Lingering financial uncertainty mixed with company backpedaling on ESG priorities have many sustainability professionals frightened about job safety, particularly as firms of each dimension brace for a possible recession within the second half of 2025.
“I’m undoubtedly getting extra resumes and extra calls than regular,” mentioned Ellen Weinreb, CEO of Weinreb Group Sustainability Recruiting, “and we’re undoubtedly in an attention-grabbing time of uncertainty. I’d say the largest stressor is that we simply don’t understand how lengthy that is going to final.”
The web outcome: Firms are extra cautious about filling open positions — and extra totally screening candidates earlier than making gives.
“Sustainability practitioners have usually been reaching out to me with information that they’ve misplaced their jobs and asking for my assist and assist,” mentioned Sephora Director of Sustainability Desta Raines in a late Might put up on LinkedIn. “At first it was just some, then because the months have passed by I’ve heard of an increasing number of job losses. Immediately final month it was me. My position at Sephora was eradicated, too.”
Be selective about your employer
Firms are attempting to fill extra sustainability associated positions than you may anticipate — albeit fewer CSO-level roles — however Raines is focusing her search on corporations that maintain senior leaders accountable for his or her ESG agenda by means of key efficiency indicators and metrics that cascade all through the workforce. “So many individuals discover themselves in positions the place that’s not essentially the case,” Raines mentioned.
Sustainability profession consultants and job seekers say touchdown a brand new job within the present financial system — or making your self extra helpful to your present employer — comes down to 1 massive factor. It’s the identical high quality that sustainability professionals have been speaking up for years: The flexibility to hyperlink emissions reductions and different environmental initiatives to enterprise worth creation.
“Now greater than ever, chief sustainability officers and sustainability professionals have to hyperlink their work to the strategic targets of the group,” mentioned Nicole Darnall, the Arlene R. and Robert P. Kogod Eminent Scholar Chair in Sustainability at American College, for each the Kogod Faculty of Enterprise and the Faculty of Public Affairs. “The flexibility to exhibit enterprise worth is way more crucial,”
Taking the time to grasp how a given firm’s management views sustainability inside its decision-making hierarchy is very essential for locating and protecting a job on this financial system, mentioned Trish Kenlon, founding father of Sustainable Profession Pathways, who’s additionally a Trellis columnist. She pointed to analysis on the six archetypes that usually form how firms govern ESG and sustainability.
“You should be sure that the enterprise worth you’re creating is in alignment with what your stakeholders are in search of,” Kenlon mentioned. “You possibly can be following the right playbook however you should be attuned to what the group is absolutely in search of. Be sure you perceive the task.”
Deal with what’s financially and strategically materials
For each anecdote or instance about corporations dialing again on local weather commitments, as PepsiCo did in late Might, there’s a counter-narrative about one sticking to its technique, comparable to Microsoft’s proclamation one week later.
However one factor is true at each well-managed firm, and it isn’t specific to company sustainability: Any initiative that isn’t business-critical or materials is weak to cost-cutting. Thus, insiders careworn, sustainability professionals needs to be proactive in reviewing their staff’s work and anchoring its priorities in what’s core to income era.
“Place ESG as a strategic enabler, not a compliance perform,” mentioned Pamela Gill-Alabaster, who left her place this month as international head of ESG and sustainability for Tylenol maker Kenvue. “Embed sustainability into cross-functional groups from provide chain to advertising to R&D so your position is seen as mission-critical to delivering future enterprise efficiency.”
The individual main sustainability at Kenvue, for instance, is a part of the corporate’s analysis and improvement group. (Gill-Alabaster, who’s attempting to find her subsequent place, teaches a graduate-level course in ESG company technique at Columbia College.)
In case your staff is driving price financial savings, now’s the time to name that out loudly, mentioned J.R. Siegel, vp of sustainability for software program firm Worldly, in response to my LinkedIn put up in search of suggestions on this matter.
“Does the sustainability staff pay for itself by means of the cost-savings initiatives the staff has recognized, led or operationalized?” he requested. “De-risking is equally vital, however it’s tougher to place a monetary quantity on that work. Lastly, has the staff carried out something that’s led to new enterprise development drivers? In the long run, the power to economize or generate income in a manner that different groups don’t see is a good way to remain related throughout a recession. Sustainability supplies a singular lens on a enterprise.”
Empower different enterprise leaders
The development of embedding accountability for sustainability into an operational line of enterprise is a objective that has usually been equated with a maturing of the occupation.
“The extra you may empower capabilities like finance, operations, human sources and model groups to personal ESG outcomes, the extra embedded and indispensable your position turns into,” mentioned Gill-Alabaster.
That shift is being accelerated by the emergence of synthetic intelligence, famous Darnall, and sustainability execs can stand out by anticipating this and serving to enterprise leaders throughout their group translate this into particular initiatives. “That is exploding, and we’re simply starting to grasp the impacts,” she mentioned.
Should you and your staff have been obsessive about getting ready for reporting rules, it’s time to shift that mentality, mentioned writer Matthew Sekol, a Microsoft “sustainability black belt” who helps advise the corporate’s prospects, in response to my LinkedIn put up.
“Nothing is recession or future-proof, however in the event you’re engaged on disclosures solely or non-material or non-stakeholder points, you’re cooked,” he mentioned. “Sustainability professionals simply spent the previous few years understanding each minute element of the enterprise to repurpose that knowledge for reporting. Don’t squander the chance for enhancements and improvements that you’re sitting on. You’ve carried out far more than you suppose!”
Create a ‘model’ ebook for your self
Holding an in depth, metrics-laden report of accomplished initiatives is a helpful useful resource each as a proof level throughout profession discussions along with your present employer or to floor your resume in the event you’ve been laid off, mentioned Ashley Fahey, former senior supervisor of worldwide product sustainability at Kohler, who left the corporate in Might.
“Each time you full a mission, ship one thing on time or assist a enterprise win, be aware of it and ensure your management staff is aware of about it,” she mentioned. “Don’t be afraid to toot your personal horn.”
Fahey, who has additionally labored at Steelcase and Goodyear — and was a part of the 2019 Trellis 30 Beneath 30 cohort of rising sustainability leaders — is utilizing the “model ebook” she’s saved all through her profession for her personal job search.
“Particularly in the event you lose your place, a model ebook may help find your subsequent place,” she mentioned. “Seeing proof of different folks commenting in your work is a lot extra highly effective than you simply telling somebody that you’d be an asset to their staff.”
