The European Federation of Biotechnology defines the field of environmental biotechnology as “the integration of natural sciences and engineering in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services.” Therefore, an environmental biotechnologist creates processes and products which lead to greater environmental sustainability.
Examples of technological processes used to protect the environment have been wide-spread for several decades. For example, waste treatment plants use filters to purify water and microbes to break down waste more quickly. Environmental biotechnology employs specific techniques in order to break down specific agricultural and industrial pollutants so that water can be reused or safely released into lakes, rivers and oceans.
Solid waste is also a problem for landfills and requires the inventions of biotechnologists to come up with biodegradable containers and other products that can be recycles and reused. Biotechnologists also create enzymes that act as catalysts for removing pollutants and doing many other chores more efficiently than nature can do alone.
Biotechnologists help to invent products that have less impact on the environment, such as bioplastics that avoid use of non-renewable resources such as oil. While the field is controversial, genetically altered produce and grains can greatly increase crop yields and reduce disease in these products.
Environmental biotechnology is a field with roots in the last century, but a bright future within the current century. The field is well positioned to yield an increasing number of job opportunities and to contribute substantially to increased environmental sustainability in the future.
Liz Nichols for
Green Research Council
What is a carbon coach?
In July 2005 I left a near perfect job, Director of a successful consultancy (ABS consulting) to set up in business as The Carbon Coach. My mission (and it is mission possible!) is to coach celebs and influential individuals: to help them prosper and feel good by shrinking their lifestyle carbon footprint for real (the tonnage of carbon dioxide emissions that their households travel and energy is responsible for.) I hold their hand while they change a (energy efficient) light bulb!
How does it work?
I aim to rapidly raise peoples awareness of their direct carbon impacts on the environment. The people I coach actively want to change, but are busy and dont know where to start. I usually arrange to meet them at their home, and quickly assess their carbon footprint from energy bills, travel data – a few simple questions. Then I will discuss with them the ways they have considered reducing it – at this initial stage its very broad-brush stuff.
Who is using a carbon coach?
There are plenty of chief executives, company directors, politicians, celebs, neighbours even, who want to know their carbon footprint – their tonnage. I also provide this same carbon advice for a business, and for its employees.
When individuals commit to making a difference in their home lifestyle, and experience the joy of shedding a tonne or two, first hand, they go on to positively influence their corporate situation..
What size should somebody’s carbon footprint be?
Wherever you start is ok. After all, most of us are living in ignorance of the number. The top-down average carbon footprint for each of us in the UK is about 11 tonnes per year. (Total UK tonnes divided by population.) The 50 % of the footprint that I focus on is home energy and home travel. This bit averages around 5 tonnes p.a. per person. The lifestyle of a captain of industry however, is such that a footprint as high as 60 tonnes is perfectly common.
Outcomes can be simple, such as a change of car or switching to a green electricity tariff that guarantees the electricity comes from renewable sources, or they can be a bit trickier. But changes get to happen. Part of what I bring is urgency and tenacity. The problem (climate change) isnt going to go away – so why should I!
Have you changed your lifestyle?
Yea, but compared to some Im a late developer. I didnt take my personal impact on the environment anywhere near seriously enough until about five years ago. Now my five-bedroom house in Marlow has a solar panel (thermal and PV, so totally autonomous), a light-pipe, super-insulation, whole house MVHR ventilation, passive-solar conservatory and a wood-burning stove. My family of six has a combined carbon footprint of 9 tonnes – including our two cars and all holiday travel. 1.5 tonnes each.
Carbon Coaching is a huge opportunity. Basically, by 2050 every UK citizen needs to have slimmed down from 5 tonnes a year to around 0.5 tonne – or were stuffed. So we need a lot of coaches, and a lot of coaching. And the best way to learn is to practice on yourself!
Kinda neat huh?!
Davinos Greeno
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/fancy-a-change-of-career-why-not-try-carbon-coaching-84444.html
1. Introduction
Over the past two decades, the forces of economic globalization, political transformation and technological innovation have increased the global reach and influence of the private sector. The number of transnational corporations has almost doubled from 37,000 in 1990 to over 60,000 today, with some 800,000 foreign affiliates and millions of suppliers and distributors operating along their global value chains. This process has conferred new rights and created new business opportunities for global corporations and large national companies, while also exposing weaknesses in national and global governance structures. It has also resulted in new competitive pressures and risks, and led to increased demands for greater corporate responsibility, transparency and accountability.
As a result, today’s business leaders face a complex and often contradictory set of stakeholder expectations. They are being called on to engage with activists as well as analysts, to manage social and environmental risks as well as market risks, to be accountable for their non-financial as well as their financial performance, and to cooperate as well as to compete, often with non-traditional partners, focused on unfamiliar issues. They are under pressure from governments, consumers, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and a small but growing number of their investors, to demonstrate outstanding performance not only in terms of competitiveness and market growth, but also in their corporate governance and corporate citizenship.
