Job search expenses such as resume services, placement agency fees, and travel costs are tax-deductible–for some, and sometimes. Here are Uncle Sam’s criteria:

• You have to be looking for a job in your current occupation
• Any travel you itemize has to be primarily related to looking for a job
• You can’t be looking for your first job
• There can’t have been a ‘substantial break’ between the end of your last job and when you started looking for a new job.

For those fitting these criteria, the deductibility of job search expenses will offer some small relief and help offset unavoidable costs in a tight and competitive labor market. But, what about those who do not fit the criteria? Some exclusions make sense, of course.  Why, for example,  would Uncle Sam reimburse you for your vacation to Hawaii or, in the case of the first-time job seeker, allow you to deduct from taxes you haven’t yet paid? In these greening times, however, and in a world in which career outlooks change as rapidly as technology, does it make sense to restrict allowable deductions to non-career changers? Is ‘career change’ even a definable parameter? The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t think so:

“The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) never has attempted to estimate the number of times people change careers in the course of their working lives. The reason we have not produced such estimates is that no consensus has emerged on what constitutes a career change. A few examples may help to illustrate the difficulty of defining careers and career changes. Take the case of a BLS economist who is promoted to a management position. Before the promotion, she spent most of her time conducting economic research. After the promotion to the management position, she still may conduct research, but she also spends much more time supervising staff and reviewing their research, managing her program’s finances, and attending to a variety of other management tasks. This promotion represents an occupational change from economist to manager, but does it also represent a career change? It depends on how you define a career change.”

“Did a construction worker who decided to start his own home-remodeling business experience a career change? What about a newspaper reporter who became a TV news anchor? Each of these examples involves a change in occupation, industry, or both, but do they represent career changes? Most people probably would agree that a medical doctor who quits to become a comedian experienced a career change, but most “career changes” probably are not so dramatic.”

“What about the case of a web site designer who was laid off from a job, worked for six months for a lawn-care service, and then found a new job as a web site designer? Might that example constitute two career changes? If not, why not? Is spending six months at the lawn-care service long enough to consider that a career? How long must one stay in a particular line of work before it can be called a career?”

“Until a consensus emerges among economists, sociologists, career-guidance professionals, and other labor market observers about the appropriate criteria that should be used for defining careers and career changes, BLS and other statistical organizations will not be able to produce estimates on the number of times people change careers in their lives.” (Source: http://www.bls.gov/NLS/nlsfaqs.htm#anch43)

The BLS also found that, on average, Americans hold 10.8 jobs between the ages of 18 to 42. How realistic is it, then, to restrict tax deductions to those staying in their current occupation? What if their occupation is dying or in a dying industry–a situation many Americans are facing today?

If we need to nurture new industries (the growing green industry being just one), if the current economic climate demands greater resourcefulness among those looking for work, and if technological and social evolutions are changing the very landscape of the work world, it might be time for Uncle Sam to update his criteria!

We’ve all heard that green is quickly becoming the new black. Everyone seems to be jumping on the sustainability wagon. What does that mean for HR? In December 2008, Green Tech Media offered their list of the top ten green jobs of the future. Number two on their list was Sustainability Officer. They say that this is a newly created corporate position. Companies will need to make choices about how to reduce their carbon footprint as well as make their products and services more green.

So, what is a Sustainability Officer? Here is my first pass at what an HR sustainability role would look like and the process HR would undertake in order to “greenify” their company.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)

Once the organization establishes that social responsibility and sustainability is important to their business strategy, they must define what this will mean to the company. Once this is defined, it will need to be incorporated into the company’s vision, mission, values as well as touted in their marketing materials, website, and all communication vehicles. No easy task here, but assigning the deliverable to one job function actually makes quite a bit of sense.

The role would be highly visible and would have to form strong communication channels, both internally and externally, so some good PR and platform delivery skills would be required. The person filling the role will need to be a team player with an exceptional attention to detail. Dealing with all the related functions to get the messages created and delivered will be challenging enough, so a good team approach and an ability to influence others will be a must.

A sustainability officer need not have 100 years experience in that one industry, but should understand the business as a business – possessing solid business acumen and be able to connect the soft skill and process dots to hard dollars. Finance background is always good, but we know most HR folks go into HR so they don’t have to deal with numbers all day long! (Side note here: that perception sure is changing!)

