Tag: #energyresources

Green jobs, green skills: Hiring for a renewable future

Posted on by nfuqua

The future of work is green. According to the World Economic Forum, the “green transition” will create a net gain of 9.6 million jobs globally by 2030. As industries like energy, transportation, and construction adopt more sustainable practices, workers with green skills are in growing demand. Additionally, the need for these skills continues to spill into non-traditional green industries including finance, logistics, manufacturing, and technology.

However, the supply hasn’t kept up. According to LinkedIn’s Green Skills Report 2025 (released November 2025), green hiring grew 7.7% between July 2024 and July 2025, while the share of workers holding at least one green skill grew 4.3%. Demand is expanding at almost twice the pace of the talent pool.

In this article, we’ll explore the drivers for green jobs and the need for green skills, which green skills are in the highest demand, and how employers can find and hire top green talent.

What are green jobs? 

So, what qualifies as a green job? The International Labour Organization defines green jobs as roles that help improve “energy and raw materials efficiency, limit greenhouse gas emissions, minimize waste and pollution, protect and restore ecosystems, and support adaptation to the effects of climate change.”

Those roles are growing quickly. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 places renewable energy engineers and environmental engineers among the 15 fastest-growing jobs globally through 2030, drawing on a survey of more than 1,000 employers representing 14 million workers across 22 industries.

What’s causing the shift? According to WEF, employers say climate-change mitigation is the third-most transformative trend facing their business over the next five years, and the biggest driver of their green transition. In addition, the rise of AI and the broader shift toward electrification are accelerating changes in how energy is produced and used, increasing demand for green skills across industries.

The demand shows up almost everywhere. LinkedIn found that the share of green hires increased between 2021 and 2025 in all 47 countries for which it has data. Switzerland now has a green talent concentration of 22.6%, with Germany (21.1%), Saudi Arabia (20.8%), Ghana (20.1%), and Nigeria (20.1%) also above the one-in-five mark. India sits lower at 14.4% but recorded one of the highest year-over-year growth rates at 6.2%.

But the need for green jobs goes beyond installing solar panels and building electric vehicles. According to LinkedIn, one of the most important sectors in sustainability is finance, and it is lagging. Only 10.7% of financial services workers hold at least one green skill, the second-lowest concentration of any major industry, despite the sector’s role in pricing climate risk, structuring the capital behind wind farms and charging networks, and navigating a growing body of disclosure regulation. There are signs of movement, however, with financial services recording the fastest year-over-year growth in green hiring share of any industry at 16.3%.

With increasing competition for green talent, employers need an in-depth understanding of the most in-demand green skills and how to attract, hire, and train top talent.

What are green skills?  

It is easy to mistakenly associate certain green skills with specific industries. Unlike the ability to set a broken bone, which will qualify a worker for a job in healthcare but isn’t relevant if they’re applying for a role with a law firm, green skills are more versatile. Like tech and digital skills, green skills can be applied across a wide range of industries. For example, carbon accounting—estimating the carbon footprint of different organizations—can play an important role in a variety of industries, from consulting to waste management. While there might be a concentration of workers with green skills in green industries, those skills are in demand across the global economy.

According to LinkedIn, the fastest-growing green skill category in the world is now energy management, which focuses on reducing power consumption, optimizing efficiency, and integrating low-carbon power sources. The proportion of members adding this skill grew 17.4% in 2025. It’s growing particularly quickly in the technology, information, and media sector as well as in utilities. AI has created significant new demand for energy, and renewable and nuclear energy supply continues to expand.

Energy management is another example of how portable green skills have become, with applications in roles such as plumbing engineer, utilities manager, facilities manager, or HVAC specialist, none of which would typically be classified as a green job.

That portability is now the dominant story in green hiring. For the first time, LinkedIn’s data shows that workers with green skills in non-green job titles make up 53% of all green hires. The practical implication for TA leaders is that green skills may be hiding in atypical roles. So, if you’re hiring for green skills based only on job titles, you may be missing out on a huge portion of the talent pool. And competition for those workers is real. Green talent is hired at a rate 46.6% above the workforce average.

How to hire for green skills  

To meet their own hiring and sustainability goals, employers need to understand where to find candidates with in-demand green skills, how to attract them, and how to train green-adjacent workers to help fill skills gaps. Here, we cover three options for talent leaders struggling to fill green roles.

1. Hire for skills, not job titles

The case for skills-based hiring for green jobs is strong. When more than half of green hires are landing in roles that aren’t labeled as such, screening on job title history and formal credentials alone filters out a large share of the people who could do the work. Candidates who built green capability on the job rather than in a classroom are the ones most likely to be missed.

One solution is to update the screening or assessment process. Rather than eliminating candidates who lack certain degrees or years of experience, develop criteria and assessments that objectively measure the skills necessary for the job. An RPO provider with talent advisory capabilities can help organizations move to a skills-based screening and assessment strategy.

2. Build pathways from adjacent work

Additionally, employers can build gateway roles—positions that let workers develop green capability while doing useful work—and look for candidates with green-adjacent skills.