In short, corporate executives are faced with a complex, unprecedented challenge: How can they continue to deliver shareholder value while also delivering, and demonstrating that they are delivering, societal value?
2. What is corporate citizenship?
The term ‘corporate citizenship’runs the risk of being all things to all people. But it does have some easily identifiable elements too. The basic idea is to understand business as part of society, contributing directly to the welfare of society, rather than somehow separate from it. Whereas in the past the baseline of good behaviour was ‘acting within the law’across the company’s operations, newer aspirations range from the maxim ‘do no harm’through to assessing ‘overall net impacts’. Companies need to go beyond simply obeying the law and making a competitive return for their shareholders if they are to respond to the challenge of citizenship.
Corporate citizenship invites companies to make strategic choices based on an understanding of the total impacts of their business in society. The practice of corporate citizenship involves a focus on one or more of three main areas:
- the societal impacts that flow from basic business policy and practice (as managed and measured through various codes of conduct, ‘values statements’and company reports);
- the impacts that a company has up and down the value chain (e.g. when child labour is employed by its suppliers; or when end consumers dispose of its products in ways likely to harm the environment); and
- the impacts that come from the voluntary contributions that businesses make to communities affected by their operations (including charitable gifts, community investment and commercial initiatives in the community).
Management and communication tools such as the ‘social audit’, development of key performance indicators on corporate citizenship, ‘benchmarking’best practice across a variety of industries, and best practice on ‘cause-related marketing’have all grown up alongside these core elements of corporate citizenship. Codes of good conduct for companies abound, as do stamps or standards awarded by third parties, such as the Social Audit stamp of the Brazilian NGO IBASE, or the Social Accountability 8000 standard developed by the Council on Economic Priorities Accreditation Agency. The professionalization of environmental management has had an impact on the ‘new’tools of social management and accounting, accelerating the process of adaptation to the corporate citizenship agenda. But not all companies professing to be good ‘corporate citizens’choose to use all of these tools, and the current state of ‘corporate citizenship’varies from country to country.
3. What drives Corporate Citizenship in a Global Context?
The emergence of ‘corporate citizenship’as a guiding principle for business strategy has been driven by a number of changes in the business operating environment. The overall process of globalization affects all businesses one way or another.
Globalization has given rise to unprecedented links between economies, cultures, individuals and groups. Technological advances such as the internet have transformed communications. When multinational corporations apply different standards at home from those in their overseas operations, the gaps are exposed to external scrutiny as never before. The result is that the corporate citizenship debate has acquired an increasingly significant ‘international’ dimension, raising one of the most difficult sets of questions in the current policy and business agenda: where does the responsibility of companies end and the role of governments begin, and by what (and whose) standards should this be judged?
Economic liberalization and deregulation have seen a massive increase in the flow of capital, goods and services across borders, opening new markets to foreign investment. At the same time the gaps between rich and poor around the world have widened and the world’s population is growing rapidly.
As privatization proceeds apace around the world, companies are increasingly responsible for providing services that were public-sector responsibilities in the past; areas such as healthcare provision by private companies and liberalization of energy markets focus more attention on the role of companies in the place of governments. The role of the private sector in provision of technical assistance around the world has also increased as corporations have become more involved in providing funding for intergovernmental bodies and as contractors in the delivery of donor assistance programmes. The overall balance of public- and private sector responsibilities is changing.
Globalization has given rise to new demands on corporations to exercise their power responsibly. There is a popular perception that in some markets the economic power and influence of corporations is much greater than that of the incumbent government. Some international NGOs have focused in on this, giving rise to new demands that companies investing in politically unstable economies such as the Sudan should use their power to encourage host country governments to spend the revenue that their investments generate for social benefit – not to wage wars or benefit political elites.
It is often pointed out that the turnover of the world’s largest companies is greater than the GNP of all but around 20 members of the United Nations. But individually even large companies account for only a fraction of global economic ouput: BP, Amoco and Arco together produce no more than 0.01%.
Globalization is not an entirely ‘neutral’ driver of corporate citizenship from a business perspective. Indeed, a powerful ‘backlash against globalization’ has now been set in motion, as witnessed by the public demonstrations surrounding recent World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in Seattle and Washington.
Some proponents of corporate citizenship in the North see it as a way of countering the backlash against globalization – of reinvigorating the notion that trade and investment can bring overall social and environmental welfare gains. Encouragement of global corporate responsibility then becomes part of efforts to put ‘a human face on the global economy’.
One maxim seems to find resonance with all: that with power needs to come responsibility. Globalization, it is said, is transforming corporate responsibility from a choice into an imperative.6 But the extent of that responsibility remains a matter of hot debate.
4. Commitments to Corporate Citizenship
There are numerous examples of commitments towards corporate citizenship. Many of them involve not only the private sector, but also the public sector and civil society organizations.
