green jobs are evolving and will continue to change as the impacts of climate change become even more apparent and we transition, globally, to a net zero economy. We can adopt an “experts-in-learning” approach and read, listen and learn about topics that interest us and use what we learn to build bridges between our past experience, skills and expertise and the type of green jobs we desire.
Q: What are the skills that you believe will be required most in the short-medium term in your industry?
We have a quiz on our website that helps assess the specific skills, experience and personal attributes that are helpful in ESG consulting, but I see a strong indication that written/verbal communication skills, systems and strategic thinking, creativity and change management skills as being of particularly high value to the field of sustainability consulting. Many people think it requires a scientific or technical background, but that is not true. People with backgrounds in international development, business management, accounting, communications and even HR have transferable skills and expertise.