The rising importance of green skills in recruitment

It was great to connect with hundreds of recruitment leaders from across the world at #TalentConnect in New York. A key topic in many of the sessions was the existential threat of climate change and the compelling issue of #GreenSkills as they become an indispensable asset in today’s job market. Our Green Skills Report highlighted that just 1 in 8 workers currently has one or more green skills, so we are far from the skills penetration we need given that nearly a quarter of job postings now require at least one green skill.?

Given this, I was delighted to sit down in New York with Joanna Bonnett, Head of Sustainability and Group Treasury at PageGroup and Founder of the Green Jobs Foundation. Between 2022 and 2023, the share of green talent in the workforce increased by 12.3% while the share of job postings requiring at least one green skill rose by 22.4%, suggesting that by 2026 demand will outweigh supply. It was great to have the opportunity to talk to Joanna about how the need for green skills is outpacing the current talent pool and what can be done to fill the gap.??

We began by discussing the difference between green jobs and green skills, and the important distinction between the new jobs being created – which seem to dominate the narrative – and the broader need for so many workers to develop green skills. “There is a lot of confusion,” says Joanna. “Accountants used to account for pounds, dollars and yen and now they are being asked to account for carbon emissions. So there is a shift in skills within different professions and equally there are new jobs being created.”?

It is unclear whether we will see new job titles or a greening of the jobs that already exist. “In the short term, we are seeing a big shift in job titles, as procurement officers become sustainable procurement officers, for example,” Joanna says. “But in the longer term, we will all need green skills. It is like computing 20 years ago – when I started my first job, you needed IT skills and touch typing, but things evolve with changing market expectations.”?

LinkedIn’s report also highlighted that green jobs now make up a third of all job postings in the UK, while 81% of workers who transition into green jobs have prior green experience or some green skill, which could include climate action planning, corporate sustainability or sustainable procurement.??

The growing number of sustainability leadership roles at board level, like Joanna’s, is another sign of the escalating importance of the sustainability agenda for businesses. “Gone are the days when you can say this isn’t my role. If you are head of technology, head of HR, head of marketing – you need green skills because this is part of the business strategy at board level,” she says.?

Drivers of change?

Two themes that are pushing businesses to act on green skills: the immense amount of regulation putting this on the agenda in many boardrooms, plus the bottom-up expectation from people entering the workforce.?

We see that shift in engagement with candidates. Gen Z does not need a company to give them purpose, but they want to align their purpose with their employer and they are checking companies out. Our Future of Recruiting Report shows Gen Z are 17% more likely than Gen X to prioritise an inclusive workplace for diverse backgrounds when looking for jobs, for example.?

She adds: “Sustainability is as broad or as narrow as a company would like it to be, but employees want to understand and be a part of that.”?

Almost 90% of people in the US say working for a company committed to the values they believe in is important, and 71% say that is true even in an uncertain economy.?

To help companies match with job seekers based on shared values, LinkedIn recently rolled out new updates to our commitments feature that allows companies to showcase their culture and values. A company’s commitments – such as work-life balance, DEI, career growth and learning or social impact – now automatically show up in the Job Details section when jobs are posted, for example, and we’ve introduced a new job search filter so job seekers can easily discover open roles based on these commitments.?

Not surprisingly, we find organisations that emphasise their values are better suited to attract interested candidates and also motivate their employees, especially when it comes to younger generations inspired by purpose-driven work: 85% of Gen Z professionals in the US who work for a company with shared values say they frequently go above and beyond in their job. And on LinkedIn, we’ve seen a more than 154% increase in entry-level jobs globally including values-related terms from 2020 to 2022.???

Define your superpower?

Given it is such a huge area, many employers that I speak to are struggling to know where to start.??

“My advice for any company, at main board level, is to work out what your superpower is in relation to ESG and impact, and where you as a business can move the needle,” says Joanna. “Are you a tech company then it is about ethics in AI, or a manufacturer that can make changes in your sourcing of raw materials? At PageGroup, our superpower is understanding employment, our social impact initiatives are centred around? our ‘Changing One Million Lives’ programme. We are going to change a million lives by breaking down barriers to employment experienced by people in underrepresented communities. For example, providing employment ready courses for people who may have struggled with chronic unemployment career coaching and mentoring for refugees and CV writing workshops with charities.? Our programmes are focused on creating better employment outcomes.??