- The Global Compact was proposed by the outgoing UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, at Davos in January 1999. He called on business leaders to embrace and enact within their own corporate activities nine core principles derived from universally accepted agreements on human rights, labour and the environment. Today the Global Compact brings together several hundred companies, with some of the world’s leading trade union bodies, human rights and environmental organizations in a global learning forum, policy dialogues and variety of development projects. Companies engage in the initiative through the written support of their CEOs.
- Tackling global health issues: The World Economic Forum Global Health Initiative (GHI) is designed to foster greater private sector engagement in the global battle against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. In cooperation with the World Health Organization and UNAIDS, the GHI brings together businesses, NGOs, civil society and academic institutions in a partnership, focusing on corporate best practices, resource gaps, partnership opportunities, philanthropy and the role of business in advocacy. The Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS is an international group of business leaders dedicated to advocating for an increased business response to AIDS both in the workplace and in the community. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (www.vaccinealliance.org) was officially launched in January 2000 at Davos, with a mission of combining public and private resources and competencies to support immunization activities. It is a coalition of governments, the WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank; philanthropic foundations; the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA); and technical and research institutes.
- Overcoming the digital divide: The ICT sector has engaged itself in a variety of policy dialogues and practical initiatives to bridge the ‘digital divide’ both within and between nations. Examples include: the G8 Digital Opportunity Task Force which consisted of leaders from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors; the UN’s multi-stakeholder ICT Task Force and the World Economic Forum’s Global Digital Divide Initiative. Business leaders are also supporting practical projects such as the Digital Partnership and Net Aid; and others such as those listed on the World Economic Forum website.
- Investing in sustainable development: This has been an area of immense focus. The International Chamber of Commerce and World Business Council for Sustainable Development have established Business Action for Sustainable Development as a network and platform to provide business input and partnership examples to the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002.
- Promoting good corporate governance: Business leaders are playing a role in several initiatives to promote good corporate governance. Examples include: The International Corporate Governance Network, pension funds and financial institutions with over $8 trillion in assets under management working towards global convergence on standards of governance; and business support for Transparency International to tackle corruption. Another aspect of good governance is the efforts to promote sustainability reporting such as the Global Reporting Initiative.
- Corporate citizenship at the sector level: The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and UNEP have played an important role in promoting sector-based initiatives for sustainable development in industries as diverse as mobility, cement, pulp and paper, information technology, banking and finance. Other examples include the E7 network of electricity companies; the International Hotels Environment Initiative; and the Global Mining Initiative.
- Supporting national development: At the national level business leaders are supporting initiatives focused on goals such as education, local enterprise and job creation, and rural development. Examples include: Philippine Business for Social Progress; the National Business Initiative in South Africa; Instituto Ethos in Brazil; Business in the Community in the UK; and Landcare in Australia.
- Engaging Tomorrow’s Leaders: Today’s business leaders are supporting networks such as the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders for Tomorrow, which consists of young leaders from the public and private sectors and civil society, and AIESEC, the world’s largest student-run organization to promote sustainable development and corporate citizenship. A small but growing number of business schools have started to invest in research and teaching in this area supported by some CEOs.
5. Progress of Corporate Citizenship in a Global Context
While the leadership challenge is especially apparent for executives in Europe and North America, it is also becoming a reality for many in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, especially those who aim to be global players – either doing business with or competing against the world’s top multinationals. Business leaders in each region are obviously influenced by different economic, social, cultural and political traditions, and different industry sectors face different types of corporate citizenship challenges. Despite these differences, the following trends in the concepts of corporate citizenship or corporate responsibility are common across geographic and sector boundaries:
1. From the corporate margins to the mainstream
2. From assertion to accountability
3. From paternalistic approaches to partnership
5.1. From the corporate margins to the mainstream
In leading companies, corporate citizenship is moving beyond the boundaries of legal compliance and traditional philanthropy to become a more central factor in determining corporate success and legitimacy, with implications for corporate strategy, governance and risk management.
There is now growing recognition that global corporate citizenship is essentially about how the company makes its profits, everywhere it operates, not simply what it does with these profits afterwards. It is about how the company operates in three key spheres of corporate influence.
- First, in its core business operations – in the boardroom, in the workplace, in the marketplace and along the supply chain.
- Second, in its community investment and philanthropic activities.
- Third, in its engagement in public policy dialogue, advocacy and institution building.
In all three spheres of corporate influence, the challenge for leadership companies is two fold:-
First, aim to ‘do minimal harm’ in terms of minimizing negative economic impacts, bad labour conditions, corruption, human rights abuses and environmental degradation that may result from a company’s operations. This is a goal that calls for management strategies such as compliance – with internationally accepted norms, guidelines and standards, such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations and the UN Global Compact, as well as with national laws and regulation – and control of social and environmental risks, liabilities and negative impacts.
