New Green Jobs, But Often the Same Old Skills. By Marilyn Gardner, CSM, June 9, 2008. "Kathleen Loa first began thinking about pursuing a green career while she was a student at Oberlin College. Now, armed with a degree in chemistry, she is... serving as an intern at the nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy in Washington, D.C. After earning a master's in energy policy, she'll find a job. 'I want to keep working on environmental energy, either through a nonprofit role or a for-profit company,' says Ms. Loa... [a] goal [that] puts her in the vanguard of one group seeking eco-friendly jobs -- students and recent graduates who hope to join the green boom at the beginning of their careers. A second group includes people in midcareer who want to parlay their current skills into green jobs... 'I kind of chuckle when people talk about green jobs,' says Richard Stuebi, a fellow at The Cleveland Foundation in Ohio... He points to the burgeoning demand for machinists, fabricators, and welders associated with wind turbines. 'That's now being called a green job,' Mr. Stuebi says. 'But the job itself doesn't look a whole lot different from those in the auto industry 20 years ago. Solar-panel installers are doing a lot of the same things electricians and roofers have done -- running wire, drilling holes in roofs. And people who can operate cranes and do onsite pouring of concrete can erect and install wind turbines'... For those seeking green careers, either at an entry level or as a career change, [Andy Zaleta, a partner at Battalia Winston, an executive search firm in Boston] offers this advice: 'Networking, networking, networking.' He notes that 85%t of people find jobs that way."
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