The Three Questions

Cross-posted to The Green Suits:

As is the case at Monty Python's Bridge of Death, successful job interviews depend on the answers to three questions. Image h/t 1975, Monty Python (pythonline.com)

Fans of this website know that I am a big fan of Monty Python. And from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the “Bridge of Death” scene may be one of the funniest ever filmed. Remember the three questions the Bridgekeeper asks all who approach the Bridge of Death?

Bridgekeeper: “What is your name?”
First man: “Sir Lancelot.”
Bridgekeeper: “What is your quest?”
First man: “I seek the Holy Grail.”
Bridgekeeper: “And what is your favorite color?”
First man: “Red!”
Bridgekeeper: “Well…off you go then.”

Sir Lancelot answers wisely and safely gains passage across The Bridge of Death. To some, Lancelot’s experience seems much like an interview in the current job market.

So, what three questions might you expect to hear from a hiring manager? Last year, Fortune interviewed Heidrick & Struggles CEO Kevin Kelly who provided this boiled down but spot-on answer:

“Can you do the job?
Will you love the job?
Can we tolerate working with you?”

Hopefully, you won’t hear a hiring manager posing questions to you in such a brusque manner. But with these three questions, Kelly identifies the essential need. Let’s break it down:

CAN YOU DO THE JOB?

How well suited are you for the assignment? Do you have the requisite knowledge, training, and experience? Can you back up your claims with positive metrics? Can you hit the ground running with minimal or no training? Seriously, if you couldn’t do the job you wouldn’t have made it past the phone interview stage.

WILL YOU LOVE THE JOB?

This question speaks directly to motivation: What sets the fire burning in your belly each morning as you leave for work? Are you passionate? Will you enjoy a place where missions and strategies seem to turn on a dime? Can you visualize yourself being successful on the job and at the company? Can you see yourself rising through the ranks at the company? Will there be enough challenges and reward-opportunities three, four, five or more years from now to keep you jazzed about the company? And for The Green Suits: Is this company as committed to environmental sustainability and social responsibility as am I?

Actually, it is most-likely during the face-to-face interview round that the hiring manager will pick up on your body-language and soft-skills to determine whether or not you will be happy and thrive at the company.

CAN WE TOLERATE WORKING WITH YOU?

This is the “fit-check.” Regardless of great answers to the previous two questions, a hiring manager and his or her team may not see you being successful–or worse–compatible with company culture. Or the consensus may be that you are too much like the company culture and the need is for an iconoclast, someone who is a shaker-upper who will rattle a struggling company out of malaise. With this question, you hope for the best outcome. But really it is for others to decide.

For The Green Suit presenting him or herself for a sustainability or social responsibility management role in a not-already-committed-company, determining whether or not the team members can work with you may have a lot to do with how you frame language and answer [their] questions about difficult situational dynamics or company politics.

Still, knowing that it basically comes down to these Three Questions can be empowering. It need not be disabling. Understanding the mechanics of the candidate-selection process will help you be better prepared for interviews, and may increase your chances of landing a truly great job.

Now, I must ask: what is YOUR favorite color?

Twenty-Twelve and Ten Wishes for The Green Suits

In every year past, we predicted that things were going to get better on the green and sustainable career track. While some of us have made gains and landed great jobs, most of the rest of us struggle to establish ourselves in the New Green Economy.

We’ve grown tired of prognosticating. So, for Twenty-Twelve, we offer these ten wishes to you–the enthusiastic trail blazing careerists of the Triple Bottom Line–the Green Suits. Here goes:

1. That we find ways to acquire experience and achieve success in the green business space. If you are eager to be in green business but don’t yet have the requisite experience, purpose yourself to turn your existing non-green job GREEN. Propose a sound business case with your management that you are the one to make the company or organization they lead more efficient and resource-sustainable. In short order, you could become your company’s chief green officer!
2. That we never stop learning or asking probing questions about The New Green Economy. Our education doesn’t end with a bachelor’s degree. On the contrary, it is just the beginning of our path to knowledge. Purpose yourself for learning and discovery for these are important factors in your success as The Green Suit.
3. That we connect with esteemed professionals who will help us achieve enduring success in green business careers. So, get out of your comfort zone. Meet professionals in face-to-face settings, people who can get you in the door for great opportunities in their companies or connect you with excellent training and volunteer programs to bolster your sustainability and social responsibility experience.
4. That we form our own Advisory Boards. Just as start-up companies do, to fill their executives’ managerial experience cavities, so too will we align ourselves with green business professionals who help us overcome all that we don’t know about green business.
5. That we develop great value propositions for ourselves, and post great positive (sustainability boosting) metrics to our résumés (CVs).
6. The we lead purpose-driven lives. Money is a great motivator; it helps us work harder and smarter so that we provide better for ourselves and our families. But let us also work hard for the Triple Bottom Line, to help our companies generate more revenue and profit. But also to work for the betterment of people and the planet.
7. That we expertly frame our value to overcome the indifference and cynicism that hinders green business progress. We, The Green Suits, are efficiency experts–that is our number one frame for success in business!
8. That we walk the walk. To be The Green Suit is to be an enthusiastic practitioner of sustainability and social responsibility. So, don’t water the lawn (let it turn brown). Wash your clothes in cold water to save energy. Avoid dry-cleaning clothes. Take mass-transit to work, or, work from a virtual office.
9. That we talk the talk.  Let us use our knowledge and experience to promote sustainable and socially responsible business practices, and green jobs. Let us get op/eds published in the newspaper which promote the Triple Bottom Line. Let us speak at business gatherings to build enthusiasm for The New Green Economy.
10. And–even on the tough days and weeks which are sure to follow in the New Year–that we remember this: Our best days lie ahead.

May the New Year bring you and all who you love good health, good times, and great good fortune! And may twenty-twelve be your best year, ever!

Do The Wall Street Journal, American Petroleum Institute ‘Have it In’ for The Green Suits?

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Today's Wall Street Journal editorial borrowed "non-green jobs" talking points from The American Petroleum Institute verbatim.

This morning, I was jolted awake, not by a strong cup of coffee, but by the arrival of an editorial in The Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition.

The editorial, The Non-Green Jobs Boom: Forget ‘clean energy.’ Oil and gas are boosting U.S. employment. started this way:

“So President Obama was right all along. Domestic energy production really is a path to prosperity and new job creation. His mistake was predicting that those new jobs would be “green,” when the real employment boom is taking place in oil and gas.

And here I thought this beautiful weekend day was going to be easy and breezy…

We counsel The Green Suits to “be above politics,” to expertly frame their value propositions in a way which appeals to people who are not natural constituents to The Triple Bottom Line–to benefit people and planet…and maximize profits.

When their framing is right, The Green Suits land jobs and quickly establish their value as successful, positive metric-minded executives. And within months of arriving on the job, they prove to management that resource sustainability, renewable energy, green/clean tech, and corporate social responsibility are indeed good for (their) business.

But today’s editorial may make The Green Suits–striving to start and establish successful green business executive careers–feel personally attacked, their credibility and integrity questioned.

Read the editorial, and one can definitely understand why that may happen.

The editorial–which restates American Petroleum Institute talking-points verbatim–espouses the “non-green job boom” happening in places like the Marcellus Shale, the vast deposit of natural gas that lies beneath much of Central Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York State. The WSJ and the API believe great fortunes will be made–and thousands of jobs created–fracking for gas in this vast deposit.

If it were only that simple…

Thousands of landowners, who have never enjoyed wealth, are excited about the prospects of getting rich from the gas fields beneath them. While thousands of other landowners–many with property lines abutting their pro-fracking neighbors–fear that the air, soil, and well water on their property will be permanently tainted by the fracking process, which uses water, sand, benzene and other poisonous chemicals forced under high pressure to literally fracture the shale layer miles below, to release the gas.

Who is right? And would you drink from that well?

So, do The Wall Street Journal and the American Petroleum Institute “have it in” for The Green Suits? It does seem like The Green Suits, the ambitious business executives in or entering the renewable energy and sustainability sectors–who seek to turn conventional companies and market verticals green…and are hell-bent on changing the world–are suddenly in the crosshairs of some very powerful and well-funded old economy interests. And some might feel as if they may be left to justify their personal and professional missions.

Are The Green Suits going to sit back and take it? No.

Are The Green Suits going to get mad and toss verbal grenades? No. (I hope not.)

Instead, what The Green Suits must do is remain calm, poised, and very well-informed about the green jobs versus non-green jobs debate. Sure, there are Wall Street Journal editorial page reading constituents–hiring managers for sure–who have made up their minds that green jobs are folly.

I believe that they are in the minority of public opinion.

Instead, most hiring managers remain open-minded, and it is with reasonable, open-minded people who The Green Suits can ably support a solid case for green business.