Second, aim to ‘do positive good’ in terms of creating new value for both the business and its stakeholders in the countries and communities in which it operates. This can be achieved through strategic philanthropy and community investment, which harnesses the company’s core competencies, products and services, not only its philanthropic cheques. Examples include, ICT companies supporting community projects to tackle the digital divide, financial companies supporting microcredit initiatives, and professional services firms sharing management expertise with local community organizations. More strategic, are efforts by companies to create new business value through developing new products, processes and technologies, and in some cases even transforming their business models, to serve untapped social and environmental needs, or facilitate entry into underserved markets. Examples include developing new markets for carbon emissions trading, creating new environmental technologies, and producing more affordable access to essential services such as clean water, energy, food, housing and medicines for the estimated 3 billion people who live on less than $2 a day.
A taskforce of the World Economic Forum, consisting of a group of over 40 CEOs and chairmen from 16 countries and representing 18 industry sectors signed a joint statement on global corporate citizenship. They agreed that: “The greatest contribution that we can make to development is to do business in a manner that obeys the law, produces safe and cost effective products and services, creates jobs and wealth, supports training and technology cooperation, and reflects international standards and values in areas such as the environment, ethics, labour and human rights. To make every effort to enhance the positive multipliers of our activities and to minimize any negative impacts on people and the environment, everywhere we invest and operate. A key element of this is recognizing that the frameworks we adopt for being a responsible corporate citizen must move beyond philanthropy and be integrated into core business strategy and practice.”
5.2. From assertion to accountability
A second key trend at the heart of the emerging corporate citizenship agenda is the growth in demands by stakeholders, including shareholders, for corporations to demonstrate greater accountability and transparency – and to do so not only in terms of their financial accounts and statements, but also in terms of their wider social, economic and environmental impacts.
Gone are the days when consumers, investors and the general public trusted all the information they received from companies and were relatively undemanding on what this information should cover in terms of corporate performance. In part this trust has been squandered by the recent series of corporate ethics scandals and governance failures. It has also been affected by a combination of increased democratization and press freedom around the world, easier access to more information through the Internet, greater public awareness of global issues through the media, increased consumer choice and sophistication, and higher societal expectations of the private sector.
In response to these trends, leading companies are being called on to be more accountable and more transparent to more stakeholders on more issues and in more places than ever before. In the wake of corporate governance and ethics scandals, there have been demands for greater financial accountability and transparency, resulting in increased shareholder advocacy and new regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley in the United States. At the same time, certain governments and stock exchanges are also calling for greater public disclosure on environmental and social performance, in areas such as carbon emissions, product safety, occupational health and safety, training and diversity. There are also growing calls for greater transparency on private sector engagement with governments on issues such as lobbying, financing political campaigns, payment of taxes and receipts of public procurement contracts and incentives.
In all of these areas, business leaders are facing new and challenging questions in terms of what to be accountable for, who to be accountable to, and how to actually measure and report non-financial performance in practice.
A number of global voluntary efforts are underway to develop standards, guidelines and procedures for measuring and reporting on corporate social and environmental performance. These range from multi-sector alliances, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, which is developing guidelines and indicators for public reporting on sustainability performance, to sector-focused efforts such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which focuses on public disclosure of payments to governments by oil and mining companies, the Fair Labour Association in the apparel sector, the Equator Principles for project finance in the banking sector, and global framework agreements being negotiated between certain trade unions and global corporations. Growing numbers of Asian companies are engaging in these and other accountability initiatives.
5.3. From paternalistic approaches to partnerships
The third key trend in global corporate citizenship is a move away from more traditional, paternalistic attitudes that “the company and its senior executives knows best” to more genuine engagement, consultation and cooperation with key groups of stakeholders. There is growing recognition that the challenges we face, both as individual companies and nations and as a global community, are too great and too interdependent, and the resources for addressing these challenges too varied and too dispersed, for any one actor or sector to have all the solutions. New types of alliances between companies and other sectors, built on mutual respect and benefit, are becoming essential to both corporate success and societal progress.
The area of community investment offers a good example, where leading companies have moved away from traditional philanthropic approaches, focused on one way disbursement of charitable funds, to efforts aimed at engaging the core competencies of the company and building mutually beneficial partnerships between the company and non-profit or community organizations. Cisco Systems, for example, has been able to expand its Cisco Networking Academies program to over 10,000 academies in all 50 U.S. states and over 150 countries, working with partners ranging from the United Nations, the United States Agency for International Development and the Peace Corps, to local schools and nongovernmental organizations. In the Philippines, the Ayala Group has worked with Nokia, one of its key business partners, Pearson Education, the International Youth Foundation, the Department of Education, local authorities and parent-teachers associations to provide science materials to over 80 under-resourced schools. Just two of thousands of examples, through which companies, working in partnership with others, are providing education, training, and other opportunities to millions of young people and low-income communities around the world.
