Essential Insights for Climate Employers: How to Draw More Job Seekers

Addressing climate change requires engaging the entire workforce. The reality is that countless individuals possess the necessary skills to drive these changes, yet our recent survey of more than 1,500 people in the U.S. workforce revealed a startling lack of familiarity with climate jobs — even for those concerned about climate change. Why are climate-related roles often not on their radar?

People see themselves as agents of climate action as consumers and citizens, but it’s crucial they also see themselves as creators and contributors to climate solutions.

As a climate employer, educator, job board, training program, advocacy organization, funder, or another stakeholder interested in developing the climate workforce: how can you best activate people to see themselves as builders of climate solutions?

Let’s dive in for a deeper look at what our recent research report revealed, and how to apply the insights discovered.

Why aren’t more people looking for a climate job, and what is it exactly? 

The climate workforce needs to include hundreds of millions of people globally, but in our survey of 1,500 climate-concerned Americans, 66% reported a limited understanding of climate jobs, and 19% had never heard of them. We will begin here, then: what is a “climate job”?

Work on Climate’s definition of climate work is rooted in the impact itself, and not limited to specific sectors. As mentioned, successfully mitigating climate change means we must rebuild existing sectors — for example, manufacturing and consumer goods.

Is the job helping build a cleaner economy? Then it is a climate job.

As a climate employer or educator, helping people develop a stronger understanding of what climate jobs are and what they can achieve is an essential first step. Did you know that only 12% of climate-concerned Americans recognize the power of their job as an important climate lever? 

Our survey showed that as people get more familiar with “climate jobs”, they are significantly more likely to recognize the impact of professional climate action. In fact, exposure to a detailed description of a climate job in our survey seemed to create a ‘lightbulb moment’ — by the end of the survey, 83% agreed that “if more people *worked* in climate jobs, that would make a big difference.”

So, then, let’s specifically define a “climate job.” A climate job could look like…

• Work that is specifically focused on fixing or adapting to climate change in the most ‘obvious’ sense. For example, a solar installer, a sustainability analyst, a climate scientist, or a climate justice strategist.
• Work at a company whose primary mission is to fix or adapt to climate change. For example, an HR generalist at an environmental non-profit.
• A role where a majority of the impact of the work supports fixing or adapting to climate change through the specific projects or customers the work supports. For example, an accountant whose workload involves carbon accounting.

A great deal of impact can be created through work that does not outright appear as a climate job, and there are many examples of non-obvious climate careers. Consider the honorees in the 2023 GreenBiz 30 Under 30 seeking to initiate change at scale within larger corporations. “It takes much more than those [in] explicit sustainability jobs to achieve the progress needed to decarbonize and transition to a circular economy,” explains 30 Under 30 GreenBiz honoree, Anna Epstein, who works as a Sustainability Manager at Nike. For example, the article elaborates on another honoree’s work:

“When entering the corporate finance world, Khiana Deas didn’t realize she could combine her personal interest in sustainability with her day-to-day job. She had joined the second-largest U.S. bank as a global risk analyst, but a co-worker piqued her interest in ESG [environmental, social, and governance factors]. ‘It blew my mind,’ Deas says. ‘I realized how connected [ESG] is to everyday life, how it feeds into policies, consumer behavior, how buildings operate — it has so much reach.’ She quickly shifted into a role focused on ESG compliance and operational risk.”

2023 GreenBiz 30 Under 30

Specifically and clearly defining a “climate job” is the first step to help people understand jobs are a form of impactful climate action available to them. Now, where can climate employers, educators, and job boards look to effectively reach a broader audience?

How can climate employers and educators broaden their reach?

To grow the climate workforce, we must go outside of our ‘normal’ bubble: the intersection of work and climate solutions must be discussed where the majority of people are.

Our survey looked at the top sources of information about climate solutions to identify exactly where people are looking. The top three places are news media (45%, e.g. NY Times, CNN), search engines (33%, e.g. Google), and social media (24%, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok). At the bottom of the list were individual climate companies, climate sites, and job boards. 

This means as a climate employer or educator, you need to go to where the people are — don’t expect them to find you. Advertise in mainstream media, and identify mainstream social accounts and influencers that can help promote your jobs and training programs. Employers can engage in PR campaigns to receive broader coverage about their climate solutions.

For more insight into your potential candidates’ mindset, here’s an article that interviews six people from the Work on Climate community to learn about their climate job seeking approach, particularly where they began their searches. Everyone interviewed came from different backgrounds, but all of them hadn’t made the switch to a green career until recently.

Now that we’ve expanded our bubble, how can we best communicate to people that they have the agency to become builders of climate solutions, too? 

How can climate employers and educators encourage prospective talent?

The biggest stated barrier to seeking climate work is that people simply don’t know how their skills are relevant or would translate to climate jobs — 64% of those we surveyed reported so.

As a climate employer, talk about your climate solutions and speak about how different types of people contribute to building it. Tell the stories of your existing employees who transitioned from other sectors and roles. This is a great way to help people understand how their skills are relevant, especially for roles that don’t require climate-specific skills.

When more skills or training are required for a climate role, help your audience understand where exactly they can find them. The two biggest skill acquisition barriers people reported are not knowing what skills or training they might need (52%), and not knowing where or what type of training is actually available (42%). There is an urgent need to increase awareness of what skills are needed and what training programs are available to potential jobseekers.

It’s just as important to acknowledge non-barriers, too: people do not identify a lack of excitement about learning new skills or working in a climate job. Our survey found a highly positive sentiment throughout the data — people assume climate jobs would be better than their current job on most employee experience dimensions.

“Until now, I really haven’t had any idea of ‘climate jobs.’ This survey has made the concept clearer and triggered a curiosity to want to be a serious part of this movement. I am now more motivated to be a part of this change and make the world safe for everyone.”

Survey participant

Let’s work together to create that ‘lightbulb moment’ for more people.

Empowering the workforce to drive climate action

All of the above tactics will help climate employers and educators tackle the root of the familiarity problem: many people are simply unaware that their job is a powerful form of climate action available to them. In fact, among the few who are “extremely familiar” with climate jobs, still just 29% say they will put the most effort toward professional climate action (compared to personal behaviors and political advocacy), and only 7% among those who only “know a little” about climate jobs. While reducing your personal carbon footprint is also important, we’ll need much more action to meet our goals mitigating climate change.

So climate employers, educators, and everyone building the climate workforce: don’t assume your prospective talent knows their skills are needed. Most likely, your candidates don’t realize that working on climate is even an option. Use existing job titles and roles to make the connection to job offerings crystal clear.

All hands on deck.