Truth be told, the future belongs to The New Green Economy. And the 90-million strong Millennial Generation–our nation’s largest demographic cohort–want green jobs.

That is why here in the U.S., we must and will continue developing our own renewable energy and green/clean technologies. We must regain our global leadership in them all, or China will, as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has written, “clean our clock.”

The jobs–the green jobs–created by our renewable energy and green/clean tech “eco-entrepreneurs” will be in the millions, but they will take time to create (that we know). We must commit our time, energy, and talents NOW to rapidly building the New Green Economy.

Keep your chin up. Don’t let anyone steal your thunder. The future is the New Green Economy. The future will be led by you, The Green Suits.

‘Tailoring the Green Suit’ Author on ‘Nature of Business’ Radio Show

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Wow…that was fun!

This morning, I was Chrissy Coughlin’s guest on her radio show, Nature of Business. Chrissy broadcasts weekly from WSMN Radio in Nashua, New Hampshire; her show is also podcast on GreenBiz.com.

Chrissy is a great host and well-informed green business expert. In the interview, we covered a lot of interesting topics related to green executive employment. In case you weren’t able to listen live, then please check out the podcast, available 24/7: HERE.

Thanksgiving: a Time to Reinvent Ourselves for The New Green Economy

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Save room for Thanksgiving dessert! (This looks yummy!) Photo h/t 2008 awhiskandaspoon

I suppose for some–out of work many months–Thanksgiving is a cruel holiday.

Seated around a large dining room table, surrounded by family and friends, the down-and-out will dread providing those gathered a credible answer to the question: ”for what, am I thankful?”

Here in the U.S., one’s happiness is often causally related to one’s work and profession. (Thank you, very much.)

But, one’s skills and many years of professional experience may not indicate future, ongoing career success. And we, The Green Suits, know that in order to succeed in this flat-lined economy we must be willing to adapt and to learn new professional skills, gain new experiences, and remain very well-informed and educated.

Certainly, we must be willing to reinvent our professional selves to adapt to change. If we haven’t already, Thanksgiving is a great time to start.

For those still struggling to connect up with a new career assignment or achieve traction in the job market, I say do everything you can now–while you continue to look for work–to advantage yourself. You may seize opportunities which leverage your professional talents in a “skill-based volunteer” setting. For instance, finance and accounting professionals may use their skill and knowledge to help the less fortunate develop financial literacy (so that they are able to keep a job and thrive).

Or, you may volunteer to remove garbage from–or plant native trees near–a sensitive watershed. Your volunteerism is noble, but it is also metric. It demonstrates how you–The Green Suit–create measurable social responsibility and environmental sustainability gains (key elements of the Triple Bottom Line).

To the down and out seated at the Thanksgiving table, I say to each and every one of you: enjoy being surrounded by people who like and love you, who believe in you, and who will support your successful pivot into the New Green Economy.

We are The Green Suits. We will rise to the occasion. And, we will overcome the obstacles in our way.

Our best days lie ahead.

Enjoy Thanksgiving, everyone!

(And remember…save room for dessert!)

Peace.

What Does $4 or Less Buy These Days?

For less than this, you can download 'Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy.' Photo 2011 D.A. Smolen

• A half-gallon of 100 percent organic locally pressed apple cider;
• A couple of iTunes downloads;
• A hula hoop at Toys “R” Us;
• A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline (maybe);
• A listeria-tainted cantaloupe, and NOW;

A digital download of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy!

That’s right, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have both slashed their Kindle and nook digital downloads of Tailoring the Green Suit to just $3.19.

What else could you buy for such a low price?

Maybe, a half-eaten chalupa?

So, what are you waiting for? Log on today and download your digital copy. When it comes to your career, we guarantee that Tailoring the Green Suit will yield a return-on-investment many more times $3.19!

(And, unlike that cantaloupe, it won’t make you horribly sick!)

Ithaca College Hosts Nov. 3rd ‘Tailoring the Green Suit’ Career Strategy Session

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Readers of 'Tailoring the Green Suit' know that one of my mentors--the late "(M)adman" and Ithaca College Associate Professor of Communications Howard S. Cogan--dreamed up "Ithaca is Gorges." Created over thirty year ago and still in use today, it remains one of the world's most recognizable eco-tourism campaigns. Image h/t VisitIthaca.com.

Next week will surely be very exciting!