Supply chain management is a good example of a gateway job. As organizations work to cut emissions across their supply base, people in those roles acquire green skills they didn’t arrive with.

An effective strategy for hiring candidates for these roles is looking for green-adjacent skills. These are skills that don’t necessarily fall under the green umbrella but would give the candidate the ability to do many functions related to the role. For example, STEM and digital skills would be applicable in helping an organization reach its sustainability goals. Experience in industries currently undergoing a green transformation, like utilities, energy, mining, transportation, and agriculture, can also be applied to green jobs.

To find these candidates, employers need a robust sourcing strategy to identify those with adjacent skills. The right technology solution, with AI sourcing, can identify both active and passive candidates with specific skills, expanding the talent pipeline. For employers who want to test a specific capability before committing to a full program, PeopleScout Amplifiers™ includes talent mapping and talent sourcing modules that can be pointed at a single hard-to-fill role family.

3. Focus on reskilling and upskilling

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 found that employers expect 39% of existing skill sets to be transformed or become outdated between 2025 and 2030. In response, 85% say they plan to prioritize upskilling their workforce.

Green skills training specifically is becoming more available, but employers aren’t always getting credit for it. According to LinkedIn, while 49% of workers in green jobs said they had access to formal green skills training, most did not attribute that training to their employer. This points to a disconnect between what leadership is investing in and what workers experience.

Reskilling and upskilling can happen at different levels, from government programs to higher education and private employers. However, organizations shouldn’t rely solely on external programs. By building effective reskilling programs, businesses invest in services tailored to developing their own workforce while also assisting the global need for more sustainable work.

A renewable future 

As the demand for green skills increases, so does the need for effective solutions for finding, hiring, and training top green talent. RPO providers, especially those with talent advisory services, can be a valuable resource for talent leaders looking to revamp their recruiting programs for a renewable future.

The Gender Gap in Energy and Utilities: 3 Strategies for Powering Change

Posted on by nfuqua

The energy and utilities sector has a gender problem. The field is overwhelmingly male-dominated, and if providers are going to be able to meet the global demand in the future, talent leaders in the industry must bring in more women to tackle the gender gap in energy and utilities. 

Women make up 39% of the global workforce, but only 16% of the traditional energy sector. This varies by location and job type. In the U.S., natural gas and nuclear energy have the highest percentage of female workers, at 35% and 34%, respectively. But in some countries, like Japan, women make up only 3% of the energy workforce.  

According to Deloitte, over two-thirds of executives rate DE&I as an important issue. And for good reason. Diversity is strongly tied to innovation. Diverse teams—including women, neurodivergent individuals and professionals from underrepresented backgrounds—are more creative, make better decisions and solve problems more efficiently. 

Additionally, the energy and utilities industry is facing a massive talent shortage. According to McKinsey, the global renewables industry will need 1.1 million blue-collar workers to develop and construct wind and solar projects and another 1.7 million workers to operate them, including laborers, electricians and operating engineers. On top of that, an additional 1.3 million white-collar workers will be needed to install, operate and maintain these facilities, including wind and solar project developers, project managers, finance experts, legal staff and many other roles. 

If talent leaders in the sector stick to the same recruiting strategies aimed at the same talent pools, providers will be understaffed, customers could see more energy service disruptions and workers could experience more incidents and accidents. 

In this article, we provide three strategies for increasing the number of female workers in energy and utilities to close the gender gap. 

1. Address Barriers for Women  

In order to effectively recruit women into the industry, talent leaders need to understand what is keeping them away and work to remove those barriers to entry.  

One important issue is pay. Globally, women in the sector face a wage gap that is more than twice as large as it is in non-energy jobs. According to the World Economic Forum, women in energy make about 20% less than their male coworkers. Their research shows that the wage gap stays the same when accounting for ability, education and potential experience, indicating that the gap is not because of differences in skill levels. 

This leads to women in the industry being more likely to leave their positions than men, creating a challenge for employers looking to retain their female workforce.  

One step employers can take is to complete a pay equity audit. According to the Harvard Business Review, a pay equity audit involves comparing the pay of employees doing “like for like” work in an organization. To complete this effectively, you will need each employee’s length of service, job classification and demographic information. From there, auditors can perform a regression analysis to account for pay differences based on factors like experience, education and training to identify differences based on gender, race or age.  

With that data, experts recommend a two-pronged response. One is remediation, or adjusting the pay of any employees that may qualify. The next step is to identify what led to salary discrepancies in the first place. Were there incorrect job classifications? Or does the hiring process allow for wide differences in starting salaries? This will help create a fair and equitable process going forward.  

Additionally, companies shouldn’t be shy or secretive about the work they are doing to build a better workplace environment for women. Workers value that transparency. In fact, several large organizations have made headlines for announcing when they’ve reached gender pay equity, like Adobe and Intel.  

2. Invest in Diverse Sourcing Strategies 

Once talent leaders confirm that their organization provides a fair and equitable environment for female workers, the next step is finding them. The energy and utilities industry is not alone in this need. Across all science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs, women only account for 28% of the workforce. 

