This summer, I had jury duty for the first time. I spent three days waiting in the back of a courtroom — I missed my massage appointment to uphold my civic duty, so I was not pleased — and when the judge finally called me forward to state “the information,” the first question the defense attorney asked me was, “So, you’re a senior? And what do you plan to do when you graduate?”
Like so many of you, I have no idea what I’m going to do when June rolls around and I’m released into the wild. I’ve considered everything from graduate school to running off with the circus, but nothing seems quite right for me. Growing up in a Jewish family, I believed from a young age that my only two options were becoming a lawyer or a doctor, but recent Googling has proved that this is not the case — there are in fact other jobs out there, and some of them are even interesting. Though I still haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for, I plan to share my search with you by presenting a job each week that you might not have thought of or known about otherwise. We have great career counseling resources on campus — and I am not one of them — but I’m going to write about some slightly less conventional career paths that I think are worth considering.
This week: the green auditor.
If you like the environment and telling people they’re wrong while not sacrificing your love of the finer things in life (read: eating), this one might be for you. A green auditor is like a tax auditor, only with a soul. Companies hire green auditors to evaluate their business practices against an environmental code, find where they fall short and help design solutions to bring them to this standard. Green auditors will also sometimes evaluate the energy efficiency of building structures, both corporate and private. In a world where companies are desperate to project a “green” image, green auditors are increasingly in demand.
As a green auditor, you would likely be employed by a sustainability consulting firm, though self-employment is another option. You will also get the opportunity to do some local traveling, visiting companies and private homes for on-site evaluations. As much as I love a good road trip, there are aspects of the job that are even better. First and foremost, you will be cutting emissions and helping the environment, which is incredibly rewarding. It is much steadier employment than, say, protesting, and you actually get to make a difference. Because it is a relatively new field, salary is highly variable, but Internet reports place the average annual income of a green auditor somewhere between $60,000 and $102,000. Side note: If you do become a green auditor, it might be nice to use some of that substantial salary to take this columnist out for a nice thank-you dinner.
Now that you are thoroughly excited about green auditing — and the chance to have dinner with me — we’ll go over exactly how someone gets into the field of sustainability consulting. Though the qualifications for becoming a green auditor are variable depending on the employer, the Internet and I recommend having a background in environmental science, engineering, public policy, energy-resource management or any similar field. In addition, green auditors must go through a certification process before they can start laying down the green law. There are several different types of certification, each of which focuses on different aspects of the field — some qualify you for evaluating building structure, some for analyzing electrical appliances and others for examining business practices. Regardless of which type of certification you intend to pursue, the best way to break into the business is still with an internship (surprise!), which can also help you narrow down your interests within the field.
Most jokes aside, sustainability consulting is a great place to be right now. In this difficult economy, jobs that are on the rise are hard to come by, and this one pays well too. Oh, and there’s the minor detail of helping to save planet Earth.
Do you have other career plans but still want to take Amanda out to dinner? Try to charm her with an email to [email protected].