The afternoon of Thursday Nov. 3 marks my return to Ithaca College. Later that evening, I will present Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy. This session will provide ten key strategies which soon-to-be-grads should employ to achieve immediate and lasting career success in green business.

John Bradac is Ithaca College's Director of Career Services. Photo h/t Ithaca College.

And on Friday, I get to sit in on a sustainability course and sit down with the deans of the School of Business and the School of Communications, the Director of Sustainability, and others to learn about Ithaca College’s many important efforts to train and empower The Green Suits.

Twenty years have passed since my last Ithaca College speaking engagement which is much too long of a lapse. But as a result of IC’s warm welcome to this grad–and in particular the generosity of time, resources, and advice already provided by John Bradac (the head of IC’s career services department)–I am certain that my South Hill visit will be a great and memorable one.

I just hope that the snow melts in time for my arrival. (We’re not quite ready for winter!)

Eleven Resolutions in Twenty-Eleven for One Great Green Business Career

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Resolutions. (We all make them.)

For some, it is to do less of something like…eat unhealthful food. For others, it is to do a lot more of something like…exercise.

With the economy still reeling and continued uncertainty at the workplace, our stress levels remain high. Holding to New Years resolutions will be a Herculean task!

However, if you fashion yourself an aspiring Green Suit, you must commit that 2011 will be your breakout year. To set your career headed in a new green direction, we suggest committing to these eleven resolutions:

1. I Will Start Drinking. (Oh, that got your attention!) If you are thinking about a green business career–but haven’t decided on the market vertical that interests you most–then we suggest attending Green Drinks events in your community. There are over 750 Green Drinks groups worldwide, and many hold monthly gatherings. Attend one, and suddenly you may find yourself interested in a particular green industry while networking with green business professionals intent on helping you get started.
2. I Will Engage With Helpful Social Media Outlets. Green TV is a terrific social community on the web where you can network with other green-minded people across the U.S. and the planet. By the way, The Green Suits is a member of Green TV.
3. I Will Develop My Unique Value Proposition. Every marketable product or service has a unique value proposition–a UVP–so why cannot you? What is that one quality which distinguishes you from other Green Suits? Perhaps it is an uncanny ability to sell to new customer prospects, or, it could be a talent for corralling business professionals to volunteer hours of their time for the betterment of people and the planet? It’s very simple: your unique value proposition indicates to a prospective employer the problems you are skilled at solving.
4. I Will Revise My Résumé. As I write in Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy:
   

   We know that hiring managers are more positively predisposed to the best green trained and educated talent. A busy hiring manager may have an inches-thick stack of résumés to review, and he or she may give any of those documents a spare twenty-five second glance. There is no denying that good résumés elicit more immediate and positive response while not-so-good résumés get tossed in the circular file. This document can open doors to a new job; understanding that it includes valuable real estate will help you make it a more effective job-landing asset.” p. 36

   And the three most important words in real estate? LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. The same holds for résumés. Place the-most important information–such as your UVP–near the top of the résumé, followed by your relevant green-business skills and most-recent employment.