Energy employers should invest in sourcing strategies aimed at underrepresented workers. Consider adding an AI sourcing tool that can identify passive candidates with the skills needed to succeed at your organization.  

Some recruitment CRMs have automated talent matching capabilities that search candidate databases to find qualified candidates for any role. Candidates are then ranked by how closely they fit the role requirements, how likely they are to leave their current position, and their average tenure. Unlike a manual sourcing process, automated talent matching can help fill the top of your funnel in seconds.   

Notably, in PeopleScout’s Affinix® CRM, Talent Finder can find and filter qualified candidates. The Diversity Boost feature also amplifies diverse candidates to help you reach your DE&I goals. It even allows talent leaders to identify what diversity means at their organization, including the goal of identifying qualified female candidates.  

Also consider low-tech approaches to sourcing more female candidates. Attend “Women in STEM” hiring events, and partner with colleges and universities. The energy sector has become a hard sell for young workers, especially in fossil fuels. One study found that only 44% of millennials and Gen Z in STEM programs would be interested in working in the sector, but 77% were interested in tech. Identifying potential candidates and intervening early can help change minds and bring in more candidates.  

3. Update your Employer Brand 

Finally, talent leaders in the energy and utilities sector need to make sure that their employer brands appeal to female workers. Are DE&I efforts advertised? Do women appear in careers site imagery? What about company leadership?  Are women represented? 

Your employer brand is your most powerful tool in attracting top talent. The energy industry lags behind in employer branding and digital recruitment marketing, two factors that appeal to millennial and Gen Z workers and can attract more women. Showcase and celebrate female workers and leaders in places like your careers site and social media. Share the progress you’re making toward diversity and inclusion goals. Advertise benefits like mentorship programs and leadership training.  

Also consider your job postings. Do they include gendered language? Words like “competitive, dominant or leader” may discourage women from applying. One survey found that male-dominated fields tend to use more masculine words in job descriptions, at 97%. 

These changes can make a real impact. For example, a manufacturing client that operates in an industry that has historically been male-dominated partnered with PeopleScout with the goal of increasing the number of female applicants and hires. PeopleScout worked with the client to develop the Women in Manufacturing campaign. PeopleScout interviewed nearly 20 women who work in roles across the company and who love their jobs. Using this information, PeopleScout built candidate personas to target women interested in the industry, and created a campaign featuring real women who work for the client. 

Using our proprietary total talent suite Affinix, we built a dedicated landing page and talent community for female candidates. The four-week Women in Manufacturing campaign launched on International Women’s Day and showcased the company’s woman-friendly, inclusive culture. The campaign featured employee spotlights, videos and stories to showcase how women are integrated into the corporate culture and are integral to the company’s success. This increased the number of women who visited to the employer’s careers site and is moving the needle on the company’s DE&I goals.  

Think Long Term to Close the Gender Gap in Energy and Utilities 

As with many male-dominated industries, progress won’t happen overnight, but employers should set reasonable and achievable goals to close the gender gap in energy and utilities. With the staffing challenges facing the industry, building a more diverse workforce for the future isn’t an option—it’s a necessity.  An RPO partner brings industry expertise, recruitment technology and talent advisory solutions to the table, providing employers the tools they need to find and hire more diverse talent.  

For more insights on recruiting in the energy and utilities sector, download our ebook, The Recruitment Handbook for Energy and Utilities.

Navigating the Transition to Green Energy: Recruitment Trends for Energy and Utility Employers [Infographic]

Posted on by nfuqua

The energy and utilities industry is in the process of a massive transition as providers move to green and renewable energy sources and adjust to changing energy use patterns across the globe. In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, which increased the incentives for energy-transition-related investments and core renewables. In EMEA, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has spurred a faster transition to renewables, according to the UK Climate Envoy.

This growth has left a massive talent gap, especially in an industry with an aging workforce. Talent acquisition leaders in the energy and utilities sector need to understand the forces shaping the recruitment landscape to remain competitive.

CHECK OUT THIS INFOGRAPHIC FOR INSIGHTS TO HELP YOU NAVIGATE THIS GREENING INDUSTRY.

The Recruitment Handbook for Energy & Utilities

Posted on by akessler

The Recruitment Handbook for Energy & Utilities

The energy and utilities industry is undergoing a massive transition as providers move to green and renewable energy sources and adjust to changing energy use patterns across the globe.

This means the sector is facing a unique set of talent challenges. In many areas of the globe, energy job growth is outpacing the rest of the economy. At the same time, the workforce is aging, creating a massive talent gap. In fact, according to McKinsey, the massive growth in solar and wind projects expected by 2030 will make it almost impossible to staff these projects with qualified development and construction employees as well as operations and maintenance workers.

Now, talent leaders need to think big—not just to attract more and younger workers, but to reskill workers in the shrinking fossil fuels industry and plan for the future.

In this handbook, you’ll learn:

  • Global trends driving the need for energy and utilities talent
  • Strategies for overcoming challenges in your energy and utilities hiring programs
  • How partnering with an RPO provider can help