She adds: “That initiative speaks to the DNA of what we do and allows all our people to get involved and feel motivated about our central purpose.”?

In listed companies, the burden of meeting investor demands for detailed reporting on these issues can be overwhelming. The challenge for companies is to bring initiatives to life in the business.?

“It’s about making sure that we articulate and demonstrate how we have actually changed lives,” says Joanna. “We have to show how this lives in the business and the stories, so people can see others like themselves making an impact.”?

The skills-first agenda?

Joanna says one of her key takeaways from Talent Connect was the importance of the skills-first agenda for the green economy, as we look to the current and adjacent skills people have and how those can be captured and leveraged to meet emerging needs.?

LinkedIn’s Skills First Report shows that a skills-first approach to hiring can add up to 20 times more eligible workers to talent pools, but there is a big transformation gap to overcome.?

“To embrace the skills-first agenda, employers need to think holistically about their current needs versus their future needs. A skills-first approach requires employers to take stock of their existing employee base, what skills they already have and whether they can source talent internally,” says Joanna.?

I’m already seeing a lot more willingness among both employers and candidates to explore and mobilise careers across industries, and my feeling is we will quickly see experimentations gather pace.?

Joanna says: “I’m an optimist too and when I look at the green workforce of the future, the skills-first approach is going to have to be the answer. To meet current 2030 net-zero targets and resolve the shortage, hiring managers are thinking skills-first. For example, offshore engineers are specialised in using deep-sea rigs to extract gas and oil and time has shown us that those skills are transferable to the offshore wind industry.”?

She has established the Green Jobs Foundation to increase access to and awareness of green jobs and sees a big opportunity to help people mid-career transition into green roles. To aid that transition from job A to job B, she says industry is already stepping forward to collaborate with government and professional associations to agree qualification passporting. A good first step, but more is needed, with educators also having a big role to play.?

The role of the recruiter?

I sit on an innovation board of global CHROs who are saying the talent industry also needs to take a lead on this and drive the conversation.?

Joanna and I spoke with many recruiters at Talent Connect and were struck by their ability to drive change. “Recruiters have access to the data, to the employers and to the candidates, so there is a real need for us to work together on this,” says Joanna. “Let’s remove the noise and help businesses get to the place they need to be. If we are going to have a talent pipeline shortage, we will have to be able to move people from adjacent roles to greener roles. We need to make sure our own consultants are ready to help with the transition.”?

Today, even as overall hiring slowed in the past year, green hiring is bucking the trend. Since 2020, our data shows, workers with green skills have been hired for new jobs at a higher rate than those without green skills in every single country we studied. In this next revolution, it is incumbent on our industry to play our part in that transition, reskilling, upskilling and skills transfer.??

Shaping the future?

It was great to spend time with Joanna discussing green skills, the drivers of change, defining our superpowers and building a skills-first approach.??

With seven in eight workers lacking a green skill at a time when the future of our planet depends on them, it is not enough for organisations to create more green roles. Instead, the magnitude and urgency of the climate change problem requires that today’s workers learn green skills on the job.?

By identifying the most relevant green skills for each role and industry, we can develop targeted, tailored reskilling programmes. And by extending reskilling opportunities to workers in countries that have been left behind during previous periods of economic growth, we can expand access to the economic opportunities that the green transformation will unlock.??

The whole-economy green transformation that this moment demands can only happen if green skills proliferate throughout the global workforce. Workers in every sector and at every level of their organisations need and deserve to be part of the solution, and the recruitment industry is uniquely positioned to help make that a reality.?

What’s next?

My next ‘In Conversation’ piece will be with Ga?lle de la Fosse, president of LHH, who I met in New York to talk about modern work, skills-first hiring, uniting generations and more.?

Do look out for that piece, and please share your thoughts on the great range of topics that Joanna and I were able to explore.?