It’s a tough, unprecedented time for most, but for young graduates looking to make their first career move, it can be hard to navigate. With career fairs going online or postponed indefinitely, and sustainability job searches on the rise – a few local green warriors decided to do something about it. Enter the online event Journey Through a Green Purpose.
A few common questions often arise when the discussion of working in sustainability comes up for the youth; How can I get into the industry? How can I get experience? What does a career trajectory look like? Can I make money doing this? Questions that Journey Through a Green Purpose hopes to answer.
The event features 12 webinars over 3 weeks (26 February to 12 March) with speakers and facilitators from across the sustainability world in Singapore who will share candidly their personal experience getting a role or starting a business in this space. Attendees can expect to hear from individuals in sectors such as waste management, renewable energy, packaging but also verticals in law, finance, assurance, advisory and creative industries. Companies speaking include TRIA, SMOVE, The Fashion Pulpit, Green Collar, Green Is The New Back (our founder Steph is speaking too) and many more.
More than just webinars, the organisers are putting together a resource cheatsheet as a toolkit to demystify the myths of the sector as well as provide a leg up for participants. And by getting involved in the event and with their survey, participants have a chance to win free career branding service, as well as one on one resumé consultations with a career coach.
The event is organised by Seastainable (supporting marine conservation around the region), Green Nudge (helping people build sustainable habits through different activities) and is supported by the US Embassy. We asked them to share more about what the event is all about and why this event is so needed for the youth in Singapore.
GITNB: Why did you decide to do this event/ how did the collaboration come about?
Organisers: This collaboration came about when we realised through Green Collar, an online job portal for sustainability-related jobs in Singapore, that there’s been a 300% in the number of green job listings since its launch in July 2020. Singapore’s Minister Grace Fu also announced in August 2020 that sustainability will be at the heart of economic recovery, and the sustainability sector will offer 55,000 new and upgraded jobs. However, we realised that there hasn’t been any conversations or discussions to educate how a person can get a job within the sustainability scene, as the industry is far and wide-ranging.
Why is now the time and what has shifted that makes this the right time for these conversations?
The recent focus on the topic of sustainability has led to a corresponding increase in enquiries in careers in the sustainability sector in Singapore. As sustainability practitioners ourselves, a significant number of these queries appeared to be coming from youths, including graduating students, students seeking internships as well as recent graduates seeking a career transition. Many of these questions signalled a greater desire to understand more about the sector, as well as a curiosity towards individuals who are currently in these roles.
Potential job seekers may often rely on third party information including the career portals as well as peers to consider taking on these roles. Unlike previous years where physical career fairs are created where graduates could assess for themselves suitable job roles, many of these are currently taking place online or are postponed indefinitely. In addition, while online resources such as Glassdoor or InternSG are available, these may not be as relevant as this information depends on reviews by applicants which may not be readily available for many of these new roles. Instead of tackling personal and career-related queries in a physical space, there is a need to create a safe online space for mutual sharing, as well as a platform for learning and dialogue.
What is the sentiment with the youth about working vs working in sustainability? Is there a lot of demand? Confusion? Excitement?
As part of Journey Through a Green Purpose, we are surveying the sentiments! As part of this webinar series, there will be free resume career consultation giveaways for the participants of our talks (worth $200 each) and if you take part in our career survey – you can win too. To participate in the survey please click here.
What do you hope to get out of this event?
We hope that this series of webinars will serve as a platform to help job seekers who are looking to start a career in sustainability to gain insights and knowledge of what they need to get into their dream role in sustainability.
Read more about Journey of a Green Purpose here and here to register for each session.
The featured image shows Li Seng’s founder of Green Nudge and co-founder of Green Collar.
Green Is The New Black is a media partner for this event.