Green Your Resume

By Kethaki Nair

As I was zoning out of my 8:30am class today my mind started wandering. Here is the essence of my train of thought……

I wonder if I should change the font size of the gap between my address and phone number? Is 6 too small, I think I heard someone mention 8 was the norm. I don’t want to make it look too crowded. Maybe I should delete the line that says….Computer Skills: Microsoft Office. Period. That is NOT a skill. Or is it?
I have since been told that anyone who knows offhand the exact font size of the gap between their address and phone number on the top of their resume clearly needs help. In my defense, my friends often exaggerate.

If you’re a senior or junior in college you know what I am talking about. It’s that time of the year when your resume is the most viewed document on your laptop. If you’ve ever been to your career resource center on campus you will also know that there is a resume for every occasion- the investment banking resume, the sales resume, the research associate resume. However, assuming you’re looking for a permanent job, it may be time to replace that investment banking resume with an all-new green resume.

Companies involved in emerging green technologies and practices are increasingly at the forefront of the job market. The sector is expanding big time and there are lots of opportunities to be had. So how do you craft a green resume? A helpful analogy is to imagine your resume is the back cover of an exciting novel. It is supposed to mention the highlights and make the reader believe this is a story they would like to read. So the key is identifying what kind of story the reader – code for employer – would like to read.

As in any other job green employers are looking for demonstrated interest, passion, and skill. So if you have ever done anything out of concern for the environment, put it on your resume. This could include a whole range of things: relevant work experience, perhaps you started a club on campus or in your neighborhood to make sure the street lights didn’t come on until it was really dark, or you found a way to bring composting into your community, or maybe you wrote an article about waste on campus for your newspaper. As the green corps job ads on idealist.com explicitly state, ‘We’re looking for people who are serious about saving the planet’. You need to prove that you are that person.

Another way of demonstrating interest, as well as skill, is to include a line in your resume that lists relevant classes. So if you took Environmental Economics or Law or even Introduction to Environmental Science, list it. A lot green jobs, especially those that deal with planning or technology will require you to have some quantitative skills. So listing statistics classes along with environmental classes can be a good idea.

Finally, if you’ve racked your memory for weeks and your resume is still oddly blue a handy tool is to include an ‘Interests’ section in your resume. Anything that you devote a reasonable amount of your time to is a legitimate interest. Listing your interests can make your resume unique, memorable and a lot more fun to read especially if you include interesting details. In term of the environment naming what environmental issues you are really passionate about is a good starting point. Just to illustrate how detail can change the impact of a statement here is an example:

Interests: Music. [Possible reaction- “Yeah. You and everyone else I know”]
Music: Ska Music [Possible reaction- Oooo…..what was his name again?]

Well maybe not Ska.