I need help finding a job

Hey everybody, I need help finding a full-time job. It’s hard for me to come out and say it quite so publicly and plainly, but here we are.?

How did we get here? Well, I’ve been trying to help save the world, and it turns out it’s much harder than I expected.?

I don’t mean saving the world is hard; I always expected that to be difficult and that’s one reason I want to be involved. It’s the helping part that’s proven much trickier than I originally anticipated.

For about nine months now, I’ve been searching for jobs at climate tech or sustainability-focused companies, trying to catch on and do my part fighting our climate crisis through the magic of marketing and communications. I believe I can help in a meaningful way here: We need more narratives about the abundance and prosperity the upcoming changes to our economy and day-to-day lives will bring, not messaging about scarcity and austerity. Creating brand/product/mission narratives and using them to drive customer/user/donor action is what I do!?

I’ve been so close to securing a role several times. I’ve been a finalist for positions half a dozen times, where I went through four or five rounds of interviews, did take-home exams, met the teams and gave PowerPoint presentations. In each case I was confident and excited to get started, but thus far it's been always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Another half dozen times I made it through two rounds of interviews and had an amicable parting of ways. They felt I was “overqualified” (always tough to hear), or our salary ranges were just too far apart, or while I had all the skills and experience required, the company really also needed five years of experience working with energy storage or industrial building retrofits, etc., and I just don’t have that. (Are there people with 10 years marketing/communications experience, five years leadership experience, and five years spent working with energy storage? There must be! I’d love to meet you, whoever you are, and pick your brain.)

I’ve joined a few wonderful communities, like MCJ or Terra.do , and they’ve really helped keep the wind in my sails. I completed the Terra.do Learning for Action class a few weeks ago and can’t say enough about that experience.

I’ve met several wonderful people doing amazing things in this space, and I’ve worked with a handful of climate-tech companies as a content strategy consultant and freelance writer. It’s great to do the work, but when you’re a contractor you’re always an Other, never Part of The Team, and being part of something really matters to me.?I'm a team guy.

One of the things Terra.do taught me is there are several ways to help with the climate problem, and working at a climate-tech or sustainability policy company is just one. Most companies either have climate committees or employee resource groups now (or will soon); there are opportunities in local government or even community and volunteer organizations to do good work on climate change. I don’t need to work at a climate-tech startup to help save the world.?

So after much personal reflection, I think it’s time to open the aperture and look for more and different opportunities. I really want to be Part of The Team, and now it seems silly to limit myself to the climate sector when there are so many ways to do good work and work to do good.?

In that spirit, if you know of a mid-senior marketing and/or communications role that’s open at an interesting company whose culture includes caring about saving the world, please reach out and let me know. I bring a lot to the table. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. ?