5. I Will Never Stop Developing My Green Business Expertise. Landing a sweet corporate sustainability position or other green assignment takes training, and experience. Many of us are cash-strapped, cannot afford training or degree accreditation, and lack skill. If you are not already in an obviously green job (like Sustainability Manager) then start developing your expertise by turning your existing (not obviously green job) green. Begin by creating sustainability goals for your company or organization and get senior management to immediately support the goals. Identify ways the company or organization can use less energy, save water, and recycle as much as possible–including lunch room waste for composting. Then show management how these steps return money to the bottom-line! If you are already in green business, continue seeking training and experience; the world of green business changes daily, and you must keep up with the change.
6. I Will Continually Seek Knowledge. The number and variety of corporate sustainability training and accredited course offerings continues to grow. Many are terrific, but expensive. If you are willing to enroll in training or accredited courses, then check with your accountant to see if you are entitled to deduct such expenses from your state and federal income tax returns.
7. I Will Strive to Effectively Frame the Benefits of Sustainability. As noted in this earlier post, most senior managers are motivated by one thing: PROFIT. If you have a corporate sustainability plan to present make sure you sell the financial benefits, first. A well developed and implemented sustainability strategy can–in some cases–return millions of dollars to the corporate bottom-line. For that matter, if you are interviewing for a sustainability-focused job make sure you are clear that your motivations are to help the company achieve its financial goals–that green is good for business. Your altruistic leanings are noble, but you may wish to keep those from management until you a) get the job and b) achieve some success with your sustainability initiatives.
8. I Will Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk. Be prepared to represent yourself as an ambassador for the New Green Economy. Get that three-floor elevator pitch ready, the one where you might introduce yourself to prospective employers as someone that knows how to further profitable sustainability in their companies. Seek opportunities to address business audiences by leveraging the knowledge you have gained on the job with your green initiatives. Write op/ed columns on corporate sustainability–a great way to extend your name awareness in the business community as a sustainability expert. And never forget to promote important green work arrangements like tele-commuting.
9. I Will Promote Eco-Entrepreneurism. In the U.S., small companies account for three out off every four jobs. And as Harvard’s Amy Wilkinson writes in the Washington Post: ”A 2010 Kauffman Foundation survey reveals that 40 percent of youth ages eight to 24 would like to start a business at some future point, or have already done so.” Many business start-ups will be in inherently green business markets such as renewable energy, green tech, and water reclamation. Whether we are entrepreneurs or executives working at these companies, we must fervently promote eco-entrepreneurs who are striving to create tomorrow’s green innovations.
10. I Will Be Nimble. While 2011 looks like it will be a much better year than 2010, we must be prepared to adjust to rapid changes in the economy. For instance: if the current rise in oil prices continues, more investors may decide to fund green start-ups. More funding will mean more green jobs. In 2011: never miss an opportunity to seize an opportunity.
11. And, I Will be Bold and Fearless. The Green Suits are not wallflowers. We are hell bent on changing the world. Guided by our skill and talent, we will promote triple bottom line best-practices (and next-practices) to serve the planet and people, and extend profits. We know our best days lie ahead.

Of course, those are our suggestions for you for the New Year. Let us know if you have your own green business career-related resolutions–ones you expect to follow in 2011, to become The Green Suit.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Election 2010: Is This the End of ‘Green Jobs’?

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

It is the morning after the big “mid-term” elections.

As I write this post, Republicans have grabbed up 60 seats in the House of Representatives and John Boehner, the presumptive Speaker of the House, is measuring for drapes (metaphorically speaking, of course.)

Democrats have retained their majority in the U.S. Senate and actually did better-than-expected, holding on to a three-seat edge.

And in Massachusetts, our friend and fellow green business executive Steve Grossman is now State Treasurer-elect; he won his race by ten points!!! Congratulations, Steve. We send you and the Bay State our best wishes.

Back in D.C., practically all of the Republican victors–and a handful of the Democratic winners such as West Virginia’s Senator-elect Joe Manchin–ran against many of the issues that “enviros” hold dear: Cap-and-Trade; climate change mitigation; and renewable energy from wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal sources.

I predict that–immediately after the swearing-in ceremonies–some of these new lawmakers will take a chainsaw to every bill or existing law with a greenish hue. Thus, it is understandable why–on this chilly and overcast morning–so many of us Green-Suited professionals are feeling glum.

But as is often said, there is a fine line between adversity and opportunity. And The Green Suits need to seize every opportunity.

Last week in New York City, I met over 100 aspiring Green Suits–bright and enthusiastic professionals eager to leverage this executive recruiter’s green job-seeking advice. I was amazed at how almost all of them professed that their primary job-seeking motivation was altruistic: to “do right by the planet.”

Altruism is a noble motivation, for sure.

However, in our dealings with company executives and hiring managers, we must be mindful that (their) motivations are money, profits, market dominance, etc., etc.

How we portray sustainability and green technology–and our value as successful green business executives–must jive with interviewers’ express needs to make ‘Mo Money. We know that the new green economy is about to create lots of wealth and birth many successful eco-start up companies that in turn will create millions of new jobs.

New green jobs.

We all believe that “going green is–first and foremost–good for business.” But we must ensure that our interviewers know that we know that. Further, our credibility will be established when we confidently “speak to the numbers” in the résumé. Thus, let us show skeptical hiring managers how sustainability will add profits to the bottom-line.

Am I suggesting that we shed our core beliefs?

Of course, not. But, more than ever, The Green Suits’ “Job One” is to frame (our) value expressly in the language of corporate profitability.

So let us all repeat our mantra: Green is good for business. Green is good for business. Green is good for business…

Over the years, I have discovered that–when our value propositions are framed correctly–sustainability can be made acceptable to many. Even a climate-denier would have trouble arguing against profit-making sustainability.

And we will build this new green economy with hard work and determination.

