1/3rd of my class at the Stanford MBA program last year was unemployed at graduation. I was one of them. It took me six months full time job searching to find the role I wanted. Along the way, I faced seven hiring freezes after reaching the final round, with one employer sending me through nine rounds of interviews plus a take home case study where I sweated 40+ hours to perfect. I was stunned when I connected with classmates with stellar backgrounds and heard similar stories. It’s not something people share publicly, and I thought the whole time it was me.
It wasn’t just me. The chart below blew my mind when it was published:
After the VC bubble popped from its hay day in 2022, startups started being pushed to not grow at all costs, but rather trim the fat. At the same time, public companies were grappling with high interest rates and overhiring during the COVID pandemic. The impact? Hiring freezes. Lay offs. Little to no job postings. It’s what people are calling the “white collar recession.” Climate technology was not immune.
If you graduated without a job this year, you’re not alone. Despite all the chaos I just described, I landed the role I wanted in climate technology post graduation. Other peers employed creative tactics to get their dream roles in climate despite these massive headwinds.
This week, I want to opensource the challenges faced and tactics to overcome them with the hope that this can help more people break into climate technology. 🙏 These experiences have also led me to reimagine a community group that I wish I had when I was job hunting. I’ll share more about my vision for this community throughout this article with details on how to apply at the end :)
Don’t worry - we aren’t pivoting from our original issues! I’ll return to our standard issues on climate technology in the next one. I’ve been thinking a lot about green cement, geological hydrogen, and long duration energy storage. 🤓
Challenge #1: Hiring freezes
Lesson learned: Better selection
At first glance, these hiring freezes at the companies below felt random:
Series B climate startup that raised VC funding from top investors last year with a lot of open job postings
A climate technology unicorn
Series C climate software startup
In a normal job market, any of these opportunities would have resulted in an offer. Through trial and error and speaking to classmates who didn’t face hiring freezes, I learned that the solution to this was better selection. How to select? This criteria worked:
Climate startup:
Raised VC funding within the last few months (not last year)
Earlier stage startups (pre-seed to Series A) since early stage funding is flowing more than growth funding
Startup is growing rapidly with a line of sight to cashflow positivity (not burning through cash)
There are many technical climate founders looking for their first business hire after they raise their Series A
I struggled to find out through a Google search whether companies were growing quickly or running out of cash in a few months; I found out instead via my network. Through the community group I’m developing, I’ll post every week early stage, high-growth climate startups that I hear of in the VC community I’m now in. It’s information that we all should have, not just the privileged few.
Challenge #2: Applying to roles and never hearing back
Lesson learned: Don’t play the game everyone else is playing
One of my friends hiring for a role at a startup posted the job on LinkedIn and got 3,000 applications within a week. Tossing your resume in this pile is futile.
How to stand out?
Warm introductions are a must. All the folks that I know who received offers didn’t get the offer without a referral or warm introduction to someone on the team. This is the time to lean on your professional network - remember to pay this forward in the future!
Consider finding part-time consulting opportunities to convert into full-time roles. Someone I know did part-time consulting for two startups, got to know the team well, and ended up with job offers from both at the end. The perk? He got to test out working for his manager before signing. Here is the range $/hour for mid-career MBA students supporting on product/strategy:
Pre-seed: usually equity (0.1-0.5%) and/or + 85-$150 per hour if they’re VC backed at the higher side of range
Seed: usually equity (0.1-0.5%) + $150-$180 per hour if VC backed
Series A/B: usually $200+ an hour if VC backed
Reconnect with old colleagues who can refer you. Referrals help accelerate the process, but glowing referrals from folks who worked with you can help you skip the first few screening steps.
Create a job that doesn’t exist. I used work that I did during business school for a class or case study and repurposed it into a few slides on why I thought a climate technology space was exciting. After cold sending it to the founder of a startup I admired, he got back to me within the day to speak. We spoke about a role that he didn’t even post yet. My other friend copied this strategy and landed a chief of staff role at a heat pump company. You can read his story here. You can use the same deck for multiple startups in the space. 😉
These part-time consulting roles are often opportunistic and network-driven. I hope to change that where I’ll ask startups if they can use business help and facilitate the matchmaking process. In the community group, you’ll be able to join channels where you can hear of part-time consulting opportunities at early-stage climate companies that aren’t posted publicly.
Challenge #3: Reaching the final round (but no offer)
Lesson learned: Double down on a few opportunities and stand out
Since the competition is so fierce, it can often be a coin toss among the final top three candidates. All three candidates are competent, fit the team culture, and are qualified for the specific role.
How to stand out? One of my friends created a short deck on the market, trends in the space, and why he was excited by the startup. He sent that proactively in the middle of the process and landed his desired role as a sales director role at a solar startup. It took him ~2 hours of work and saved him months of recruiting. It’s worth putting in that extra effort to stand out in a dream role instead of coming close and starting over again.
Challenge #4: It’s lonely
Lesson learned: Find your support crew
It’s not easy out there. I wouldn’t have survived the months of job hunting to find that right role without my support crew. We did mock interviews with each other, coached each other on how to negotiate job offers, reviewed each other’s case studies, and consoled each other when times got rough.
I hope that I can help you find your support crew. In the community, you can apply to join a similar support crew of people recruiting for climate roles. I’ll match you by experience level, dream role, and/or industry sector interest.
You made it all the way here! Here’s a link to apply for the community I’ve been describing. To make this work, I want to keep this community curated so the content is hyper relevant rather than broad like the Work on Climate or My Climate Journey slack groups. I’m going to prioritize folks who are seeking business roles in climate technology and are thoughtful in their application. Based on how it goes, I may open it up more so throw in your application if you’re job hunting! Also, if you’re hiring for a climate role, please email us with more information at thegigaton@gmail.com.
Thank you so, so much for sharing!
Very relevant content. Truly thankful to you for sharing it! :)