Environment Analyst’s Early Careers Advisory Board Releases 2023 Early Careers Survey

In September we announced that as part of our integration of our company Delta-Simons into the wider Lucion Group, that we would continue our Environment Analyst Leadership Membership which incorporates membership of the Environment Analyst Sustainability Delivery Group (SDG). Formed in 2020, the Environment Analyst SDG created the Early Careers Advisory Board. A working group aimed at attracting the next generation of consultants, promoting career opportunities in the sector and providing insights on what it is like to be an environment consultant and how to get into the industry. James Bickle who is Lucion Group's representative on the Early Career Advisory Board (ECAB) and is the current Chair, has helped to evolve ECAB, helping to successfully lead the group's visibility initiatives. James provides insight into what the ECAB does and his involvement as Chair of the group, as well as highlights ECAB's most recent early career survey and explains why it’s important for members of the environmental industry to take part.

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What is the ECAB?

The overall purpose of ECAB is to support new and existing initiatives to engage and inspire the next generation of sustainability leaders and promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in the environmental and sustainability consulting industry. Some of the things we’ve been up to recently include a webinar series on what it’s like to work in the industry, supporting STEM and professional institutions with their early careers network initiatives, benchmarking ED&I initiatives within our companies, and creating an online hub for those looking to learn about all things environmental and sustainability consultancy. I joined ECAB in 2021 and it has been a great opportunity for me personally, allowing me to form relationships with professionals from across the consulting industry. I have also been the Chair of ECAB for the last year, through which I have been able to play an important role in steering the group towards meeting their objectives. ECAB and more widely the SDG has also been a great opportunity for Lucion Group, giving us the chance to take a leadership role in the industry amongst some of the big names, but also offering an insight to learn and improve our internal processes.

What is the Early Careers Survey?

Due to rising demand for ESG, net zero and other sustainability services, the sector is facing a skills shortage and it’s predicted an additional 7,200 professionals will need to be recruited by 2025 to keep pace. Meeting that demand and future-proofing our industry will rely heavily on attracting and retaining early career professionals. Last year, ECAB ran an online survey to collect important data on early career professionals working in our industry, including demographics and factors influencing recruitment, job satisfaction, and retention. The survey included results from 366 respondents, each of whom had up to 7 years of experience in the sector to date. The main aims of the survey were to provide a platform to highlight the perspectives of early career professionals and help business leaders improve their ability to attract and retain the next generation of talent. We are running an updated survey for 2023 to see how the make-up and perspectives of the industry have changed over the last year and continue to inform business leaders on what is working well and where we can improve as an industry. Video not working? Click here to watch.

How can I get involved?

This is a great opportunity to have your voice heard by senior business leaders. If you’ve been in the environmental or sustainability sector for less than 7 years, I encourage you to fill out the re-launched survey. It should take around ten minutes to complete and will be running up until 31st October. You can fill out the 2023 survey here. The findings will be shared in a report produced by ECAB, which we will share in the next ECAB blog post in November or December. There are lots more ways you can get involved to inspire the next generation. A key finding of the last survey was that most participants became aware of the sector whilst at university, and by conducting their own personal research. This tells us that we can be doing more at school and college/sixth form level and through career talks and events. At Lucion Group, we are currently looking at developing our network of STEM Ambassadors throughout the company and will continue to provide updates as we progress our early career initiatives. For more information about ECAB click here.