Career in Sustainability: Where to start?

This is something that I have asked myself over 10 years ago, when I decided that my career was going to be focused on sustainability.

I was not sure where to start, or exactly what I wanted to work on, but I knew that I had lots of transferable skills, with a burning passion for the subject and willingness to learn.

Two people stand on a sunlit path, where the words "Passion led us here" are inscribed, capturing a moment of shared purpose and adventure.

Since then, I have been asked this question many times, from graduates, to experienced colleagues and friends keen to make a leap of faith into the industry.

If you are also interested in starting your career in sustainability, here is some good news: sustainability professionals are in high demand, as governments and businesses worldwide set their environmental commitments for decades to come, driven by a rapidly growing public and investor’s interest.

So, where do you start? The three tips that I would have given to myself at the beginning of my career:

• Find your area of interest – “sustainability” means a lot of things. If you don’t know what you’re particularly interested in, a good starting point is to review the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Read through them, take notes of areas that you’re passionate about and check if you find yourself in a rabbit hole of reading articles and watching videos about one, or multiple, subjects.

• Build on your transferable skills and knowledge – sustainability is an integral part of an organisational structure and not a standalone, siloed function. If you do already have experience in a particular field, be that project management, finance, procurement, training, marketing and so on – think about how you can bring your expertise to the table together with your passion for sustainability and the area of focus that you have already identified.

• Accreditations and trainings – Is it a pre requisite or do you want it? I think these are the two main questions to ask yourself. Surely there will be roles where a formal accreditation, specific studies, certified training will be a requirement, and in that case the answer is straight forward. But it may also be that you just want a formal accreditation and training, to build self-confidence when approaching an employer or when starting your own business, perhaps feeling that your passion and self-learning will not be enough. Other than these two scenarios though, you don’t need a specific background to start your career in sustainability, and passion will really be your main driver for learning.

  
  

In the next decade, we have in our hands the future of the planet, and we all have a part to play. So even if you are not thinking about a career change, but this post had made you curious about exploring what sustainability means for you, in your job and in your life, that is already a success.

And if you are already a sustainability professional, I would love to hear from you: What would be the advice that you would’ve given yourself at the beginning of your career?