During your quest for your green career you'll be collecting a variety of leads:

• Resources relevant to your industry or topic

• Targeted green networking opportunities

• Training venues

• Contacts

• Green companies who hire people in your line of work

• Job leads

At first, the leads will be few and far between. You may go a few days before you get your next lead. Then as you pick up steam, you'll find you receive several leads a day.

Early Phase of Your Green Career Search

At the beginning you'll spend some of your time figuring out where to find the right people to talk with. Before you plug into the flow, you may wonder why it is taking you so long to make progress.

Ever grown vegetables from seed? In the first few weeks of that process you have to water the dirt. There's no immediate feedback, no sign you are doing it right, no visual sign of progress. The only way forward is to take the steps you know will produce the results you desire.

When growing a vegetable or other plant, you need water, light, good soil, the absence of pests, and your own patience and discipline.

When embarking on a green career search, you need clarity, opportunities to engage with others, the ability to make specific requests, the willingness to take some risks, finding the right places to network, doing your own research, and taking action on the leads you receive. As you being your journey you may have only one or two of these pieces in place. Your goal is to continue to add these components to get the results you want.

Later Phase of Your Green Career Search

If you've been at your green career search for a while, and you aren't getting the results you want, it's possible you aren't networking as effectively as you could, or you aren't leveraging the leads you are receiving.

Take a look at this checklist to see where you may be missing a component of your career search.

• Clarity – Are you clear about what you want to do? Are you able to communicate your goal clearly?

• Engaging – Are you interacting with people in person? Sitting at your computer isn't enough. You must find ways to interact with people in your field and in your local area.

• Specific requests – Are you making specific requests when you talk with people? Or are you asking a broad question that's difficult to respond to?

• Taking risks – Are you networking in a way that you are always comfortable? If so, it's time to stretch your horizons so that you are meeting new people.

• Finding the right places to network – If you aren't meeting the kinds or variety of people you want to connect with, it's time to look for new opportunities.

• Research – Are you relying on your contacts for all of your information about your industry or topic? Or are you doing your own research to clarify your direction? Your personal research is going to allow you to ask far more valuable questions than if you turn over control of the interview to your contact.

• Acting on leads – Think back to conversations you've already had. Have you acted on every lead you received? Or are leads dropping by the wayside? It's important to remember that you can't predict which lead is going to open up to new opportunities. Act on each lead you receive and you'll benefit!

If you aren't getting the traction you want in your green career search, begin implementing these elements one by one. As all the pieces come into form, you'll begin to experience the momentum you are looking for.

Copyright © 2010 Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc.