Career Development

10 Great Green Opportunities October 31, 2007 | Brita Belli | Everything's coming up green. Across every industry, new job possibilities are emerging for those with the skills to bridge the divide between the old, fossil-fuel-based economy and the new, energy-efficient one. Corporations once demonized for their role in creating pollution and exploiting workers are being held accountable; they are partnering with nonprofits and hiring corporate social responsibility managers. They are finding that reducing their impact is as good for future profits as for the planet at large. There's no secret to getting a job in the new green economy. It's as basic as applying the job skills you've already developed (web design, sales, management) to a nonprofit or sustainable industry, or coordinating sustainable practices from within a corporate entity. Sometimes, as in green building or solar panel installing, these green jobs require a specific set of skills-and classes are organizing to fill the growing need. Other times, as in the organic food industry, ecotourism or sales and marketing of energy-efficient technology, anyone with a good work ethic can get in and create a great green career.

Q. A growing number of colleagues have requested to connect with you on social networking Web sites. You have mixed feelings about giving these professional contacts a window into your personal life. What should you do?

If you are in the market for a job, especially if you have at least several years of work experience, you should be taking advantage of the significant benefits LinkedIn can bring to your job search, including warm leads into companies or to people you are targeting, the possibility of creating new job leads through recruiters who frequently use the site or people who are impressed with comments you post on the site, and access to posted and unposted job openings. So how do you take advantage of LinkedIn if you're a job seeker?

Internet presence is user-generated content on the Internet about you and/or your business. For example, you created a web page to showcase your work at a university, or you posted a note to your blog, or you added a topic to a discussion board like Career Development Forums. In most instances, you created that content, or you had someone create it for you. However, since anyone can add content to the Internet about you and your work, you should at least be aware of your IP and monitor it.

CareerTV.com is a global Internet and social media company specializing in streaming employer branding and career videos across the web. Our audience is students and young professionals from all over the world researching and planning their careers. The companies we profile are the most sought-after employers in the world. Founded in 2006, CareerTV is a privately held company with presence in San Francisco, San Diego, Philadelphia, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, London, Paris, Cologne and Hong Kong.

LinkedIn is the leading professional network on the web, so if you don't have an account already, get one today! If you have one already, you're off to a great start. LinkedIn is an invaluable asset to all you job seekers out there, providing you many unique features, including your own professional online resume, its own job board, a comprehensive company directory and more.

If LinkedIn Corp. wants to avoid being swamped by social-networking giant Facebook Inc., it will have to convince users like Jackie Nejaime to log in more often they do now.

CIO - When you belong to several social networking sites-Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter-(and don't we all?), keeping up with them can seem overwhelming. Tweet this. Update that status. Share a link here.If you've resolved to get more organized this year, consider these seven tools that save time and streamline your social networking interactions. My picks: For easy content sharing across platforms, be sure to check out is the browser plugin Shareaholic. And for simple synching and updating of multiple accounts, Atomkeep seems to be the most efficient.

"Q: As a LinkedIn user, I am seeing many people stating, "looking for a job opportunity" and other similar statements in their profile or status. If you are unemployed, is it good to announce that you are looking for a job this way, or does it potentially damage your image?"

Though a career fair is an excellent opportunity to explore different employment prospects, the sheer number of recruiters and competing job seekers attending the event can make it hard for you to get noticed. Also note that you should set reasonable expectations for yourself when attending a career fair; no employer is going to make you an offer on the spot, so your goal is simply to forge an initial connection with a wide variety of companies.

For many Americans looking for work, the first stop is an online job board. Now job seekers are finding that prospective employers increasingly are looking elsewhere to find new hires-the companies' own Web sites.

The 2009 job market is very different from job markets of the past. If you haven't job-hunted in a while, the changes in the landscape can throw you for a loop.

Here's an important New Year's resolution for job hunters: Sweat the small stuff.

"It's something job seekers often wonder: Do you really need to submit a cover letter with your résumé?"

Netvibes Career Explorations: Get RSS feeds, videos, and podcasts on career development issues. Information is organized by topic, field, and feed types. Enjoy!

Webinars for Job Seekers

The Evolving Workplace Integrating Academic and Career Advising

"How should you go about advertising yourself on LinkedIn when you are already employed? It seems like you wouldn't want to be too overt, since people from your present company are likely to see your posting. Is it OK to note that you are open to job queries?"

"In a tight job market, building and maintaining an online presence is critical to networking and job hunting. Done right, it can be an important tool for present and future networking and useful for potential employers trying to get a sense of who you are, your talents and your experience. Done wrong, it can easily take you out of the running for most positions."