SUCCEED blog: Charting a career in sustainability

Lily Hanig

Jun 30, 2021

In High School and even throughout college, I knew I wanted to dedicate my life and career to sustainability. However, I didn’t know what a career in sustainability looked like or what to major in to get my dream job! Many jobs within sustainability didn’t even exist 5-10 years ago so it can be hard for counselors and career centers to keep pace with emerging jobs in sustainability. I focused on STEM majors for this flow-chart, but there are jobs in sustainability for all sorts of majors.

chart

This is definitely not comprehensive, but it’s a start! I made this from my own experience and from watching my friends’ career paths. I consulted friends across most of these majors/fields to better understand a typical career trajectory for their area of specialization within sustainability.

For more resources, the Department of Energy has a careers page that is organized by energy source.

 

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