In the very first episode of Greensider, I spoke to Fiona from Cambridge, UK. She walked us through her seven years of experience working in sustainability, and gave some useful tips for starting a green career.

Listen to the podcast or read the transcript below.

Greensider: Could you tell us about your education background and your journey to the current position?

Fiona: I finished my undergraduate degree in Physical Geography about seven years ago. Then I looked for graduate schemes in environment and climate change. I initially started at Centrica. I was there for five years, progressing from environmental management to corporate strategy on climate change. In recent years, I moved from Centrica into consultancy firms related to sustainability. Now I work for the Climate Disclosure Standards Board as a technical manager. My role is to develop guidance and materials to support companies in disclosing business information on climate change, so that their investors have the information that they need to act more sustainably. That’s my journey to date.

Greensider: Have you always been keen working in sustainability? How did you start your job searching?

Fiona: Yes, I was quite interested in sustainability from quite a young age. I read about climate change from the scientific magazines that my mom subscribed to. Plus learning about it at school, it felt as though one of the most important issues that our generation would face. I thought it would be both interesting as a career, but also hoped to contribute something important in the world. That informed what I chose to study at university, and then the jobs that I looked for afterwards.

In terms of job hunting, when I left university, I knew I wanted to work in something related to the environment or climate change, but I wasn’t sure where exactly to look. There was a lot of information about graduate schemes or more general lines of work, such as accountancy and finance. But it was not so clear as to how to get into environmental positions. I just searched with keywords around graduate jobs and sustainability. Centrica was one of the first companies that came up.

Greensider: After your first job, did you feel more confident during job hunting?

Fiona: On the whole, yes. Fresh graduates don’t usually have much work experience. That was certainly the case for me. I had done part-time waitressing and volunteering with an environmental charity, but didn’t have any formal internship or work. It was tricky to find examples when answering interview questions. I think it is important to recognise that graduate positions are about transferable skills, motivation and passion for the topic. Focus on whatever roles or experience you’ve had to date, be it in sports or university or part-time jobs, you’ll be able to draw the right skills that the interviewers want to know about.

After progressing further into the career, it became easier to handle the interview questions because there were more examples to draw upon. Another advantage was a better understanding of the different types of roles and opportunities in sustainability, so it was more clear to me where to look. For anyone starting out, I’d say talking to someone in the field can be a good way of finding out where to start and what opportunities are available.

Greensider: That’s what Greensider is for! So what were the interviews like? Were there lots of technical questions?

Fiona: It varied depending on the interviews. Particularly when I was interviewing for graduate jobs, they weren’t super technical. They [the employers] were realistic in that the candidate might study a relevant subject, but not necessarily have much of a professional understanding at that point. The questions focused on what I studied and my dissertation. Nothing super technical. In general, the interviewers may ask what you know about the environment, climate change or energy, only to gauge your interest and motivations. What they really look for are the transferable skills around managing different stakeholders or communications or analysis of data. As I progressed further into my career, sometimes I came across technical questions.

But often the emphasis in sustainability is on the passion and motivation for the subject. Are you able to communicate that to others? I think that’s really one of the most important things rather than super technical information which you’ll have to learn for the job anyway. You’ll be able to pick that up as you go.

Greensider: About one of your previous roles, what does it take to be a sustainability consultant? Is it necessary to have a relevant degree?

Fiona: Obviously having a degree that’s linked to sustainability is great, but there are lots of different subjects that can be helpful. I studied one that was quite relevant to environmental issues, but some of my colleagues working in consultancy came from other backgrounds, such as engineering, business or something totally different. I’d say you won’t need to start out with a specific background. As I said, having a passion and a personal drive to learn more about the subject is definitely a good thing. If you don’t already have a background in this field, do your research before the interview. Self-education is definitely something that you can do. The point is to use your existing skills to show what you can deliver. There’s room for lots of different types of people in sustainability.