The good news from Capitol Hill? Green Business has friends in the 112th Congress! I have often called Sen. Mark Warner the “Green Business” U.S. Senator. Not only does Sen. Warner “get it,” but he shows us all how to frame “green business” in the-most advantageous business-friendly terms.

So, did Election 2010 mark the end of ‘green jobs’?

The answer is no.

(Strike that.)

HELL, NO!

Of this I am certain: our very best days lie ahead.

What Do Résumé Writing and Home Selling Have In Common? Practically Everything!

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Résumés and homes.

For nearly three years, the supply of homes on the market has greatly outweighed demand. And within some metropolitan areas of the U.S., there remains a twelve month supply of inventory.

Certainly, the same can be said for out-of-work or under-employed business executives. In some cases, hiring managers have identified and vetted seven or more viable candidates for every open job assignment.

Thus, it is true that the processes of résumé writing and home selling do have a lot in common. (Change that: they have practically everything in common!)

And while most executives–fortunately or unfortunately–possess more experience in finding a job than in selling a home, they tend to remember the sagely advice of neighborhood real estate agents more than they do the valuable insight of executive recruiters and hiring managers.

So, as a public service to out-of-work and underemployed talent, here are five useful real estate best-practices modified for writing a top-notch résumé:

1. The three most-important words in real estate are LOCATION, LOCATION, and LOCATION. And job seekers would be well advised to think of their résumés as homes on the market. On pages 39 and 40 of my book, Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy, I provide a highly useful exercise to show how hiring managers triage mountains of résumés for their open job assignments. Typically, a hiring manager spends 25 seconds eye-balling each résumé. From my book: “Invariably, what the test subject recalls best–and most accurately–are the data provided at the top half of the first page (the prime real estate), followed by the data from the bottom half. If during the twenty-five-second exercise the [test subject's] interest is aroused, then he or she may well recall less-prominent details.” Lesson learned: the top half of the first page is prime real estate. It is there where a candidate’s most-important attributes are to be shown.
2. Create curb appeal. A home on the market with curb appeal gets prospective homeowners that are roaming a neighborhood to quite literally hit the brakes and take notice. Curb appeal in a home may result from one or many positive attributes or enhancements, for instance: how well the home “sits” on the lot, beautiful landscaping, or exterior clapboards painted a pleasing hue. So too a résumé must have curb appeal and get fatigued hiring managers to pay close attention. Mission statements–which show how the candidate meets or exceeds the requirements of the open assignment–should “call out” near the top of the résumé. Equally supportive: a block of bullet-points highlighting key skills, attributes, and achievements that tie to the hiring manager’s express requirements.
3. Excellent metrics. Even though the short-term housing market seems grim, truth be told there are many homes on the market that have over time appreciated or provided the owner a considerable return-on-investment. Metrics shown in a résumé–the percentage of sales revenue increases, total cost-reductions achieved (in millions of dollars), or other positive needle movement yielded by the candidate–show how a business executive’s value has appreciated and provided his or her employer a positive return-on-investment (ROI).
4. Strong emotional connections. How many times have you walked into an “open house” and smelled cinnamon rolls baking in the oven? Savvy real estate agents know well how strong emotional connections bring prospective home buyers closer to sale. So too is the case with executive talent; positive emotional connections–triggered perhaps by the candidate’s high-level involvement in a widely publicized “skill-based learning” social responsibility project–dramatically increase that candidate’s chances of being interviewed by the hiring manager.
5. Stage for a positive first-impression. Real estate agents are trained to stage homes for sale. Often, they will rearrange the furniture–or add a cut-flower arrangement to the dining room table–to make sure a home makes a positive first-impression. Similarly, business executive candidates need to stage their résumés to make a positive first-impression with hiring managers. And rule number one in creating a positive first impression? SPELL-CHECK! SPELL-CHECK! SPELL-CHECK! There is simply no excuse for misspellings, poor grammar, or sloppiness.

Employment-seeking green business executives must take these real estate-related lessons to the next level. And that means “know your neighborhood!”

Our neighborhood is corporate sustainability and social responsibility. And as The Green Suits, we must prove our credibility and immediate value as ambassadors to the New Green Economy. To learn how to pivot into a rewarding green business executive career, pick up a hardcover copy of my book at Amazon.com–best bookseller price at $17.59. Or, buy an electronic download from The Kindle Store–at $7.99– for your Kindle device, iPhone, Droid, or other smart-phone.