Relating to finance, the sustainability officer will be responsible to identify the current carbon footprint. While there are websites that can help you do this, such as www.carbonfootprint.com, this also will take savvy communication and collaboration skills to interface with all functions with in the organization. This is not a “nice to have” activity, it is the wave of the future and a way for HR to align themselves more closely with the CFO and financial accountability.

Recently, it was reported that environmental costs and liabilities associated with preparing environmental disclosure for Securities and Exchange Commission filings can be a complicated process. Many publicly traded company operations are subject to multiple jurisdictional requirements, from very local to international or supranational regimes, according to a Harvard Law School Corporate Governance blog posting.

According to a memorandum by Betty M. Huber and Brianne Lucyk, certain new and proposed changes to environmental accounting rules may affect current and near-term qualitative and quantitative disclosure. The Financial Accounting Standards Board is looking for more footnote disclosure about a company’s environmental liabilities. You want to score some significant green points with the C-suite? Learn more about the new reporting laws and create ways to support your CFO in this requirement. Then I would recommend a three-step process to recreate the HR function, which includes recruiting and all of its processes.

Evaluate

Does the company’s organizational culture, vision, mission, and values support social responsibility? Organizational culture and values congruence is paramount the creation of a green recruiting function. It continues to be abundantly clear that values not only create cultures, but also support the alignment of personal values with organizational values on many different levels. The amount of blogs that speak to values, personal evolution, and enlightenment is staggering. This all feeds into the school of thought that today’s individuals are seeking experiences with deeper meaning, deeper connectivity, and relational activity.

What is the company’s business proposition as it relates to being green? While sustainability is a factor in building an employment brand and HR function of the future, it also applies to retention. Organizations that are not implementing environmental policies or changing the way they’re doing business may lose current employees to companies that have established themselves as an eco-friendly company or offer socially responsible incentives. Some of these incentives include subsidies for buying hybrid cars, on-site farmers’ markets, use of green fuels and solar power, or the ability to donate reward monies to charitable causes. These are just some of the latest trends in going green.

Eliminate

Using proven business process re-engineering, deploy steps to eliminate waste. Total Quality Management and Continuous Quality Improvement are not just for Six Sigma companies. These methodologies are accepted business practices even for the “soft” processes. When I was an internal in Health Care, we deployed the Juran principles to the cycle time for filling vacancies for our nursing positions. After forming a representative team of subject matter experts, we began creating a process map which allowed us to all see the complicated steps that had been created in this process. We worked together to eliminate redundancy, waste, and duplication of efforts. The outcome was that the team reduced the cycle time for the vacancy rates by 60%! Trust me here, you probably have a ton of practices that could use some dusting off and reinvention.

Process re-engineering related to being green might be a chicken and egg situation. When I was investigating whether organizations go green to save money or for more esoteric reasons, I had a conversation with a high level HR professional in the hospitality industry. She explained that her organization did not go green for social consciousness, but more for the realized cost savings and process improvement. That struck me as funny, as I travel so much and have always applauded hotels that have implemented so many green approaches. Not that they don’t leverage their green side, it was just not the impetus I expected for launching their sustainability efforts.

Include your leader in this exercise allowing them to see what needs to be cut and the potential cost benefits from making the commitment.

Illuminate

Bring to life the new concepts, processes, and procedures and communicate them effectively. Don’t allow for “green washing.” You cannot afford a misstep in this communication activity. Focus on creating a congruent and authentic employment brand will help your organization attract, retain, and repel employees. Companies large and small are seeing a significant increase in the ROI of their recruitment and retention programs by creating an employment brand. One component of a significant employment brand is its green recruiting practices. This is not a “flavor of the month” or a new concept. Fortune 500 companies have been doing it for years and your organization might have the right stuff…you just might not be leveraging your green practices and programs in your recruitment efforts.

Way back in June, 2007 Dr. John Sullivan wrote, “While candidates of all generations have begun evaluating potential employers based on their “greenness” few in recruiting have leveraged this hot topic in recruitment communication and activities”. He goes on to say, “individual recruiters need to make the firms’ environmental stance a critical element of their sales pitch to potential applications and candidates”. Does the good doctor have a crystal ball or what?

