Green Job News Updates, News and Alerts: GreenJobFeed.com

Create Custom Job Alerts and RSS Feeds

Today Green Job Feed released a new tool to help job seekers sort through the clutter and stay up to date with the latest positions. Using RSS and email alerts, users can now passively subscribe to any job type in any location they choose… Using any search criteria they can dream up, this tool empowers candidates to go beyond what is currently available in our list and benefit from real-time alerts as new jobs are posted. Furthermore, users don’t even have to sign up or become a member of our site to benefit from this free tool!

The technology used to power our custom job alert tool is very similar to Google Alerts and other news and blog updates however, the difference in this case is that all alerts correspond with green jobs. RSS, which stands for “Really Simple Syndication” allows users to subscribe to updates using any popular RSS reader such as Google Reader or NewsGator. Some new browsers can use RSS to create active bookmarks which show you the most recent updates from your favorite sites.

For those of you who prefer good old fashioned email alerts, we have provided instructions for using Yahoo! Alerts. Aside from email this tool can also be used to send alerts to Yahoo! Messenger or even your mobile phone. That’s right, if you create a custom RSS job search using our tool and then subscribe to it using Yahoo’s mobile phone update service you will actually get a text the moment a new job is indexed on our site!

These new tools empower job seekers everywhere to find the best renewable energy jobs uniquely tailored to them in the most meaningful and efficient way possible. Simply type your job criteria into the new tool and see what comes up, then remember to subscribe so you don’t get left out.

Where Are People Looking for Green Jobs?

One of the neat advantages of working in the online space is that aggregating market data is being made increasingly easy through the use analytics programs. Here at Green Job Feed we use Google Analytics in combination with AdSense and Widgetbox to determine trends and thus allocate our resources.

Just below, you can see our basic traffic overview chart. When we rebranded the site from Green Jobs Authority in mid June we decided to create a fresh analytics tracking account and thus you see a large spike up from zero as old visitors were redirected to the new URL. In the days and weeks following, our traffic has remained high and even begun to increase as more and more visitors notice the widgets and marketing going on.

The majority of visitors we see here at the CleanTech Authority network are from the United States, but that is slowly changing as more and more articles and jobs are added from around the world. Just below is a map showing the domestic traffic we’ve seen to date. The darker the state, the more visitors we’ve seen.

The top five states are California, New York, Florida, Texas, and New Jersey. Colorado ranked 7th, though we believe that slowly they will begin to rise as more and more stimulus grants are awarded there and Boulder eventually reaches its goal of becoming the first major smart grid city in the US. California is the clear leader in jobs however, with more cleantech company headquarters located in and around Silicon Valley than any other state. Indeed, our own corporate headquarters are located in Mountain View, CA.

Internationally we have seen visitors from all over. Specifically, there has been a bit of activity in Germany but not as much as we had hoped for or expected. With such great companies as the wind power leader Vestas being based in Germany, and expansion into solar production and research by US firms such as Nanosolar which just opened a plant in Luckenwalde, we believe Germany has a bright “green” future.

It is worth noting that Germany has been the international leader in wind power for the past decade, only recently being passed up by the United States as Texas began a shift from oil production to wind farming in 2008. Even here at the Green Job Feed, Texas seems to be beating Germany in terms of traffic. This is your chance for redemption Germany, bring your jobs and we’ll help your citizens connect!

Just for fun, we’ve tossed in New Zealand here which gave us just one visitor over the past 18 days. Come on New Zealand! Let’s double that traffic before the beginning of next month, we believe in you! Despite their poor showing here, New Zealand is actually an amazingly sustainable country and a great example for the world. Back when we were just getting started here in September of 2007, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke announced New Zealand’s intention to commit to 90% renewable electricity by 2025. The country already uses 70% renewable electricity, primarily hydro- and geothermal power, and eventually, the Prime Minister would like to see the country be completely carbon-neutral.

Helen Clarke said “I have set out the challenge to our nation to become the first truly sustainable nation on earth . . . to dare to aspire to be carbon neutral”. Well rock on NZ! Here at Green Job Feed we would like to invite all New Zealand based companies to post jobs free of charge for the next three months. Just use our contact or feedback form and let us know about your company. We’ll work hand in hand with you to implement the discount once you’ve created a company profile.

A New Green Job Brand and Logo

Green Job Authority has been online since late 2007 and evolved along with the entire Clean Tech Authority network. Initially solar was the primary focus and http://cleantechauthority.com didn’t even exist. It now functions as the central hub of the network, syndicating articles and content from the other five sites and featuring such innovative tools as the EV Charging Stations Map, recently covered by CNET, and the CleanTech Events Calendar. Over time new verticals were added such as Electric Vehicles and Green Home and Building.

In late 2008 the authority logo was created with the help of several design consultants. Leading up to this point the sites’ favicon icons were used to represent the brand. Ultimately the logo shown here was chosen as the new primary symbol as it represents the A of authority as well as a branching network. Additionally, the sprouting branches from the A also signify plantlife which absorbs CO2 in a symbiotic relationship with humans and animals. In this way the A logo captures our focus on environmental sustainability and our commitment to teamwork and network syndication.

In early 2009 it was decided that Green Job Authority should be repositioned as Green Job Feed. Not only does it require fewer syllables, making it faster and easier to say, it represents the new direction of the Authority Network; to syndicate content in a Web 2.0 fashion. Green Job Feed aims to become the easiest, most user friendly renewable energy job portal while also presenting tools and resources for sharing content with partner sites.

The inclusion of the Feed element is plainly visible in the new logo which still appreciates plants and the symbolic “tree” logo that many green brands adopt. Wrather than adopting an orange box as it’s feed icon, which is the industry standard, Green Job Feed has combined this element with the tree as shown at left. The brand has also added a new tagline. While the Authority brand verticals still use “the dirt on clean” for their tagline, Green Job Feed has opted for a more relevant statement “supporting sustainable careers” which fits nicely below the title.

Over the long term as Green Job Feed gains critical mass and new widgets and partners are added to the offering this logo may stand on it’s own without the title or tagline. As a closing note, there was discussion of an alternative logo which would follow a play on words. We have created a basic mockup of that logo below, see if you can catch what we’re going for.