It’s the time of year where a lot of conferences are happening. In these tumultuous times, I have the chance to give a lot of conferences to different universities. It is really a gratifying experience to share our mistakes and successes with these bright minds. It is also a win-win situation since by formulating my thoughts on the different subjects that interest them, I’m improving my own understanding of my train of thought. Furthermore, the many questions of the students brings a new perspective to my own reflections.

I had two similar questions from two universities. What are the caracteristics that can help students standout in the market for jobs? Well, my answer came in two sections. First and foremost: Networking. The sharing of experiences and of successes and mistakes so as to optimize your own initiative is an asset for every professionnal.

The second caracteristic is specialization. Specialization in the field of sustainability. The parallel I often use is with engineering. You can’t just be an engineer, you have to be an engineer « of something ». It is very similar in the field of sustainability. For exemple, I know a lot of consultants in sustainability. When I think of them, I don’t see a global sustainability specialist, I see a specialist of HR and sustainability, of energy management, of GHG or a communication specialist who decided to make sustainable development an integral part of their practice

Myself, I believe in the Karma of networking. In the fact that you need to give to everyone around you. Firstly, you’ll be happy doing it, secondly, its possible that someday, it will come back to you.

My specialty is the integration of sustainability in business models through strategic planning and risk management.

So if you end up reading these words, do something good to help a collegue and integrate sustainability in your everyday work. If you don’t know how to do it, there are a lot of consultants who can help you, a lot of good universities giving courses on the subject. You can always try to reach me, I’m working on my Karma…