Being green or working in the environmental profession has made huge steps during the past decade. ‘Tree Huggers’ have been joined by environmental professionals who are just as comfortable wearing designer brogues as they are ‘clay caked’ all terrain boots. But finding a job in the environmental sectors can be a frustrating process.

“Id like a job in the environment sectors please” is the most frequently used phrase I hear or read each week. And yet the question itself often provides the first fundamental barrier to finding that job….environmental jobs can be as different as a doctor is to a mechanic. So for any job seeker, the first question you must ask yourself is ‘what do I want to specialise in?’ However, when I asked myself that question 14 years ago……I did not have an answer.

My route into an ‘environmental career’ was certainly not conventional and should provide hope to anyone. At 18 I had 2 ‘O’ levels to my name and was working in a department store in Basildon (Essex) as a porter. At 18 I decided I wanted to become an accountant (nice stable future, good earnings….fantasico I thought) so I enrolled at evening classes and managed to bluff my way into a job in Southend as a Costing Clerk. By 19 I was working in London for a Jermyn Street based Accountancy firm, my evening classes were progressing well……but there was a fly in the ointment…..figures and me did not get along! I was sitting on a train in Fenchurch St Station, realising I’d taken the wrong direction in life and that I had to change it….quickly!

Why was I unhappy? The first thing I had to admit to myself was that I had made a mistake….I was never going to make it as an accountant, it just was not for me, infact I detested it. I decided I would not be returning to my desk in London the next day, instead I was going to enroll at college. I spent the next 16 months studying for three A Levels…….in Accountancy, Law and Economics (Don’t ask!). The scary fact was that I did not know what I wanted to do. But, my life had started to fall into place and I had taken a positive step to change it.

It was by pure chance that I read a poster advertising a new degree course at Anglia Polytechnic – the course was Rural Resource Development with a specialism in Wildlife & Conservation. Now this may seem like a huge career change (Accountancy, Law, Economics……Wildlife….hmmmm), but to me it was a ‘eureka’ moment, I hadn’t realised that I could actually study something I enjoyed doing! I applied for the course and was accepted – just!

However, it wasn’t such a massive career change as it looks. Before I became a stroppy, aggressive, label wearing 15 year old lout, I had actually spent most of my life up a tree, or in the ‘woods’ behind my house. I was the little boy with a passion for nature. The boy that rehabilitated injured birds, that had a pet magpie that couldn’t fly. My friends read the Beano, I read the the RSPB’s ‘Young Ornithologist Club’ magazine. I spent all my pocket money on books about animals, insects, plants. My most treasured possessions were a dead stag beetle and my egg collection (like naturalist Bill Oddie, ‘egging’ was my first introduction to nature, but highly illegal now). But at 15 I turned my back on nature, and that was when it all started to go wrong for me.

So, at 22 years of age I was going to do a degree! I would like to say that I grabbed the opportunity with both hands, but to be honest I didn’t. I did just enough to gain a mediocre grade 2:2. I was now a 25 year old graduate with no idea of what career I wanted. I vaguely applied for jobs as ‘ Environmental Consultants’ not really knowing what a consultant did. I applied for conservation jobs, recycling jobs, ecology jobs, environmental engineering jobs….infact I applied for anything ‘environmental’ believing that I was qualified for all of them. However, I wasn’t actually qualified for most of the jobs I applied for. Another problem was finding job openings suitable for a graduate with no experience. But, after three fruitless months of applying for jobs I saw my chance, I had found a gap in the market and I was going to start my own business!

And that gap in the market was……’it was difficult for graduates to find jobs in the environment sectors’ (they existed but were not advertised due to prohibitive costs). So in 1994, I applied for a Princes Trust Loan (which I didn’t get!) and rented an office in the Young Enterprise Centre (invaluable to any start up business) in Basildon. I used the last £500 of my savings on printing The Environment Post magazine… a magazine particularly aimed at graduates looking for environmental jobs. It was a huge gamble, but it was an instant hit and subscriptions soon started rolling in. I had found my niche! I loved the thrill of running my own business, being my own boss and being involved in my chosen profession.

That was 13 years ago. My business has changed a lot since then. The Environment Post is still published but is not my main line of business. In 2002 I set up www.environmentjobs.co.uk – a website that lists all variety of environmental opportunities, in the UK and overseas, from voluntary roles to Director level positions. I also publish The Green Directory (available to use free on line at www.greendirectory.net ) and also Ecological Recruitment – a specialist recruitment agency finding ecologists for many of the UK’s environmental consultancies.

