Last week, there was a tremendous response to a Fast Company article listing the top green careers for the next decade.  With an economic down-turn that appears to have no end in sight, everyone is trying to identify the career path that will unsure some measure of job security and be lucrative.  Many pursuing green careers are also hoping to find work that is rewarding.

With so much focus on green jobs, I knew there were more growing opportunities then the 10 listed in the Fast Company article.  So I decide to compile a more comprehensive list of all the lists of green jobs that I could find.   I found 12 such lists.   In addition to Fast Company, Fortune, Hotjobs, CareerBuilder, Greentech Media, Forbes,  E Magazine, Super Eco, Inventor’s  Spot, US News and World Report,  Eco Salon and Boston.com all had green jobs  lists.    There was some overlap of occupations considered to be fast growers, but not as much as you would think.

The standouts (the occupations most frequently mentioned) include:  urban and regional planning, environmental attorneys, conservation biologists,  energy and environmental engineers, hydrologists, environmental educators, organic food production, sustainability specialists, green software and hardware specialists, wind energy developers,  and waste disposal specialists.   Combined, these lists provided insight into 56 occupations.

Over the next few months, we will take an in-depth look at many of these career specialties- delving into what is required, some success stories and why these authoritative sources have determined that the green career specialties cited are the best ones to pursue.   We will take a look at what people in these occupations do, which companies are  hiring them,  pay scale, what education is required,  anticipated growth, education and training resources, networking resources and the experience required.  We will also look into short and long term strategies for getting started, making a change or growing in these career specialties.

On the next few pages are summaries of each list.  Each list links to the actual article with detailed assessments. On the last page (page 5) of this post is my compiled list of all 56 of  the green jobs that appeared on the top green jobs lists we reviewed.  If there is a list that I missed, or a career specialty not mentioned,  drop us a line.

On the next page (page 2) we have the summaries of the Forbes List of Six-Figure Green Jobs, the GreenTech Media Top 10 Green Jobs for The Future, and the Career Builder List of The 25 Green Careers with Promise

Recommended Green Career Resources:

SIX STRATEGIES TO FIND YOUR GREEN CAREER – This free ebook by Carol McClelland PhD is a step-by-step process helping green career seekers use their passions, interests, experience, and training to plug into the green economy.

THE COMPLETE GREEN JOB GUIDE 2009: SECRETS FOR GETTING THE JOB YOUR WANT – Discover How To Unlock The Booming Green Economy For Your Job Search And Future Financial Security with the 10 Breakthrough Steps You Need To Know To Find And Land A Green Job Quickly.

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Author: Tracey de Morsella (323 Articles)

Tracey de Morsella started her career working as an editor for US Technology Magazine. She used that experience to launch Delaware Valley Network, a publication for professionals in the Greater Philadelphia area. Years later, she used the contacts and resources she acquired to work in executive search specializing in technical and diversity recruitment. She has conducted recruitment training seminars for Wachovia Bank, the Department of Interior and the US Postal Service. During this time, she also created a diversity portal called The Multicultural Advantage and published the Diversity Recruitment Advertising Toolkit, a directory of recruiting resources for human resources professionals. Her career and recruitment articles have appeared in numerous publications and web portals including Woman Engineer Magazine, Monster.com, About.com Job Search Channel, Workplace Diversity Magazine, Society for Human Resource Management web site, NSBE Engineering Magazine, HR.com, and Human Resource Consultants Association Newsletter. Her work with technology professionals drew her to pursuing training and work in web development, which led to a stint at Merrill Lynch as an Intranet Manager. In March, she decided to combine her technical and career management expertise with her passion for the environment, and with her husband, launched The Green Economy Post, a blog providing green career information and covering the impact of the environment, sustainable building, cleantech and renewable energy on the US economy. Her sustainability articles have appeared on Industrial Maintenance & Plant Operation, Chem.Info,FastCompany and CleanTechies.