Some of the most interesting partnerships are in the form of strategic global or national alliances aimed at transforming not only individual corporate practices, but also influencing public policy frameworks and the broader enabling environment. National examples in Asia include the pioneering Philippines Business for Social Progress, the Thai Business Initiative for Rural Development and the Asia-Pacific Business Coalition Against HIV/AIDs.
In addition to community-level alliances between individual companies and nonprofit organizations, we are also witnessing the emergence of strategic global or national alliances aimed at transforming not only individual corporate practices, but also influencing public policy frameworks and the broader enabling environment. One example is the United Nations Global Compact, with over 2,000 corporate participants and some 30 national business networks, many of them from developing countries, working with UN agencies, trade unions and non-governmental organizations.
Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to advance responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalization. It is a voluntary initiative with two objectives:
• Mainstream ten principles in the areas of environment, human rights, labour, and anti-corruption – all of which are based on international, intergovernmental agreements – into business activities and supply chains around the world;
• Catalyse business actions and partnerships in support of UN goals, especially the Millennium Development Goals.
Asian companies have been among the pioneers in supporting the Global Compact. In countries such as China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea and Australia, individual companies, stock exchanges, business associations and governments are starting to explore ways to implement the compact’s ten principles as core elements of sound business practice. In November 2005, the Chinese government will host a major Global Compact Summit, taking a vital leadership role at a time when global industrial capacity continues to shift to China and Chinese companies continue to increase their international investment and influence.
Concluding Remarks
Although local business conditions and cultures vary from country to country, the elements of what it takes to be a successful and sustainable business over the longer-term illustrate some common imperatives. Being a profitable, but also responsible corporate citizen is increasingly one of these imperatives. This requires business leaders to be committed to a set of clearly stated and publicly upheld values – underpinned by policies and standards that are applied everywhere the company operates, not only in its home market. It requires companies to have risk management systems and accountability structures in place to protect existing value, by minimizing any negative economic, social or environmental impacts and reputation damage arising from their business operations. It also requires companies to support learning, innovation and partnerships that help to create new value, by delivering new products and services that meet societal needs as well as creating shareholder value. And it calls for ongoing efforts to evaluate and measure progress and performance against each of these three areas.
In summary, regardless of industry sector or country, global corporate citizenship rests on four pillars: values; value protection; value creation; and evaluation. These four pillars not only underpin the long-term success and sustainability of individual companies, but are also a major factor in contributing to broader social and economic progress in the countries and communities in which these companies operate. Along with good governance on the part of governments, they offer one of our greatest hopes for a more prosperous, just and sustainable world.
Prof. Surinder Pal Singh
http://www.articlesbase.com/ethics-articles/the-concept-of-corporate-citizenship-in-a-global-environment-741210.html
These days this field of Geology is growing in popularity, and there are many jobs available. However, before choosing this field as a career choice, it is important to find out what it entails.
What Does Being A Geologist Entail?
A geologist is someone who studies the earth’s composition, mainly the different kinds of rock formations. It also involves the study of organisms that inhabit it. The science deals with the analysis of the Earth and its origin, history, and minerals. Some of the branches of Geology are Mineralogy, Geological Engineering and Geomorphology, to name a few.
Geologists play an extremely important role in exploring and discovering natural resources and the mineral wealth of the earth. The main functions of a geologist entail observing natural calamities and their various effects on the environment, and to explore mineral, oil and natural gas fields and underwater resources. Their observations of the structure of the earth and the soil is important to evaluate if the conditions in certain areas are suitable for constructing bridges, roads and buildings, and for laying railway tracks.
Furthermore, some geologists also search for deep-sea natural resources. Oil exploration is another field that requires the services of geologists. Geologists can determine the quality of soil by conducting geo-chemical and geo-physical tests. Based on reports made by them, construction of roads, reservoirs underground tunnels and bridges can be undertaken. Overall, becoming a geologist involves a lot of knowledge and expertise.
Careers in Geology
Geology, as a career choice today, is more exciting than it ever was. Whether out on the field as backpackers, or indoors in the lab, it involves adventure and deep exploration of our planet. The field is wide ranging and offers a plethora of job opportunities. Nevertheless, it is advisable to first find out what kinds of geologist careers are available before you go ahead and make your decision.
People studying geology have the option of becoming geographers, geologists, oceanographers or meteorologists. Since geologists play an important role in finding valuable mineral resources, the avenues for them in the private and public sectors are vast. Careers in geology range from studying and predicting natural and man-made disasters to exploring mineral resources. Here are some additional careers that you can pursue if you have a degree in geology:
-Petrology
-Paleontology
-Volcanolo
-Geochemistry
-Geophysics
-Mining
-Environmental Education
-Environmental Law
-Environmental Consultant
-Research and Field Study
If you are planning on pursuing one of these careers, then information can be obtained through the Internet. Additionally, there are various books and resources that are dedicated to imparting knowledge and information on the subject of geology.
