Americans put themselves on the path to green careers.

For students like Loa, business schools, law schools, and technical institutes offer degrees with green components. “Our goal is to develop graduates who can bring creative solutions to environmental problems,” says Robert Krueger, director of environmental studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.

“More graduates are looking to make a difference,” says Mitch Baranowski, principal of BBMG, a branding firm in New York that works with green clients. “More than ever, that set of young people cares about doing right by people and the planet. We don’t have enough openings for the number of interested parties we get.”

Marie Kerpan, founder of Green Careers in Mill Valley, Calif., counsels midcareer professionals who want to switch to a green career. “They have concerns about global warming and sustainability, and want to align their values with their work,” she says.

Most midcareer applicants do not go back to school, says Ms. Kerpan, who teaches a green MBA program at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif. “They can make a direct transfer into a green career. Sometimes it’s applying their skills and experience to a company that has a green product or service or operates with green values.”

Some go into public office – city council or sustainability planner in local government. Others start their own business, such as a green wedding planner. Or they join an existing firm. One green MBA graduate became the sustainability director at a local community bank.

Sometimes another kind of green becomes an issue. “If a $150,000 marketing executive wants to make the same amount of money [in a green job], that’s tough,” Stuebi says. “Most of these companies are relatively small, at a high-growth stage, and don’t have the money to pay high salaries.”

Other recruiters say certain green fields find a shortage of workers. “There’s not a whole lot of human capital out there with experience in clean-tech or sustainable clean technology,” says Andy Zaleta, a partner at Battalia Winston, an executive search firm in Boston. “If we have to find a CEO or a COO for a fuel cell company, there are just not a lot of people to choose from.”

Geoffrey Castro, executive director of an environmental nonprofit organization in Houston, wants to parlay his six years in the nonprofit environmental field into a green corporate job.

The search is slow. A major website for green jobs listed only one position in Houston.

“These positions are not as pervasive down here in the oil-and-gas corridor,” he says.

For those seeking green careers, either at an entry level or as a career change, Mr. Zaleta offers this advice: “Networking, networking, networking.” He notes that 85 percent of people find jobs that way, while only 10 to 12 percent use job placement firms. He suggests alumni associations, energy associations, and clean-energy conferences as possible resources. Some applicants also turn to green-career websites.

Whatever strategies job hunters use, Kerpan says, they must become educated in the green economy. Calling green careers “solutions to mega-problems,” she adds, “We’re already seeing exponential growth. I don’t see any end to this. One can’t even imagine a more dramatic shift in consciousness. It’s going to affect everything. It’s the work of our time.”

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