Got a 'Green collar'? You're in demand

A friend of mine works for Coyles Personnel, which has a substantial construction and property recruitment operation, and we were recently discussing whether the growing awareness of sustainability issues is being translated into growing demand for environmentally-aware professionals. It seems it is.

According to an article by New Civil Engineer's Alexandra Wynne, research by engineering and environmental consultant Royal Haskoning suggests that Government pressure to be green has led to huge increases in demand for 'green collar' workers - a term used to describe environmental-related roles.

"Over one third of businesses said their green workforce would need to increase by up to 10% and almost the same proportion said they were concerned about their firms' ability to fill these roles."

According to Royal Haskoning's research, conducted by ICM last month (see news release), one in five (19%) of the 575 business leaders surveyed already employ someone with ‘green collar’ responsibilities. Of those not currently employing ‘green collar’ workers, 24% believed their company would soon make use of ‘green collar’ skills, services and products, with nearly a third (28%) hoping to do so in the next six to 12 months.

A growing eco consciousness and increased regulatory scrutiny means British businesses are feeling pressure from all directions to be ‘green’. According to respondents, the top reason for an increased need in ‘green collar’ skills and services was the need to meet Government and legislative sustainability targets and criteria (30%), followed by internal environment policy targets (27%), and customer pressure to be ‘green’ (21%).

Out of interest, I had a quick look at the Coyles website to see just how many environmental jobs it currently had on offer. Looking just at the public sector, there were 18 vacancies (more than IT's 14, but less than several other disciplines). Will this grow by a third over the next six to 12 months? We'll have to wait and see.