On the whole, pursuing a career in geology is an awe-inspiring and satisfying experience. Not only is this field fascinating, these days it also pays very well. If you are interested in the environment, the processes and the structure of the earth, its evolution, and the organisms that live within it, geology as a field would be an ideal choice for you.
Tony Jacowski
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/a-career-in-geology-112512.html
When you choose a college major, you obviously want to choose a major that will not only utilize your passions, interests, and skills, but also one that will give you a great chance to earn a good-earning income. After all, even if you choose a major that you are interested in and have aptitude in, it won’t do you much good if the job market dries up for that particular field.
Looking at major trends that are developing in our economy, the following five trends will greatly influence what jobs will be the most-in-demand for the next ten years.
1. Aging Baby Boomers.
2. Better Medicine.
3. Increased Costs of Child Care.
4. Rapid Technology Growth.
5. Distributed Work.
Five of the projected most in-demand occupations for the next ten years are the following –
1. Computer Programmer – Even though many American companies are hiring overseas workers for programming jobs, there is still plenty of work for qualified computer specialists as well. Increased security risks and recent security breaches have led to American companies paying more for in-house teams of programmers that can be monitored more closely.
Plus, nowadays, companies will want their programmers to develop software programs that specifically work and are unique to their companies to help streamline their operations and make them more efficient and profitable.
This is why computer programming degrees and courses in programming and security will become very popular in the near future.
2. Day Care Provider – Due to the fact that both parents now usually have to work in this day and age in order to sustain a moderate to high level of living, the demand for quality child care is on the rise, and this is why parents are willing to pay higher premiums to facilities with excellent reputations and strong learning programs.
Child Psychology courses and day care management diplomas should be on the rise due to the recent trend in wanting quality day care providers.
3. Elder Care Specialist – Baby Boomers can’t rely on larger families to help take care of them like their parents could, so they are turning to professionally operated assisted living facilities. Some of these facilities come equipped with luxury amenities like golf courses and four-star dining.
Due to the recent cases of elderly neglect at some facilities, the government and society are watching elder care facilities much more closely, which is all the more reason why these facilities are demanding job candidates with proven skills and uplifting attitudes.
Medical Assisting courses, Life Care Planning certificates, and Gerontology degrees should be useful in pursuing this career.
4. Employment Specialist – Due to the demands of child care and elderly care, more American businesses have turned to employment agencies to arrange short-term or flexible employment relationships. Companies that also need to be flexible in terms of how many employees they have due to seasonal customer demand also utilize professional agencies to have the right number of employees at all times of the year.
The U.S. Department of Labor and private studies conclude that this field will be in great demand over the next decade because of the factors listed above. For those who have strong interpersonal skills and a wide degree of interests, this occupation would fit them perfectly. Being that he/she usually will get paid a commission on the income of placed workers, it can be a lucrative paying field as well.
Taking Human Resource training courses and earning a Human Resources Management degree are key to entering this growing field.
5. Environmental Engineer – This field will be in demand because of the growing communities in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and Florida, as well as the crumbling infrastructure of America’s more established cities and towns.
Environmental engineers oversee new construction and renovation, which help to preserve natural resources and keep residents safe. Many environmental engineers work for developers and corporations that want to take a proactive approach to their business, in an effort to build strong relationships with their customers and to comply with the law.
Environmental Engineering degrees and courses that deal with conservation and the environment are critical to entering this field.
By knowing what careers will be in-demand over the next 10 years, you can see which career best fits your interests and make plans to study for a degree related to that career so you can give yourself a better chance of obtaining a well-earning, sustaining position when you graduate.
Bryan Wong
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/the-5-best-jobs-for-the-next-10-years-part-i-107722.html
Finding the right career information involves a great deal of research. It includes knowing and learning about yourself, as well as opportunity alternatives for a particular job. It enables you to get to know your preferences and interests in order to select a career in which you can excel.
Consult And Decide
The key to a successful career is to know your calling in life, and then subsequently make a career decision. You can gather information related to your choice of career by consulting career counselors, friends, family, teachers, professionals, by reading books and articles, as well as watching relevant television shows. This helps you to determine your skills, personality traits, inclination and aptitude, so that you can search accordingly and explore job opportunities.
Know Your Areas Of Interest
It is very important to know your aptitude and attitude towards the kind of work you would probably be interested in. It is important to identify what interests you, because that is what will be the chief motivation factor in your chosen career. Your interests will act as a guiding spirit, helping you realize your life’s goals.
Careers And Choices
Every profession requires particular kinds of aptitude to be successful. For example, one must have a certain mindset and a set of particular skills to choose careers such as law, medicine, computers and social science. Therefore, it is very important to explore and understand the significance of the available career information when you begin your research.
