Dream Job

I’ve been thinking lately what I’d like to be doing for the rest of my life. I’m in the generation that has more than one employer in their lifetime and often more than one career. Not always, but usually. I’d like diversity in my job - learning and trying new things. I enjoy the interaction with clients – the discussions and work that evolves from the team. Having an altruistic goal like sustainability has been a plus. I miss teaching. Although I’m not convinced I want to become a full time teacher (perhaps middle school math). I keep coming back to the ideal job for me (through the rose tinted glasses) of being a director of sustainability at one of the many local colleges in the area.

I base this purely on my experience with my town. One of the first things I did was join the town sustainability group when I moved here about five years ago. From there I took on an appointed position on our town building committee. I’ve enjoyed the work. When I first started we worked on one building. That was it. The time requirement was not that demanding and I slowly got up to speed (still am). I didn’t have an agenda. Now we are working on 5 buildings. Many meetings. Many long meetings. I didn’t get home until 10:30 the other night. I was super hungry by then. But that’s not the point.

The point is that over the past years things have marinated and I haven’t taken the head strong approach to pushing a sustainability agenda. I’ve gotten my bearings, met the people and gotten in the middle of things. I like being in the middle. As a consultant I’m on the outside. I work with people in the middle, but it’s challenging.

This summer I was requested to join the town’s energy task force by the assistant town manager (we don’t have a mayor). It’s great working with the town to figure out what we can do. I’m fully aware, having marinated, that things will not happen overnight. But have been pushing an idea: Germination. You need to plant the seed. You need to put in the ask knowing you’ll get a “no” so the seed gets planted. And you ask again later and in a different way with a different argument. And you keep working on it. Figuring out why the “no”. Is it the wrong person? Is it money? Is it change in behavior? It’s exciting.

And today I just got asked by a group to speak with them about water and figuring out how to implement some measures. I’m seen as being on the inside. It’s great. I love being in this position. Being able to push from the inside. Well, relative inside. I’m still in an outer layer but the door is cracked open. In a way, this would be a dream job. Working as the sustainability director for my town. The problem is that I also like the idea of living in my town and the compensation doesn’t quite match for that.

So we’ll see what happens. I see the potential and see it will take time – years and baby steps. I put in the long nights on the building committee because I believe everyone should do their part, as part of their civic duty. And I love that it’s paying off in so much more than I expected.