Think Forward – Get Hired
by Timlynn Babitsky
The wind energy industry is the fastest growing segment of renewable energy production. There is a great need and increasing demand for skilled wind energy related technicians. Right now in the US, there are jobs going unfilled. Community Colleges - mandated to respond quickly to changing demands in the job market – are scrambling to retrain Americans for the next wave of job opportunities. Are you ready for your new job?
In Texas alone the wind energy related job future looks excellent. For information on the employment potential, salary potential, and job location opportunities, in just Texas Click here . Now look into the job opportunities in the wind industry in your state. Check the job hunt websites and look into those renewable energy categories.
Are you ready to get that job in wind technology? How about solar? Biodiesel? Geothermal?
Sure, I can already hear you saying, “I’m too old to retrain. I’ve spent my whole life working as a ________ (fill in the blank) and I just don’t know much about this new energy stuff.”
Hold on …. what makes you think that your many years experience as a machinist, electrician, tool and die technician, brick layer, rebar and cement person, ditch digger, assembler, lineman (or woman), truck driver, tech manager, etc., etc., has nothing to do with the job needs in the new energy fields?
Have you checked out the job descriptions in the new energy sectors? With a couple of community college courses can you fit the new job need? Have you taken a good inventory of what you know, what you don’t know, and what employeers are looking for? Would your new employer build on your experience and help pay to retrain you to fill his/her empty job needs?
Check your community college program list. If your regional school does not yet have a wind energy, solar, biodiesel or other renewable energy program being developed, ask them why not. Don’t be shy!
For information wind energy education programs by state, Wind Powering America has an excellent, interactive map of the US showing which states are currently offering higher education or continuing education in Wind Energy. You can click on the map to activate it and then click on a state to read more about the programs being offered there.
Click here to check out the wind energy education map.
If you think for a moment of all the other segments of this new energy “revolution” and all the potential jobs that are being created as we embrace renewable energy in the US, especially under the incoming administration …. The future – your future – is bright.
The current economic downturn might just be the kick in the pants for many of us to learn new skills for the economic boom ahead.
As Tom Friedman suggests in Hot, Flat and Crowded – the new industrial revolution is without a doubt in new energy technology. We can embrace this new “revolution” or be left behind.
To read my blog post on Tom Friedman, the new industrial revolution and your part in it, and to go see the Friedman interview video, click here.
Many people think that wind energy jobs are only for engineers (the founders) or green fanatics. However the industry employs people with a huge range of skills from land use planning to ecologists and mechanics. I have been in the renewable energy industry for coming up to 6 years after a move across from the property sector. It is a progressive and exciting industry to work in and extremely rewarding. Try and get some temporary work or work experience in the sector as this will help enormously given the few people with experience currently in the sector.