Opportunitiy Alert: Green & Socially Responsible Careers

Green is the new path to green, greenbacks that is. Read any magazine or website and you’ll find profiles of heavy-hitters and billionaires jumping on the green bandwagon. Al Gore, the man who publicized it all, is now a venture capitalist with a few billion to invest in green ventures. Gore and his ilk will likely focus on clean technology, while others in this emergent field will focus on organic food, carbon emissions and alternative energy sources.

But, this new green economy will offer opportunities for more than just ex-politicos, VCs, techies and scientists. They’ll do quite well, but there is room for plenty of others–from consultants to franchisees to environmental affairs executives.

If green is not your thing, but you do want to work for a company or operate a business that produces more than just more widgets, one that actually leaves your community or country better off than before you started, a sister movement may offer you the opportunity you seek.

Socially responsible businesses and business models are popping up in the most unexpected places. Magazine publishers like GOOD Media are donating their full subscription revenue to charities. Starbucks teaches farmers in developing countries to grow coffee that they may purchase at fair trade prices. E-Commerce startup Better World Books sells used textbooks and donates a significant portion of their proceeds to charities that build libraries and schools. And, retailers like Target and the Gap devote hundreds of millions to socially responsible causes from community development to poverty to AIDS research and illiteracy.

Socially responsible opportunities are not limited to charitable giving programs or foundations. Corporations have begun creating corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments and initiatives devoted to overhauling and reinventing their practices to make them more socially responsible.
The market for socially responsible businesses and career opportunities is smaller and not as well funded as the green market, but is nonetheless attracting interest, dollars and converts devoted to operating a business that improves the lives of others both by generating revenue and by creating new opportunities. Notable among them is the Ashoka Foundation, a venture fund that funds social business enterprises exclusively, and Google (Google funds for-profit and nonprofit green and socially responsible projects).
Socially responsible organizations and individuals are creating career and business opportunities at a pretty fast clip. Opportunities include executive management roles at large corporations, jobs opportunities for program developers who can create earned income strategies for nonprofits, appointments to community and economic development commissions, and so much more.
If you are interested in pursuing a career or business opportunity that allows you to deliver a triple bottom line–profit, planet and people–green and socially responsible careers are for you. Because green and socially responsible careers are so new, there are few definitive guides. But, there is one. Everybody Else’s Guide to Green & Socially Responsible Careers, a career guide that features over 200 green and socially responsible opportunities, is available for pre-order today. The book will be published later this month.