How to Land a Climate Job in 2025
Our world is in paradox. Right wing governments have won elections around the world, rising extremism and violence plague countries and communities, we’ve blown past estimates for stopping global warming at 1.5C - it’s hard to hold on to hope. But when it feels like the world has been turned upside down, we—humans, individuals, creators, makers, doers—have a unique opportunity to create something different.
We can choose to hold on to fear, or to have hope. Many people in the U.S. wonder what will happen during this next administration. I believe the work ONLY stops, if WE stop doing the work. If you want to do GOOD with your skills and change the world for the better, the world needs you.
For those who are hip to climate work (maybe you’ve upskilled through a certification program, graduated with an environmental degree, and been job searching for a while), things might feel dismal right now. If I’ve already struggled to find a job so far, you might be thinking “how can I keep going with all these roadblocks?” But the phrase “where there’s a will, there’s a way” still rings true; and where there is a community of people who want to make a difference, there are many paths forward.
Hi. My name is Radhika Bhatt, and I am a climate career coach, recruiter, and emergent strategist. After an 8 year career in government and social impact, I pivoted to climate 3 years ago, started my business Saathe Studio, and have helped 400+ people navigate climate career transitions. I am constantly motivated to build better programs, systems, and ways of working in ways that heal the earth, ourselves, and each other. I believe that if you want to transform the world, you must first be willing to transform yourself. This requires all of us—- small business owners, teachers, artists, technologists, parents, farmers, consultants, engineers—to think about how we live and approach things differently. The same is true for jobseekers looking to land a climate job.
Let’s get into how you can find a climate job in 2025. I recently read an internet meme: “Humans are all really complicated houseplants.” I think it’s kind of true: we need water, sun, healthy soil to thrive in, and nutrients to help us grow. Below, I describe a proven methodology for effective job search strategies, tying it to the needs of plants. After all, we’re in this because we care about the environment, right?
Step #1: Learn – Gathering Sunlight
Learning is about soaking up knowledge, just as leaves absorb sunlight for energy. By seeking out new information, training, and self-reflection, you’re gathering the energy needed to fuel your career growth. Without sunlight, a plant can’t thrive; without learning, a job search lacks direction. You can find a book, a podcast, a video, a course, and tons of free information on any topic you want to learn about. If you’re just getting started learning about climate change, here’s where I suggest you start. If you’ve been at it for a while, returning to your “why” and reading one of these books could reinvigorate your job search.
Listen:
Read:
What If We Get It Right? By Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
Saving Us by Dr. Katherine Hayhoe
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Take a class and join a community: If you prefer learning with peers, where you can deepen your knowledge and skills, you can upskill by taking a variety of short courses:
How to Choose a Sustainability Certification, by Trish Kenlon
Step #2: Build – Strengthening Roots
Building your resume, skills, and personal story is like growing strong roots. Just as roots anchor the plant and draw up nutrients from the soil, your materials and skills anchor your candidacy and draw interest from potential employers. The deeper and more robust the roots, the better prepared you are for the winds of change in the job market. As roots deepen, a seedling may peek above the soil, and start reaching for the sun. Growth happens in multiple directions.
Build a Project:
The best and fastest way to demonstrate your skill to employers is to create something of value. You can supercharge your resume with a million climate keywords but if you can’t point to even one experience that demonstrate the intersection of your skills and climate, your resume will be harder to sell.
Find peers who’d want to build a product or idea with you, build an MVP
Volunteer: apply your skills to the needs of a nonprofit or community organization.
Hot Tip: Look in your backyard! You don’t need to scour the internet to find a volunteer opportunity - walk down to the local foodbank or community garden and ask them questions to see how you can help!
Take on a part-time paid or pro bono consulting role.
Build your Story:
Take ownership of what makes you unique. Craft a compelling story that outlines your skills, strengths, passions, and desired next steps.
If you struggle with this, take this prompt to ChatGPT and use its response to get you started.
If you’re a generalist, or unsure which areas of climate you want to work on, try building your story for a specific climate topic. See how it feels to focus on one area. Try this a few times, until you find a few climate topic areas that you feel connected to.
Build your Resume & LinkedIn:
As a candidate, prioritize having strong materials (resume, cover letter, LinkedIn, portfolio), and a compelling story you tell about all the work you’ve done so far.
If you’ve just graduated from school or a program and you don’t have a ton of work experience - that’s okay! Focus your story on the classes you’ve taken, research you’ve done, and projects you’ve built. If you’re a mid-career person, a generalist, or you’ve had lots of different roles, choose which skills you most want to use, and develop your materials accordingly. If you’re a senior-level person and you’re making a career shift into a different area, highlight which of your transferable skills are most relevant to those jobs and highlight them across your materials.
As a jobseeker, prioritize drawing people towards your materials or profile, so the job search becomes a two way street.
Optimize your LinkedIn algorithm. Find people who speak about climate, follow them, follow leaders of companies you are interested in, and you will immediately see a drastic change in the content you see on Linkedin. LinkedIn is a social media platform after all → what you engage with, you’ll see more of. Supercharge your LinkedIn with climate content and it will become a place of learning and opportunity for you.
Step #3: Network – Pollination
Networking is like pollination, where bees, birds, and wind carry the potential for growth from one plant to another. Sharing ideas, experiences, and connections helps opportunities cross-pollinate between you and others in your field. Just as forests, gardens, rainforests, and the seafloor rely on diversity in the ecosystem, build a diverse ecosystem around yourself that can help you move forward in your job search.
Expand Your LinkedIn Network:
Find people who work at the companies you’re interested and connect with them
Follow leaders or job fairies
Follow company pages
Interact with posts that you think are interesting
Write posts about articles, experiences, or things you’re thinking about when it comes to climate change and your skills.
Follow Job Fairies on LinkedIn
Embed Yourself in the Right Places: join communities or networks that align with your interests
Step #4: Apply - Producing Fruit
Applying for jobs is like a plant bearing fruit. Your efforts manifest in visible results, from interviews to offers, much like blossoms transforming into ripe, tangible outcomes. Each application is a chance to share your fruit with the world and provide nourishment to the teams and companies you join. You also can measure success through the number of people you connect with, informational interviews you have, and jobs you apply to. There is no one singular solution to climate change, nor one way to tackle the climate job search. So revel in the small wins. This will help you immensely with staying resilient and motivated in your job search.
Diversify WHERE you look for jobs:
ClimateBase Job Board
Job Boards for Fractional Climate Work:
400+ jobseekers have used these four steps to successfully navigate their climate job searches, landing jobs in climate tech, environmental nonprofits, energy companies, government agencies, and other organizations dedicated to accelerating climate solutions. I hope they help you too!
We need people to work on climate now more than ever. Let 2025 be the year that you use your skills for good, find collaborators to support you, and take tangible steps towards your goals. Thank you for being here and for being dedicated to building a better world!