The following will help you to choose your career according to your interests, and the various career opportunities in each:
a)Law: Job seekers who are interested in careers in law can explore the following career options: lawyer, court reporter, judge, legal assistant etc.
b)Math: People interested in a career related to math can search for jobs such as becoming a statistician, an engineer, surveyor, physicist, or an actuary.
c)Reading: If reading is what you are interested in, then you could become a writer, publisher, secretary, journalist, or a librarian.
d)Science: Science can make you eligible for the following careers: a chemist, a pharmacist, an environmental scientist etc.
e)Sports: You can become an athlete, a professional player of some sport, a coach, a fitness instructor etc, if you are interested in sports.
f)Computer: If you have knowledge and interest in computer science, then you can become a database administrator, computer support specialist, computer hardware as well as software engineer, webmaster, computer programmer, data entry operator and systems analyst.
g)Social Science: Social science helps you become an economist, human resource assistant, psychologist, urban planner, politician and historian.
h)Nature: If you find yourself interested in nature, and natural beauty fascinates you, then you can become a zookeeper, landscape architect, veterinarian, agricultural and food scientist.
i)Managing money: If managing money is what interests you, you can explore a career as an accountant, financial analyst, loan officer, bookkeeper and real estate agent.
j)Helping People: If helping people is your nature, there are good career options as a teacher, childcare worker, fire fighter, nurse, social worker and doctor.
Information is a very significant factor that empowers you with knowledge in the field of work you want to enter. You can explore various avenues by accessing information about career choices. It helps to gather important information about the availability of jobs and careers relevant to your skills and interests.
Tony Jacowski
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/exploring-career-information-70630.html
Once of the most frequently asked questions among job seekers who want green jobs is what is available for people without any experience?
Many people have a passion for environmental causes, but they don’t know how to turn that passion into a paying job. Here are some steps:
1. Get some basic higher education. Most environmental jobs require a bachelors degree in science, a degree in ecology, environmental education, environmental engineering, or in a building trade such as architecture. Others find technical jobs in an environmental field by attending a technical school or community college for a certificate or associates degree in mechanical or electrical engineering, construction, solar installation, or similar fields.
2. Volunteer for an environmental non-profit, park, nature or conservation center. There are numerous opportunities to take care of animals and habitats, staff information centers, run educational programs.
3. Many colleges and universities offer internships, as do some of the government agencies and non-profits in the environmental field. Interns may receive a small stipend or room and board and hold a variety of responsibilities, from teaching to research to marketing activities and advocacy.
4. Look for positions at larger organizations and government agencies. Many of these provide a career track that starts with paraprofessional or beginning professional positions and advances with experience to supervisory and senior professional levels.
With some time, you can build a resume which will lead to a full time professional job in the environmental sciences or engineering. Finding an Environmental job takes some time and persistence in many cases, but the rewards are well worth the training and experience-building volunteer and paraprofessional work.
Landscape architecture involves the planning, design, management, preservation and rehabilitation of the land and constructions. To put it simply, the people who perform all the above duties are called landscape architects.
Nature of Work
The design of landscapes involves multiple disciplines like mathematics, science, engineering, art, technology, social sciences, politics, history and philosophy. Landscape architects are responsible for various duties like creating public parks, planning corporate offices, planning highways and bridges, creating forests, tourist and historic landscapes, management and reclamation of the degraded landscapes like mines etc. Their job involves all minor and major tasks. They are the brains behind the various types of construction. They are also responsible for supervising the contracts of construction work and preparing applications for capital or revenue funding grants.
Landscape architects often work with different architects, surveyors and engineers to determine the best plans for roads and buildings. They are also required to work with environmental scientists, foresters and other professionals to find various methods of conserving the natural resources. Once the conclusions are drawn, the landscape architects create a new plan including the new topography, vegetation, walkways, decorative features etc.
They spend most of their time in offices in preparing models, designs, plans and cost estimates. The rest of their time is spent either attending meetings with clients or at the site. However, undoubtedly they need to be creatively inclined.
Requirements
The major requirement is that they need to be nature lovers. People who have no interest in enjoying the beauty of nature may not do well as landscape architects. Needless to say, they must have strong analytical skills, a creative vision and artistic talent. Good communication and presentation skills are a must. They must also possess excellent writing skills and an articulate way of expressing their thoughts. The knowledge of CAD software is also essential.
Some prefer to take up some residential work while others stick to individual homeowners. Residential design projects do not provide huge incomes like those of commercial or multiunit residential projects. They may either be self employed or employed by government agencies or landscape architectural firms. Those employed by government or architectural firms work for fixed timings while self-employed work as per the demands.
Qualifications
– The main requirement for entry-level jobs as a landscape architect is a bachelors degree or a masters degree in landscape architecture. A bachelors degree takes around 4 to 5 years for completion. There are two types of masters degrees. One is a 3-year professional program designed for people with an undergraduate degree in other discipline. The other is a 2 year program for students having completed undergraduate degrees in landscape architecture. Some employers prefer applicants who have completed their internship.
– There is a growing demand for landscape architects for integrating natural elements into manmade constructions. Most are employed in urban and sub-urban areas. Few are employed in rural areas. When they gain sufficient experience become construction supervisors, land or environmental planners, project managers and landscape consultants.
