Alumni offer advice on entering 'green' jobs

Four alumni returned to Penn last night to share stories on how they broke into the green job industry.

The Green Jobs Panel, held as part of the College Alumni Mentoring Series, took place in Houston Hall yesterday. The panel offered advice from graduates with 20 years of employment experience to members of the classes of 2008 and 2009 who have successfully negotiated the job search that this year's seniors - who made up approximately half the audience - are experiencing now.

One of the topics discussed was what "green jobs" actually are. The panelists generally agreed that the definition is expanding rapidly and green jobs are not limited to environmental science-specialists anymore.

Andrew Glantz, who graduated from Penn last year after studying economic history, environmental policy and marketing and now works for a management consulting firm, stressed that "every job could potentially be a green job."

"Almost everybody who graduates is going to have to deal with sustainability in some respect in his or her job," Glantz said. "Every person in a company is going to be expected to contribute to a company's sustainability."

The panelists also gave the audience some general tips on how to break into the job market.

College '09 alumna Sarah-Jane Littleford, who secured her job at Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services just a week before graduating, emphasized the value of networking and getting to know your professors during your time at college.

"Who you know is the job you're going to get," she pronounced.

College '89 alumnus Blaine Collison, who majored in Political Science and is now a program manager with the Environmental Protection Agency, reassured anxious students that he owed his first job to "dumb, stupid luck." During the job interview, he said, the only words he spoke were "yes" and "hmm."

Yaowen Ma, a College freshman from Hong Kong, said he attended the event because he is interested in increasing environmental awareness. He has campaigned for environmental health issues and is currently involved in a water-awareness campaign at Penn that highlights the global water crisis and raises funds for Charity Water.

Ma said the inclusion of two recent graduates on the panel was a smart move.

"They both just graduated from [Penn], so ... they were able to give us some insiders' tips," he said. "They understood our feelings."

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