Searching for Sustainability Jobs?
Why your green job search should start on Climatebase.
If you’ve ever searched for a “sustainability” job or a “climate change” job on Indeed or ZipRecruiter, you may have been disappointed. Some of the jobs linked to these keywords are available at companies whose core function serves the fossil fuel economy.
For example, I typed in the search terms “Sustainability climate change” on Indeed today, and found a natural gas company Inspection QA/QD job in the search results. This shows how most job posting platforms fail to accommodate a job searcher’s intent when it comes to green jobs.
A job search site that promotes climate solutions
One company’s free web platform aims to solve this problem: Climatebase. The company aims to provide a climate-friendly job search option without ever asking its applicants to engage in greenwashing or mere environmental law compliance. It offers jobs that boast sincere climate action ambition.
Though the company officially launched in 2019, it got featured on Product Hunt just yesterday (July 9, 2020), and it already has 533 upvotes (at the time of writing this). This came after a name change from Climate.careers and a partnership with Project Drawdown, the world-famous compilation of one hundred of the most impactful solutions to climate change.
Product Hunt is a site that promotes novel tech businesses, and it has a Green Tech category. It curates the popular ideas and product launches, which get user-generated upvotes. Users on the site can also give feedback or ask questions to the “makers” of a product.
Climatebase stands out in the Product Hunt Green Tech category because it is neither an electric vehicle nor a footprint calculation app. (Obviously, green tech “makers” can do better in the creativity department.)
A place to search for “real” green jobs
Some of the questions on product hunt reveal some of the key issues why this product resonates so well. For instance, one user asked if the companies listing jobs on the site were in fact “green.” Climatebase partnerships lead Evan Hynes responded that they use a set of criteria to screen companies. One caveat — these criteria are not yet listed on the site.
When you think of green jobs, you might expect to find jobs for a solar panel installer, a corporate sustainability impact assessor or a marine biologist. But why shouldn’t a graphic designer consider themselves part of the green economy?
In this regard, Climatebase also broadens the definition of what a green job is. It includes jobs in any domain, as long as they’re offered by a “planet positive” company. Of course, the Bay Area company is especially favorable towards job postings in tech.
A hub for climate events and orgs
The platform also goes beyond jobs to help people interested in the green economy find their people in other ways. You can browse events and search its list of organizations.
Hopefully, this will spur more positive feedback loops for greening the economy and give green jobs a more accessible feel. As one commenter on Product Hunt pointed out, even with the right education, she hadn’t been able to find a “green job.”
A green jobs platform with great UX
Overall, the site has a great design, an impacting message, and it’s really easy to use. You can search by keywords, location, category, organization type and size. A large number of remote jobs are also available. This helps job seekers who might be hesitant to work on-site due to Covid-19.
Climatebase is a great place to search for a workplace that’s earnest about making our green economic transition a reality.
Correction: In the original article, I wrote that Climatebase launched in 2009, but it launched in 2019. I apologize for the mistake.
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