Peter Finch
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/landscape-architects–a-great-career-option-101678.html
The mantra of today’s workplace is, “the more you work, the more you get.” People tend to spend a lot of time in their workplaces. After all, in a day, you are spending most of your time in your work and work related activities. So, your choice of career should be the ideal one for you; in other words, it should reflect your personality and if it falls in the top 10 hot jobs category, you are sure to be in a fulfilling and well paying career.
Most people have a fixed salary as their only parameter in their hot jobs search. They don’t care about their skill sets, the requirements of that particular job, whether they even have it or not and many other things. Choice of a wrong job could result in boredom and frustration in your workplace, which leads to the high erosion rate in the market today. So, you have to know what you want before picking a career.
You have to have a clear idea of what your qualifications are, what your soft skills are, what other skills you have and what role can you play in a workplace efficiently. If you have a clear picture in your mind, you will most likely find the right career for you.
There are lots of resources available for you to use. Human resource firms, personality development centers, career development professionals and other facilities are available for you to choose your career. You can take lots of aptitude and attitude tests to figure out which is the best career for you. There are a lots of career solution centers which provide you training for job and career oriented skills like communication skills, soft skills, corporate etiquette, facing the interview and much more. You can make use of all those resources and hone your abilities.
The world is so advanced today and you have a lot of options for your choice of career. But, you may get a little bewildered, because almost all the fields promise high salaries, perks, competent work environments and so on. Before choosing a career, you should have certain things in your mind. First thing is self assessment; you assess yourself and deem what skills and capabilities you have. Look for the career that has potential for growth. Then, you have to check whether it’s a high-paid career or not. lastly, match your parameters with the career you have chosen, and if you are happy and still want to pursue the career, then go ahead and do it.
Among the huge number of career choices, a few have been categorized as top hot jobs by experts based on salary, growth opportunities, job offers and developments in the future. They are as follows;
1. Personal finance: Deals with asset management and helping clients regarding tax laws, shares and finance growth.
2. Athletics: The world of athletics is high paying and there is a lot of scope for individual recognition and fame.
3. Medical Science: Deals with carrying out medical tests which help in diagnosis, prevention, and curing of diseases.
4. Computer software engineering: Deals with both software programming and is full of bright prospects.
5. Chiropractic’s: Deals with human health and diseases. It is the largest drug less profession in the world with a surge in demand.
6. Environment engineering: Deals with environmental pollution control and management. Highly prospective field as the environment is polluted heavily.
7. Biochemistry: Deals with biochemical products and processes; plenty of job opportunities in various sectors.
8. Sales management: Deals with management of sales forces; best option for rigorous people with a passion for selling.
9. Epidemiology: Deals with the study of distribution, prevention and cure of diseases in a large population.
10. Computer system and analysis: Deals with allocating projects, data and administering. This is one of the fastest growing professions.
Robert Goldsmith
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/what-are-the-top-10-hot-jobs-you-should-aim-for-54899.html
Biotechnology is defined as the manipulation of organisms to do practical things and provide useful products. A career in biotechnology is possible for those with a Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD. While most biotechnologists deal with living organisms, there are a few areas of biotechnology that do not, such as the field of studying radioactive tracers.
Earnings as a biotechnologist can run from $30,000 all the way up to 6-figures for the more prestigious positions which will likely require a Ph.D. and many years of experience. Although this is quite a range, the mid-salary is $50,000-60,000 for a corporate position. Let’s delve into the exciting rewards this career choice has to offer.
Challenging Work
Some biotechnologists study medical processes. Job functions in this area include the designing of organisms in order to result in antibiotics and the engineering of genetic cures via genomic manipulation. Other biotechnologists deal with industrial processes. Job functions in this area would cover the designing of an organism that results in useful chemicals. Still other biotechnologists deal with agricultural processes, i.e. the designing of transgenic plants, and enabling them to grow under certain environmental conditions.
Other work in biotechnology includes bioinformatics or computational biology. The focus in these fields is on solving biological problems using computational techniques. This work includes many different areas: functional and structural genomics, proteomics, and components in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector.
Career Tidbits
If you are considering biotechnology as a career, please review the following list of general career tidbits:
– Biotechnologists generally work 40 hours per week, but may be asked to work more based on the particular experiments currently running. Their daily tasks most often involve working in a laboratory.
– Biotechnology breakthroughs have occurred in new medical therapies. For example, enhanced treatment of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Diabetes, Cancers, Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis, Hemophilia, and Bone Fractures have all been made possible via biotechnology.
– Biotechnology-related products have reached sales over $500 billion per year and experienced a growth rate of 24% since the beginning of this century.
– Currently, job openings for biotechnologists are predicted to climb at a faster than average rate until 2014.
than now!
John Daye
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/profile-of-a-biotech-career-58519.html