Greensider: You’re taking a master in Carbon Management. Why do you want another degree?

Fiona: I started the online Masters of Carbon Management two years ago. Now I’m in my final year. I’d always wanted to do more study since I left university. For me, there were a couple of reasons why I started working first, then came back to study. Firstly, it meant I could fund the course myself as I didn’t have that option straight after undergraduate. I also wanted to get some real-world experience of the topic. Working in the field and then back to study now proves to be helpful, because I can join up my work and study as well as making sense of both.

Greensider: What do you like about your career so far?

Fiona: Lots of things. The obvious one is a sense of doing something that makes a difference, although climate change and environmental issues are massive global problems. Also, as I mentioned before, in sustainability there is space for many different skills, so you can always find roles that suit you. The fact that there are opportunities for people with various backgrounds to work together is a really good aspect for me.

Greensider: What’s the biggest challenge that you’ve encountered in your career and how did you break through?

Fiona: The scale of problems we’re facing on climate change and sustainability is massive. As an individual, it can feel frustrating and daunting sometimes. Particularly in the early stage of a career, it’s not unlikely to feel frustrated that your impact is not big enough. When I started out working in the energy industry, that was certainly the case. With a big energy company, there were lots of practices that needed to be changed, but it was challenging to get things moving. So I decided to move into a smaller organisation, where I could feel the direct impact of my work. Now I’m in an NGO with just 15 people. We do a lot of work and cooperations on climate change. It gives me a stronger sense of contribution. Ultimately that’s a matter of my personal preference about where I enjoyed working best in different environments. I’d encourage people to try doing different roles in different types of organisations.

Greensider: Since you’ve worked both in commercial companies and NGOs related to sustainability, could you tell us their differences as an employee?

Fiona: There are advantages and disadvantages to both. In a commercial environment, although you’re working on sustainability, you need to consider budgets and commercial drivers. Sometimes they are not so compatible with sustainability. It can be quite rewarding when you make breakthroughs and convince colleagues of the value of what you do, but it’s not easy. Whereas in a NGO environment, you’re perhaps much more mission-focused. You don’t have to worry so much about profits, but there are other challenges, such as getting grants and funding. I think the great thing about being at an NGO is you can work across the problem with all kinds of organisations, involving businesses, companies, policymakers, regulators and think tanks. There is a good level of diversity. But as I’ve said before, both sides of those coins are important. There are great opportunities in all types of organisations. It’s always useful to know how different organisations operate. Ultimately, we need all players to work together to tackle climate change.

Greensider: Do you feel that working in the sustainability field has provided you a decent quality of life so far?

Fiona: I think so. I’ve been quite fortunate to have a good quality of life working in sustainability. Sometimes obviously that could be very busy. Particularly in consultancy, that could be quite a busy environment where there are multiple clients to juggle at the same time and you can end up working quite long hours. On the whole, people I’ve worked with in sustainability have been great people to work alongside. I’ve worked with really good teams and I’ve got a great amount of satisfaction out of the work I’ve done and the importance it has. It’s definitely a good quality of life that I’d recommend to others.

Greensider: Finally. What are your top tips for someone looking to start a green job?

Fiona: A few different things I’d recommend. As I’ve touched on earlier, speak to other people who already work in the industries. That’s a great way to understand the different types of roles and organisations out there. Listening to the Greensider podcast or tapping into similar resources could be a great way to get some insights too. Secondly, there are lots of collaborations and networking opportunities. If you do some Googling, you might be able to find out about events in your local area or online webinars. Many are free to sign up. They can be a great way to understand what topics that you can work on, maybe even as a means to get to know some professionals, since you can talk to people at those events. Finally, don’t be disheartened if your first job doesn’t feel like it’s saving the planet to the extent that you want to. We’re all quite small and against big problems. What matters is to get some experience and learn the field. Over time, you’ll be able to progress to the point where you feel the difference you’re making. So just get your foot in the door. Hopefully that will take you on a good journey.