“Cleary Goes Green”
With the current economic challenges at hand, it is more important than ever to look at the long term sustainability of every business enterprise. The role of chief sustainability officer is the fastest grow C-Suite role in global corporations. As such, CSOs must develop and implement a corporate sustainability strategy that creates a competitive advantage for their company’s growth and long term success.
Any visionary business leader is searching to hire professionals before the economy recovers. The professional staffing firm of Cleary Consultants is well known in Boston for finding the right candidates for their clients. Hiring a recruiter is a cost effective way of finding the right people that is exponentially increased by getting ahead of the recovery curve.
Most likely every competitive player in every industry is going or planning to go green in the long term to get a leading edge. Cleary Consultants Inc. knows who works for competitors and which ones should be recruited. The location of our office beside Faneuil Hall in Boston’s financial district, and with three decades of proven success, has allowed us to maintain a stellar record and reputation with our clients. This kind of intellectual capital is called competitive intelligence.
The New England area possesses all of the attributes needed to benefit from an expanding green tech industry. New England’s demographics are well suited for green tech employment and consumer demands accompanied with widespread growth.
Cleary Consultants recruit the best minds employed in any industry to give employers an edge over competitors. As a leader and visionary in employment services, Cleary knows before the recovery has come what experience and qualifications these minds possess to make the most impact for future green tech employers.
As experts in employment services with time-tested experience, Cleary Consultants know how employers adapt to business cycles. Employers want to cut costs and expand their operations to overtake competitors. In the next decade the green tech industry will be fundamental to achieving employers’ goals similar to the internet in the 1990s. Presented below is compelling evidence of expansion of green tech globally, and most important for Cleary, the local expansion of green technology.
Before the current recession there were doubts about green technology’s impact on the economy and how serious the public’s attitude was towards environmentalism. Since the onset of the global recession it seems like green jobs are just an afterthought. However, the actions of leading global companies and markets reveal different trends.
Nomura Securities, Japan’s largest securities firm, recently began offering a global fund focusing on companies engaging in environmentally friendly technologies. JP Morgan Asset Management is investing and managing a $1 billion fund for green technology companies in South Korea. General Electric Corp. employs 2,000 people to build solar and wind technology components. In addition, GE’s “Ecomagination” program employs an estimated 30,000 workers in the United States. Furthermore, global clean energy markets are projected to grow to $226 billion by 2016.
Also, Venture capital generally leads investment trends that mainstream and established firms pursue. On February 24, President Obama said, “New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea,” in his first address to Congress. Consequently, the American Economic Recovery Act set aside $70 billion for alternative energy and conservation initiatives. High levels of investment from the public and private sectors are strong indicators this industry will grow further and attract more investors.
Staffing green tech companies requires understanding the interweaving market forces from employees to federal government incentives. Green tech includes several fields of study and a myriad of industries. The growing public support for green initiatives has serious potential for expansion of the work force. When workers’ values align with their duties then their stress decreases and their morale and productivity increases. This feedback loop will lead to a virtuous cycle of workers pursuing green jobs where they will be productive, enhance company competitiveness, and ultimately contribute to creating more jobs.
Employers in green tech will want employees with good communication skills with the ability to distill complex ideas for a non-technical audience. Employers will also be looking for candidates with significant technical backgrounds such as engineering degrees, accredited professional certifications, project managers, and even advanced degrees.
Green tech involves several industries that have more in common beyond environmental perspectives. The production process for green tech is similar in several industries. First, there is the design and simulation phase, followed by manufacturing/construction, then sales and marketing, and finally sustainability and maintenance. This logistic holds constant whether the product is fuel cells or green buildings.
Even when we deconstruct these industries by investments, there is one unifying theme – growth. Not only has wind generated power doubled from 2000-2004, but jobs in wind energy have grown from 50,000 at the end of 2007 to 85,000 by the beginning of 2009, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
Many indications suggest investments in the green tech industry will continue in the future. The American Economic Recovery Act investment of $70 billion in the green space industry has resulted in Massachusetts firms vying for market share to save money and increase labor force productivity. The Boston Business Journal has highlighted several firms in the area that have made a success with money-saving, environmental techniques.
Knowledge of production processes and market trends ensure Cleary will capitalize on consequent employment demands. While supporting initiatives and the development of the green tech industry, Cleary stands alone as a provider of excellent workers in a safer and cleaner environment.
We can already see the grass on the other side of the recovery and have positioned our firm to move into the green industry. The Domini 400 Social Index, which measures the performance of environmentally and socially responsible companies, tracks broader economic indices like the S&P 500 with nearly perfect correlation. Moreover, the green industry crosses over several sectors of the economy, from data storage to concrete, and when the economy recovers green jobs will provide exactly that – green.
Cleary Consultants understands the qualifications and passion these firms require of their candidates such as LEED certification and basic awareness. And we have competitive intelligence to help firms all around Boston find the right candidates to continue to grow down the economic recovery road. Whatever the shade of green all signs are pointing in the same direction, and this professional search firm is ahead of the curve towards a sustainable future.