We’re always thinking about the key issues surrounding impact careers, but never more so than when we’re planning our annual conference – an event that offers plenty of opportunities to learn how to navigate the impact job market, whether you’re just starting out or you're a lifer looking for a change.
So, as conference preparations kick into top gear, it’s recently been a topic of considerable interest around the office. In our most recent research, we found unequivocal stats and data trends to show that the field remains a space full of opportunity, growth and optimism.
If you're interested in impact careers, these five trends will fill you with confidence:
- Green jobs are growing at four times the speed of the economy in the US, and almost 1 million new green jobs were created in 2013 worldwide. The data outlines a couple of major trends that excite us: an ever-expanding amount of green jobs across the globe and a looming shortage of skilled workers.
- Increasingly, corporate leaders are focused on embedding sustainability into their overall strategy, with numbers almost tripling in the last five years. GreenBiz highlights how we’ve seen this anecdotally, as CEOs like Unilever’s Paul Polman and McDonald’s Don Thompson establish their company’s strategy by working to embed a foundation of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
- In fact, 93% of CEOs see CSR as having vital importance in the future success of their business, according to a report by 4Front Consulting.
- It’s not just business leaders that are realizing the significance of sustainability. Social and environmental values matter to consumers when making purchasing decisions. Cone Communications reports that “even as cause marketing continues to grow, consumers are eager for more. In fact, 83% of Americans want more of the products, services and retailers they use to support causes.” As we know, if consumers want it, that’s the direction businesses will move. And that means more jobs and more career opportunities on the horizon.
- Tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Apple continue to make huge commitments to the renewable energy space in their pursuit of large-scale sustainability. In the last four years alone, Google has invested more than $1billion into 14 different renewable energy projects. The actions of these tech companies indicate what the future holds, and based on where they’re hedging their bets, the future’s looking green, renewable, and sustainable.
But how do those trends translate into personal momentum for someone who wants to pursue an impact career? That's where the Net Impact Conference can help.
This year, attendees will have the opportunity to network with 100-plus companies, nonprofits, and social enterprises at our expo, submerge themselves in our Career & Professional Development conference track and workshops, and take advantage of one-on-one career coaching sessions.
And more good news: exclusive conference invitations are now available. Get yours before registration opens on July 29th, and receive a special discount code along with it.