Though many students view the formal corporate recruiting process as the default when thinking about future high-paying careers, Dartmouth sustainability director Rosi Kerr wants to turn the Big Green Careers program, now a two-year pilot program, into a viable, robust parallel to corporate recruiting. The program seeks out students, Kerr said, who are interested in “making the world better but also making a living.”
Now on the brink of its one-year anniversary, the program connects Dartmouth students with alums and runs workshops and career fairs focused on helping students enter the sustainable jobs sector.
Kerr said that the Big Green Careers program was primarily motivated by students’ frustration with the lack of career planning resources available for jobs in the sustainability and environmental sectors. Funded by a Class of 1983 gift and primarily designed by Sarah Alexander ’14, Kerr said that the network has received a lot of student interest and strong attendance at events, despite its relatively new presence on campus.
Alexander said her own experience inspired her to work on creating this network. When searching for a post-graduate job in sustainability her senior year, she said she was frustrated by the lack of resources available.
“We were all very aware of the opportunities available to us through corporate recruiting, but what we did not always get to see were the alternative, equally amazing jobs that alums and students were pursuing outside of the traditional consulting or finance path,” Alexander said.
She went on to say that in creating the program, she sought to expose students to more jobs and careers in sustainability, connect them to alums and recent graduates in the field and prepare students to obtain those jobs.
“Sustainability is such an interdisciplinary concept that I really wanted to show students that it could be applied to almost any industry,” Alexander said. “I cannot imagine an industry in which sustainability is not applicable or relevant.”
In designing the program, Alexander said the biggest challenge was simply finding information about the field, because such data had never been compiled before. Another challenge, she said, was making sure that students would actually participate in the program and that it would not be too similar to other services already offered through the Center for Professional Development.
Roughly 60 to 70 students have participated so far, office of sustainability fellow Denielle Harrison said.
Past activities put on by the program include networking workshops and transportation to an all-Ivy environmental and sustainable development career fair hosted by Columbia University in February, Harrison said. The program also collaborated with the Center for Professional Development to host a preparatory workshop prior to the career fair, Harrison said. About 80 Dartmouth students attended the sustainable career fair, Harrison said.
“So far, many students have been engaged with the program, and all who are engaged are satisfied,” Harrison said.
The program’s goals are to facilitate quality interactions with alums and to provide students with the tools to succeed in internships and careers beyond Dartmouth, Harrison said.
“My hope is that Dartmouth becomes known for sending talented, motivated and smart sustainability leaders into the world in the same way it is known for sending great students into banking and consulting,” Alexander said.
Both Alexander and Kerr spoke positively about the program’s success thus far, though both have ambitions to expand the program past its pilot stage.
Kerr said that though the current program is primarily focused on jobs in the environmental sector, she would like to build upon the program to provide insight into how sustainability intersects with fields that may not be as obviously related, such as finance.
“Our goal is to turn it into something that feels inspiring, and that feels like a good, compatible parallel to corporate recruiting, so people can do either or both,” Kerr said.
Kerr noted that Dartmouth alumni participation in the network is already strong, and that alums working in the field are eager to hire interns and share their experiences with current Dartmouth students.
As for future events, next fall the program will host a career panel, Kerr said, that will bring companies to campus that are both “inspiring” and “trendy.”
“I think the sustainability sector is an area of huge opportunity,” Kerr said. “Businesses related to water, food and energy are going to be growing incredibly over the next 10, 15, 20 years.”
The jobs that will emerge in the sustainability sector will not just have the potential for social and environmental impact, but will be lucrative as well, Kerr noted.
Alexander said that sustainability is relevant to all fields.
“At the end of the day, sustainability is about efficient use of resources and making decisions that create more resilient systems,” Alexander said. “I can’t think of any organization or company that is not interested in those things, and Dartmouth students have the ability to go out into the world right now and drive the thinking in these areas, no matter what career they pursue.”