Green Festival is the University of Reading’s annual sustainability celebration that is designed to shine light on environmental topics and promote and educate sustainable actions within the university and its students. During this week, your Careers team will be hosting an exciting event on campus: Explore Green Careers.

What are green careers and skills?

“Green careers” refers to jobs that work alongside environmental and sustainable goals. A green job may have a focus on sustainability within the workplace, aim to reduce or eliminate the company’s carbon footprint, or have an acute focus on how precious resources are used. Basically, anything that has a positive effect on our planet. One might assume a green job is one that works directly with the environment, such as wildlife conservation or renewable energy, but now that more sectors, such as fashion and finance, are making commitments to the protection of the planet and transitioning to low-carbon models, it means that every job has the potential to be a green job. As companies make this positive change, they are also looking to hire individuals who share their sustainable values and have a comprehensive knowledge of green issues.

This is where green skills come in. “Green skills” are skills and knowledge that an individual can bring into their workplace to enrich its sustainable goals. Green skills can include, but are not limited to: an understanding of how to optimise materials that a company uses to produce goods and services, an awareness of environmental issues, and the ability to implement sustainable practices within the workplace. There are hundreds of green skills and in recent years, the demand for individuals with green skills has grown significantly on platforms such as LinkedIn.

Now you understand green careers and skills, but where do you start?

Research shows that the majority of people, especially young people, are concerned with environmental issues and want to work towards sustainable goals, but simply don’t know where to start. ‘Explore Green Careers’, hosted by the Careers team, is a workshop that will give students an insight into a wide range of careers that aim to work in accordance with the protection of the environment. The session will equip students with the knowledge they need to find a green job that suits them, and build experience that will help them make a difference to our planet’s future within their career or profession. There is a panel that will include speakers from green companies such as: Jacobs, WSP, and Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

This event is open to any students that have an interest in working within an environmental career, and will surely be insightful to anyone that attends! Explore Green Careers will take place on campus, Thursday the 10th of November, from 1-2pm. Please follow the link for more information and to book your place. We look forward to seeing you there!

Jasmine McQuade, Careers Content Creator

Year 2, English Literature and German BA