Starting a career in renewable energy

So… you are interested in getting into the renewable energy industry.

This article contains the advice I often give to people who are looking to join or change roles within the renewable energy sector, either as a mid-career move or starting their journey in business.

I suggest you begin by asking yourself several questions:

1. What are your life goals? 

Assess if a career in this sector will help you achieve your long term plans. This needs to account for both career achievements but also personal goals. 

2. Where do you want to live and spend your time? 

This is relevant because the renewable sector varies geographically. For example, the largest offshore wind markets are in northern Europe, the east coast US and China. 

3. What type of roles are you looking for? 

Sales, engineering, health and safety, manufacturing, HR? This industry has something for everyone. Are you clear about what you want to be doing and where your strengths lie? If you are unsure at this point there are a lot of good resources online you can find to help you analyse this such as: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/best-free-career-assessment-tools

4. What part of the industry do you want to work in? 

Project development, consulting, engineering procurement and construction (EPC), equipment manufacturing, financing, logistics, utilities? This is important because it often influences the company culture and size. 

5. What type of company appeals to you? 

Large corporation? Startup? Consulting? Think about the internal environment these different companies will likely have and link this to your longer-term goals. If you are looking for stability, a corporate could be the right choice, if you want to become an entrepreneur in the future you might be more attracted to a startup.

Once you have answered the above questions, then you can start targeting and researching your area of interest. 

This can be done in a few different ways:

1. Research via Google, read articles, identify industry news websites and research companies. 
2. Build connections via LinkedIn who are part of the industry and follow relevant people / companies that you identified in step 1. If you are targeting a company, try to connect with people working there or who have worked there in the past. When requesting a connection write a short sentence explaining your interest in the person. Don’t immediately talk about jobs or send your CV.
3. Join industry groups, these are a good place to learn and to network. Try to find free ones, there are a lot of groups out there with expensive joining fees which are normally not worth it. You can find free groups of like minded people everywhere. Join webinars and networking events.

Once you have built a targeted network of links and connections it is time to initiate conversations. Make sure to do this with style, remember you are going to connect with people, imagine how you would do this in a social face-to-face situation. 

Send targeted direct messages to initiate a dialogue with individuals. Start lower down in the target organisation while you build your network, you are more likely to get a response this way. The senior management is normally overloaded by people connecting and you will often only get their admin. Whereas someone on a graduate or entry-level program will be flattered to be contacted and can lead you to other connections. Don’t start a conversation with your CV. It is really off-putting and rarely will that person have an open role sitting waiting for someone to send them a CV. Connect with people to ask genuine questions, keep it short and respect their time.

I highly recommend the 20-minute networking meeting book by Nathan Perez and Marcia Ballinger for advice on growing your network.

My final advice for anyone, especially new starters… get your foot in the door! 

Look for companies with great cultures and most importantly look for great bosses. If you are in a good company with a super-star manager you will enjoy almost any role. This will help you learn and fulfil your potential and then you can start to steer your career from the inside.

When I joined GE I had just completed my PhD. I knew I wanted to try something new and I joined the “Commercial Leadership Program”. I had literally no idea what “commercial” meant in this context. I had no background in business and no idea what the day to day role would involve. But I did know this would get me involved in huge global deals, I would be in a very well respected company with top class training and it would give me the opportunity to live around the world. I told myself, I can always quit and go back to academia if this didn’t turn out to be what I wanted….That was 14 years ago and I never looked back.

Good luck and send me any feedback on the above especially what worked for you and what didn’t.