Working with Employers

What do employers want?

Describes what different employers want from employees in terms of environmental protection and resource efficiency.

Describes, with examples and quotes, why they want to improve or promote their environmental management.

Describes, with examples, the type of new employees they want – their experience, skills, values, competencies.

Why do employers want to be environment-friendly?

• Changing values that support care for the local community, economy and environment, affecting consumer demand, shareholder investment
• More regulations and laws that protect the local community, economy and environment
• More demanding purchasers who want goods and services that do not harm the local community, economy or environment
• More technological developments that help manage the environment

All employers want to:

• Work more efficiently
• Save and make more money
• Reduce more risks
• Please more shareholders, customers and staff
• Improve image with neighbours and others
• Improve the working environment

All employers need staff who can understand, value, practice and promote better environmental management and resource efficiency.

Preferred qualities of environmental professionals

Employers recruit environmental professionals not universities where they study. So it is vital to know what employers see as the key qualities of their new environmental professionals. It is best to find out by looking at the selection criteria sent out with the recruitment pack for environmental jobs. University career services can help by identifying the key understanding, skills and behaviours that most employers are looking for in a graduates recruit.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a Workforce Assessment Project in 1999. This showed it was well stocked with good engineers and scientists, but that there was a real need for people who could bring people together, communicate well with the public, navigate bureaucracy, and generally do things a little differently. Many UK environmental agencies and employers would agree with the EPA’s list of ten essential skills for environmental professionals.

Test your own qualities against this list.

• Communication skills (oral and written)
• Collaboration abilities and team orientation
• Customer orientation, focus on serving your audience's needs
• Creativity, innovative thinking
• Broad environmental sciences understanding
• Analytical ability, critical thinking, problem-solving
• Work orientation, professionalism, positive attitude
• Occupation-specific skills and knowledge
• Mastery of information technology, including GIS
• Leadership ability

Future Skills Wales contains statistics on skills that employers want, jobs, pay and future and current trends in Wales.

Working with Employers

What are employers like?
What do employers want?
What do employers offer?