Green jobs

Optimize your resume: top 10 skills for sustainability professionals

Given the ongoing dynamic environmental revolution, are you mentioning the right skills in your resume as a sustainability professional? Are you wondering what skills employers are looking for in sustainability professionals to solve current environmental problems?

Well, it is not that hard to break it down that in a changing globalization context environmental professionals need to develop new personal, societal, and technical skills to be of value in the quest for sustainability.

Employers across different businesses are mostly looking for professionals with a holistic perspective of environmental problems and integrated solutions. Your environmental engineering course has equipped you with a lot of technical knowledge, but these courses often fail to provide the skills that employers are looking for.

Make sure you are not boring the HR manager with irrelevant information, and that you have the right skills for an environmental sustainability professional on your resume and LinkedIn profile.

Read on to know what ‘on-the-job’ and ‘hands-on’ environmental sustainability skills are needed to get the job you want.

Download your free list of 100 Linkedin skills & keywords for sustainability professionals.

Top 10 most desired skills for sustainability professionals

Communication skills

Do you have excellent communication skills? Then you are in luck!! Communication is one of the top skills needed for an environmental sustainability professional. Communication is a crucial skill as it guides the understanding of environmental issues, and for development of approaches to solving the problems.

As an environmental sustainability professional, your ability to communicate effectively to different stakeholders is by far the most important attribute that you should possess.

Interpersonal skills

Social intelligence and interpersonal skills are also top skills for an environmental sustainability professional, that employers are looking for. For a sustainability professional, strong interpersonal skills are a must to form effective responses and manage projects effectively.

Innovation

Innovation is the most desired skill in sustainability professionals. Innovation is what drives change. For developing efficient solutions to dynamic environmental problems businesses need innovative environmental sustainability professionals, who can produce integrated and sustainable solutions.

Environmental compliance

Compliance is one of the most attractive skills for environmental jobs. Organizations need professionals who are aware of environmental regulations, laws, and standards. They are looking for professionals who can guide the company’s operations to stay in compliance with the environmental laws.

Vendor management skills

Do you have significant knowledge of vendor management? Then you should put this skill on your resume to secure the environmental job that you want. This is another key skill that employers are looking for in sustainability professionals. Vendor management is a multi-stage process and involves multiple teams within the organization. A sustainability professional with vendor management skills can contribute to a company’s overall performance in a big way.

Outdoor skills

Your outdoor skills and interests are valuable when you are a sustainability professional. They should be on your resume as it is one of the most desired skills for environmental jobs.

 Outdoor knowledge is one of the most important skills for environmental sustainability professionals. A sustainability professional with outdoor skills can perform the on-site tasks and lead the activities in a better way.

Project management skills

You should showcase project management skills on your resume as a sustainability professional. Organizations need sustainability professionals to guide them on environmental impact and to develop solutions. A professional with great project management skills can get these jobs done for them. Companies want professionals to combine organizational management skills with their expertise on sustainability issues to present efficient solutions.

Recycling skills

Recycling skills are a huge plus when you are a sustainability professional. When you have recycling skills mentioned on your resume, it makes you a top candidate for any environmental job. Most companies require recycling skills for environmental jobs.

So, you should go on and flaunt those recycling skills on your resume for any environmental job you are seeking.

Technical skills

Your resume should showcase your technical skills for environmental jobs prominently. Technical skills needed for an environmental professional include your computer and industry skills. You should elaborate in your resume on what specialized tools and expertise you have for the environmental jobs and how can you help an enterprise perform better.

Collaboration and teamwork skills

Collaboration and teamwork skills should be up on your resume. Sustainability professionals are often required to work with multiple teams within the organization. A sustainability professional who is a team player and can collaborate with team members to carry out tasks is what businesses are seeking right now.

What are the skills that can bolster your sustainability credentials?

There are a lot of different courses and skills you can add to your resume that can bolster your sustainability credentials and equip you with practical and functional knowledge.

Specific skills for environmental engineer resume:

  • pollution control technology
  • waste treatment
  • chemical engineering
  • site redemption
  • remediation of hazards using engineering techniques.

Specific skills for environmental consultant resume:

  • Technical report writing
  • EHS compliance
  • OSHA certification
  • Statistics
  • Research skills

Specific skills for environmental scientist resume:

  • Innovative and critical thinking
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Statistics knowledge
  • Commercial awareness
  • Research skills

Conclusion

In the current global scenario where there is a high uncertainty for professionals. Since workplaces, communities, and jobs can be transformed very quickly due to unstable economic and technological forces. Today, to be valuable in the quest for sustainability, professionals are required to develop an integrated and holistic vision of the issues and present innovative and collaborative solutions.

We have discussed the sustainability skills for the resume in detail. So, you can create a resume for environmental jobs that stands out in the crowd. The above-mentioned skills are what organizations are seeking in sustainability professionals.

Ayesha Saleem

M.Sc. Environmental Science, University of Karachi, Pakistan Environmentalist/ Researcher and writer. Passionate about environmental protection, scientific research, and writing.

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