In speaking to HR professionals around the country over the past year, I know his words to be true. Recruiters are not leveraging green enough. In 2008, while presenting at the HR Star Conference in San Francisco, I asked a room of over 300 HR professionals how many of their companies had an environmental policy. Only 10% of the room raised their hands. But, when asked if their company recycles, over 80% responded yes. I have asked this question in over 20 conferences in the past year with much of the same result. If you recycle, you have an environmental policy! I know, that seems so easy, and it is. While looking at your organization with a new lens or a green monocle may not be so easy, it can be done.

Sometimes reframing is the most cost effective approach to transformation. You are already doing great things, you just might need to rediscover them. You’ll do that in the evaluation phase and the you can repackage them. We all know how much “regifting” can save. Apply the same concept here.

For more information on creating a green employment brand, email: info@emergeinternational.com.

Scope

Think about it this way: If you say you managed Bob’s Market, it makes a big difference to me as hiring manager if Bob’s Market is a local store serving 30 customers a day or a national chain serving millions. Quantification is one key way of conveying scope, but it’s not the only one. If you don’t have metrics, you may have to think of other, more qualitative ways to convey scope. If you start to think about each section of your resume this way, however, your document will be that much more effective.

Impact

Let’s say one of your responsibilities as Manager of Bob’s was handling key accounts. Because you understand that conveying scope is important, you’ve correctly pointed out that there were 50 key accounts at any given time. Great! But—what tells me, the hiring manager, that you handled them well? Maybe you lost each and every one! If you indicate, however, that you increased the amount each of those key accounts spent at Bob’s by 60%, that tells me you are highly effective—that your efforts had a positive impact! There are many ways to convey impact. It just takes a little brainstorming.

Method

So far we know that you managed up to 50 key accounts for Bob’s, a sizeable national chain, and that this resulted in a significant increase in how much each account spent at Bob’s. What we don’t know yet is how you did it! Did you do it through lowering prices so much that Bob actually lost revenue, regardless of the increased spending? Or, did you design and implement a targeted customer satisfaction program that resulted in increased trust and loyalty?

Addressing scope, impact, and method can dramatically improve the impression your resume has, helping hiring managers to understand how you will affect their bottom line. That is, after all, what they really want to know, isn’t it?

For more information on developing effective career documents, see the Resumes & Job Search Coaching pages of the Olila Documents & Communication Strategies website.

Every year I hear countless job seekers say the same thing, “I am going to put my job search on hold until after the Holidays.”  Unfortunately, this is yet another example of conventional wisdom misfiring.  Here are some of the reasons that “suspending” your search in December will do more damage than good:

• I have never seen a December in the search business that wasn’t extremely busy – good economy or bad.  Many companies are trying to get positions filled before year’s end because of budgets or potentially losing the headcount.  The latter is of particular concern right now, given the state of the economy and new job creation.
• During December, there are multiple opportunities to network through holiday parties.  The amount of people you can reach out and touch is two to three times that of any other time of the year.  Why wouldn’t you take advantage of it?
• Think of your job search as a sales and marketing campaign.  You should be creating “buzz” about your product – you!  You have worked hard building up this “buzz” – so why stop now?  Again, think about all the people gathering and networking (social or otherwise) this month.  Don’t you want to remain top of mind?
• People are conditioned to connecting and re-connecting over the holidays.  Combine this with a more charitable sprit and your networking efforts are made much easier.  As many push their workloads off until the New Year, making introductions, renewing connections and touching base is much easier.  Why wait until after January 1, when everyone is battling a pile of December’s procrastination on their desk?
• For those companies who aren’t going to hire until January 2010, staying top of mind right now is even more important.  Simply put, who has a better chance of landing the job – the person who has been in touch, networking and establishing rapport over December –or- the person who makes their first contact via email on January 2?

ExecuNet cited that executive level searches are taking upwards of 10 months in this market and the average job search is 2.5 – 3 weeks per 10K in annualized salary. Networking is key to shaving months off this average for yourself and a large part of my coaching programs (3 months is the average for my clients – even at the C level). So, this is no time to rest!  Keep building on that momentum you have worked to build in 2009 for your job search.  If one of your resolutions for 2010 is to make a career move, there is no better time to get a leg up on the competition.

