7 Resume-Boosting Skills Climate Volunteers Learn

7 Resume-Boosting Skills Climate Volunteers Learn

Resume feeling a little sparse? This isn’t uncommon for young people in the workforce. Without the impressive-looking managerial numbers (Raised sales 760% in just one month!) how can you gain relevant skills and experience to separate yourself from the entry-level crowd?

Climate advocacy is an excellent way to build and perfect the kind of skills that translate directly to the workplace. By volunteering with a local group, you can make bigger and bigger waves in support of climate action - and build a strong resume along the way.?

Here are some of the most important skills you can build as a climate champion.?

1.Teamwork

Making change means getting everyone on board - even if they have their reservations. Climate advocacy means working with everyone, regardless of race, gender, age or political affiliation.

A lot of people think only the left cares about the planet, but this is totally a misconception. Many right-leaning folks care deeply about the environment and support climate solutions that align with their values.

Climate advocates learn to listen to and work with different points of view. In both the workplace and climate advocacy, we can accomplish so much more working together as a team than we can individually.

2. Respect

People approach the climate conversation in many different ways. The best way to manage everyone’s point of view? Three words: Lead with respect.?

The moment you enter a conversation with biases and clouded judgment is the moment you’ve already soured the relationship. Everyone deserves to be heard and treated with respect.

The old saying “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar” rings as true in discussions with elected representatives and people with differing political opinions as it does with colleagues in the workplace.?

3. Creative problem solving

Working as a volunteer means constantly trying to do more with less. Sometimes this means we need to think of creative, low-cost solutions to get our message across.?

One of our favorite examples: The CCL XXX chapter got the attention of shoppers at their local farmers’ market by setting up a “Climate Counseling Booth” similar to the one Lucy sets up for Charlie Brown in the Peanuts comic strip. With some cardboard, hot glue and markers, they were able to increase the number of community members who stopped to talk with them about climate anxiety at their tabling events.

Many climate volunteers have stories similar to this. They do a good job showcasing the ability to think creatively and do a lot with a little.?

4. Communicating value?

A big part of climate advocacy is education. At tabling events and in letters to the editor, climate volunteers educate their communities about the climate and solutions for a warming planet. But the key is to do it as quickly as possible.

People have short attention spans, so it’s important to get your point across in as few words as possible. Sometimes explaining a solution means taking? a ton of information on a bill in Congress and distilling it down into a few talking points (or just one impactful stat) tailored to the person you’re talking to.?

In the workplace, leadership needs quick reports, fast touch-bases and digestible bits of information. Climate advocates know how to separate out and showcase what’s most important based on what they know their audience (AKA their boss) is looking for.?

5. Presentations

Sometimes local organizations or businesses will ask climate advocates they know to give a presentation on actionable climate solutions. This is great because it allows for more time to expand on talking points with the help of a visual aid that enhances these talking points.?

A good presentation is engaging, visually appealing and to-the-point. Climate advocates have long since learned what keeps people interested (pro-tip: Don’t read every single word from the slide) and what causes their eyes to glaze over. These presentations are a great way to polish your Google Slides skills for an instant resume boost.?

6. Sustainability

Individual solutions like recycling plastic bottles and refusing straws are important, but climate advocates know lobbying is more important. Getting enough people to contact their Senators about a bill can make systemic change that affects the whole country - and sometimes the world.?

More and more often, businesses are creating sustainability plans at the behest of stakeholders. Sustainability is no longer a trendy nice-to-have. It’s become an essential part of any business operation.??

Stakeholders (and even shareholders) care about efficiency, ethical sourcing and operating with the environment in mind. Volunteering with the climate gives you a leg up on what will be most impactful.?

7. Networking

For most people, an ideal networking situation has never involved sipping overpriced cocktails in a neutral-colored pantsuit and making small talk with strangers. It’s so much easier to meet people when you’re working on the same project with the same end goal in mind.?

Local Citizens’ Climate Lobby chapters often host tree plantings, tabling events and virtual letter-to-the-editor writing parties. It’s so much easier to get to know someone when you’re both elbow deep in the ground burying the roots of a white oak sapling.?

You can’t solve climate change alone, but joining a group of people with the same goal helps grow your advocacy efforts and provides instant common ground to form a relationship.?

If you’re in the 2/3rds of Americans who think the government should do more to address climate change, join us in building the political will for a livable world at Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Click here to learn more.