The best advice I could give anyone looking for an environmental job?. The most important thing to do is plan ahead and really think through what you want to do, what is it that you are passionate about? Are you interested in nature, wildlife and ecology? Or maybe climate change, global warming, recycling, waste management, air pollution, renewable energy…..the list goes on and on.

A good source of information for environmental jobs is http://www.environmentjobs.co.uk, www.endsjobsearch.co.uk/careers, www.ciwem.org.uk (publisher of a careers guide), www.ieem.org.uk, www.countrysidemanagement.org.uk. A search at www.greendirectory.net will list all organisations involved in various environmental specialisms (Local Government, NGO’s, businesses etc) throughout the UK. Environmental Recruitment Agencies are also listed on the site. Identify which organisations you are interested in.

Next, forward a CV and covering letter to their Human Resources Department (I realise this part isn’t rocket science!). However, it doesn’t end there. If you really want to work with a particular organization or in a specific role you will have to do your homework. Firstly, find out who is the head of that particular department. You will need to speak with them. It is important to identify their needs as an employer. You need to ask questions like ‘Is there a particular qualification, training course that you recommend’, ‘do you offer voluntary experience’, ‘is there any way that I can help out?’

Basically you are trying to sell yourself. You need to make yourself as ‘saleable’ as possible.

Keep in contact: If you do not hear from a potential employer for a while, give them a ring (be persistent…not overly persistent to the extent of annoying them) but remember they are busy people.

Finally, I am often asked whether a degree is necessary in order to gain a career in a desired field. I’m afraid there is no specific answer to this question. A commitment to study for three or four years depends very much upon personal choice and sacrifice. However, whatever course you enroll on make sure that it is one valued by your prospective employers.

About us
So – who are we? We ADC Environment, an environmental business started in July 1994 when Andrew Coleman graduated from Anglia Polytechnic with a BSc (Hons) in Rural Resource Development.

The ‘Head Office’ is our urban Wickford town-house built in the 70′s and also home to my family of six, plus two stray cats, two chickens and a rabbit. Our electricity is supplied by the RSPB Energy Scheme. We are also Corporate Supporters of The Essex Wildlife Trust, and have been since 1994. Without the need to travel to and from work our use of the car is limited (our car has been converted to run on LPG, a far greener fuel)

We employ ‘green sourcing’ at work where possible. Envelopes and paper are recycled and non bleached.

Wildlife at Work
To create a wildlife haven ‘at work’ the 140ft by 20ft garden has been converted into a ‘wildlife garden’. A pond (minus fish) was constructed in 2002 and is now home to breeding frogs, toads (not breeding) and newts (breeding since 2005).

The garden itself is a combination of some hard landscaping such as three decked areas (Yes we know that Bill Oddie doesn’t approve – but we do need somewhere to relax and entertain PLUS the amphibians love to feed & hibernate underneath them) and mixed planting consisting of mainly indigenous flora. We have planted 3 young birch tress (now over 25 foot high and pollarded each year), two oak trees of 6 & 10 feet high, 3 small Spruces, 3 Ash, 2 cherry and several fruit trees for the birds. The plants are mainly lavenders, rosemary & heathers with annual bulbs in the spring and heavily scented annuals planted in the Summer. But mainly….mainly the garden is left to nature with brambles, nettles and teasel left to grow (much to the annoyance of most!).

In all we are very pleased with the garden and have regular visitors of hummingbird hawk moths that feed on the buddleia and several species of dragonfly frequent the pond. Slow-worms are regularly seen sunning themselves on the rockery at the end of the garden and stag beetle are breeding in the rotten logs that we leave in piles around the garden. No pesticides are used, relying instead on nature to try and create a balance. If the slugs and snails eat a plant – then we don’t plant that variety again – simple (hence the use of heavily oiled shrubs).

Our Composters & Recyclers
And finally onto the chickens and our compost. We have two chickens that live in a chicken house and run at the bottom of the garden. All ‘leftover’ food scraps etc are food for the chickens and rabbits (there’s not a lot a chicken wont eat!) and all of the waste paper generated at home and in the office are piled onto the compost heap at the end of the chickens run.

It may look a little scruffy at times but the chickens and rabbit do a great job in breaking up the paper which then aids decomposition to a lovely compost……..which becomes full of worms and creepy crawlies (some of which feed the chickens (but we do build-up the bottom of the compost pile with sticks and logs that create an unpenetrable barrier to the chickens and allows the majority of compost dwellers to survive). During the months that the froglets have left the pond the chickens are confined to their ‘run’…….chickens eat frogs! And of course another bonus of having chickens – free range eggs for free.