Kevin Kermes publishes the ‘Build the Career Your Deserve’ e-zine with over 21,000+ subscribers. If you are ready to empower yourself with the vital tools and information necessary to find the job you want and build the successful career you deserve, visit him now www.kevinkermes.com

by Anneli C. Olila, Principal of Olila Documents & Communication Strategies / Editor-in-Chief of Boston GreenScene

In my recent discussion of green job hunting myths, I argued against the mystique surrounding the green job industry and the psychological and other barriers this presents to those hoping to transition into a green career.  Responses from readers ranged from disbelief, to hesitant hope, to specific questions regarding qualifications and resources. In this article, I start to provide some data that may be useful to readers in understanding the projected growth of the green job market and where they might fit in.

What Do We Mean by ‘the Green Job Market is Growing’?

According to the United States President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), green jobs are everywhere, and the growth of the green job market is anticipated to continue to outstrip the growth of other markets. In its July 2009 report, the CEA cited data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showing projected growth in environmentally-related occupations to be 38% more than all other occupations combined by 2016. This is depicted in the following figure, reproduced from page 8 of their report:

To put this into perspective, it is worth noting that the occupations they considered were actually in a fairly limited range.  Specifically, the BLS projections drawn from in the CEA report are based on data for the following occupations only:

• environmental engineering technicians
• environmental engineers
• environmental scientists and specialists (including health)
• environmental science and protection technicians (including health)

Including the likely corresponding increase in ancillary and surrounding jobs (IT, administration, and HR, to name just a few) would likely increase their projections significantly. In fact, echoing others, the CEA notes specifically that, “… it is currently hard to classify “green” jobs as they cross standard industry and occupation definitions,” and that “the BLS has begun to consider a new classification system to learn more about these jobs. This will allow researchers to track changes in this rapidly evolving sector.” (p. 9)

In October 2008, Global Insight published their own green job projections in a report developed for The United States Conference of Mayors and the Mayors Climate Protection Center. This report, “Current and Potential Green Jobs in the U.S. Economy,” predicts the highest growth of green jobs will be in renewable power generation, residential and commercial retrofitting, and renewable transportation fuels. Global Insight includes in their projections not only ‘direct’ green jobs (such as hands-on manufacturing and retrofitting jobs), but ‘indirect’ green job, which they identify as engineering, legal, research, and consulting positions.  Their projections for potential green jobs through 2038 for the US as a whole, totaling 4,214,700, are represented in the following graph:

Massachusetts and Connecticut

The Global Insight report also presented projections by state. For our Massachusetts and Connecticut readers, I have reproduced the projections for specific metropolitan areas here below:

Global Insight concludes its report with the following statement regarding where green jobs will be found:

“There are many Green Jobs in our economy already, but that figure stands to grow tremendously over the coming years due to market forces, legislation, and local initiatives, or some combination thereof. The vast majority of Green Jobs are not location dependent, so future Green Jobs will be located in cities and metropolitan areas that are currently the most attractive for investment, or in areas that actively increase their attractiveness relative to competing areas. The good news is that traditional industries continue to be replaced by new opportunities, and we have only just begun to tap into many of them.”

Here again, however, the data compilers are not reflecting the many ancillary and supportive jobs (at all levels) that will necessarily be created by these projected increases. From the perspective of those looking to green their careers, adding these in would more accurately reflect the opportunities that are or will be available

Fact 1:

For many functions, changing to a green career is no more complex or mysterious than making any other career change. There are fundamental, logical steps that go into the process that are applicable to any shift in professional direction. Usually, making a career change involves leveraging the skills you have gained and how you have applied them in other arenas, identifying and articulating these transferable skills, and making a coherent argument as to why these are transferable and applicable. This is not mysterious; it just requires thought, logic, and some well-developed writing and argumentation skills.

Fact 2:

Green companies are still companies. As far as I know, companies typically have at least some common elements and functions. Commensurate with their size, most companies across industries still need accountants, purchasers, managers, leaders, coordinators, assistants, trainers, researchers, and so forth. Any company worth its salt that is seeking, for example, an effective project manager is going to want you to have a proven history as a project manager and is going to expect that you have the ability to apply your project management skills to different types of projects. You can be as green as you like, but if you do not possess the required project management skills, you will most likely not get that particular job.

Fact 3 (related to Fact 2):

Companies like to hire people who are good at what they do. If you are a top-notch accountant, you will likely be a top-notch accountant whether you work for an oil company or an alternative energy company. You will be equally valuable to—and equally qualified to work for—each company. Certainly, there may be nuances and pockets of knowledge that will help you to perform your job better in your new environment, but if you have a proven track record in your field of expertise, most companies will assume you can learn the additional nuances and pockets of knowledge in a reasonable amount of time and they will be willing to provide the needed training. I seriously doubt that green companies are so myopic in their vision that they will only hire those who are steeped in knowledge of things ‘green,’ thereby overlooking their need for seasoned experts in the different facets of effectively and competitively running a business.

Before sitting down to write this article, in fact, I conducted some research on green jobs currently available to see what the requirements were for different functions at different levels. Of course, I found that, for example, an aquamarine specialist should have an aquamarine biology or related degree and that a LEED specialist should be LEED accredited, but I also confirmed my hunch: that green companies and companies in the process of greening some or all of their operations want applicants to first and foremost be good in their specific field. Alongside that, they would like applicants to have a strong interest in and—sometimes—existing “knowledge of” environmental affairs and issues.  For most entry-level positions, an expressed interest in or commitment to the environment was sufficient.

Fact 4 (related to Fact 3):

We live in a Jim Collins, et al, management theory era. Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great” and “Built to Last,” argues that the best companies hire competent, intelligent people and then find the right position (the ‘right seat on the bus’) for them, and are willing to make the expenditures to train them on details and specifics. I personally have experienced working in a $2 billion, stable, highly reputed company that routinely does just that. Given the number of Jim Collins’ books sold, read, and followed religiously by management consultants and companies alike, I imagine the company I worked for is not the only one that either already put this theory into practice or did so after reading his books and the books of others that echo this theory.

Fact 5:

Hiring managers are thinking people in living, breathing, unpredictable environments. They are not automatons or computers. This means that when they are presented with a specific ‘package’ (the job applicant), they will consider the pros and cons of each applicant’s assets and deficits—none of which will match the stated job requirements exactly. This is true in any hiring situation, not just in relation to green careers. The trick is simply to adequately summarize, market, and portray your specific package in a way that presents the correct value proposition to the employer you are approaching.

Fact 6:

The growth of the green industry is currently exponential, albeit slowed by the recession. The fact of the matter is that there are not enough people already specifically trained in this industry to go around. Many people will adapt their skills and expertise while on the job. If the green industry is counting on a vast pool of green industry experts to make their companies run efficiently and competitively, they have a few years to wait as people re-school themselves. Most companies won’t be willing to wait that long—and they don’t need to, given that right now there are plenty of highly skilled, highly educated, and proven practitioners out there looking for work that could help these companies succeed.

Fact 7:

The job search industry is an industry. I know this, because I am in it. And, just as in any other industry, those selling services to job seekers are trying to get and keep a competitive advantage. They work hard to convince you that you need their services or product and, like others, they are jumping on the supposed green gravy train. It is to the benefit of companies serving job seekers if you believe there is a ‘secret formula’ or some highly specialized knowledge that you can’t even guess at necessary to switch to a green career. If they can convince you of that, you will hire them at top dollar prices to do what you supposedly could never accomplish on your own: find a green collar job.

Well, I have news for you—and I tell this freely to people in my workshops everywhere: if you can think clearly, can write, have the time, and walk through the necessary steps, you can get a job or make a career shift on your own, or at least without my help. Yes, you can. I just offer to do it for you to make your life a little easier and because I have done it numerous times for others and am probably a little better and quicker at certain aspects of it. However, I readily admit that any intelligent and resourceful person who puts their mind to it can figure out how to switch to a green career. So, those trying to sell you books and guides containing, for example, the ‘Top 6 Secrets to Greening Your Career’ are, in my mind, selling you snake oil.

Shortly, I will write a follow-up article providing specifics for topics I have touched on here and providing some tips on how to transition into a green (or other) career. For now, however, I want to drive the following messages home: You are qualified. Many will find you qualified. The fact that you are good at what you do makes you qualified. You may have to expend some extra effort—just like anyone making a career shift or just starting out in their career—to further qualify yourself or to learn on the job, but there is no mystery, no mystique, no secret formula. Anyone who tries to sell you anything on the premise that there is, is either wrong or simply trying to profit off of you.

Olila Documents & Communication Strategies is located south of Boston and provides, in addition to other writing, editing, and design services, job search coaching and career document development services for job seekers.