Get Started with Green Workforce Connect: Recruiting Weatherization Professionals

Green Workforce Connect is a platform connecting job seekers, training providers, employers, and contractors to build a strong energy workforce with opportunities for all. One of the key goals of this platform is to recruit a new generation of home energy professionals for the weatherization sector, including both in-house crews and contractors. Green Workforce Connect includes a wealth of resources to increase awareness of weatherization careers and why job seekers should consider these opportunities. 

Job seekers and contractors can also connect directly with weatherization employers in their area. Start here to learn more about this website and how you can effectively use it to support your recruitment efforts.

(In addition to weatherization, Green Workforce Connect supports workforce development in other clean energy industries like solar energy — explore the website to find out more!)

Your Central Hub for Connecting with New Hires and Contractors in Weatherization

Green Workforce Connect was developed with an understanding of the hiring challenges currently faced by agencies in the weatherization sector, based on the input of hundreds of weatherization stakeholders across the country. 

Green Workforce Connect is intended to be a central hub where employers, training providers, contractors, and other stakeholders can direct their networks to learn about weatherization careers and connect with job and training opportunities. It is also a powerful lead generation tool: Job seekers and contractors can directly connect with weatherization employers and trainers in their area. 

One of the key strategies behind Green Workforce Connect is the recognition that we can be much more successful in raising awareness of critical weatherization jobs—and the benefits they can bring to individuals and communities—if we work together rather than in isolation. 

Having a central hub leveraged by many weatherization organizations helps to ensure that job seekers and contractors receive consistent, effective, and vetted information about the benefits of weatherization careers and contracting opportunities. This results in greater awareness of the industry, while also saving you time and money because you don’t have to start from scratch communicating what weatherization is all about and why it matters. 

We hope Green Workforce Connect will become the first place you turn to when working to expand your weatherization workforce!  We invite you to share feedback on how the site can be improved over time. We also invite you to link to Green Workforce Connect from your own website as a means to inform your contacts about weatherization careers. 

Read on for an overview of the weatherization resources Green Workforce Connect provides, and how you can use this platform for greatest impact. 

Weatherization Resources on Green Workforce Connect

The Green Workforce Connect website has several key sections you’ll want to familiarize yourself with: 

• General career information that you can leverage to help prospective candidates understand the value of working in weatherization (or other clean energy and energy efficiency fields).
• A robust Resource Hub, which acts as a library for your organization, job seekers, and potential contractors to dive deeper into specific topics.
• Connect Now, a database of organizations in different states, to help you connect with other key stakeholders in your area AND help job seekers and contractors connect with you.

Each of these sections is discussed in greater detail below.

Weatherization Career Information

The homepage of Green Workforce Connect invites job seekers, employers, contractors, and education and workforce organizations to explore the site based on their areas of interest. To learn more about careers in the Weatherization Assistance Program, users can visit Careers in Building Performance (for job seekers) or Contractors in Building Performance (for contractors). 

On the Careers in Building Performance page, job seekers are greeted by with simple and compelling information about weatherization careers, including the stories of real home energy professionals and profiles of some of the most common weatherization job roles. They can also assess their fit for a career in weatherization with a short and simple quiz. 

Website visitors can see short profiles of key weatherization job roles and click through to more detailed overviews that help them understand what’s involved in a role, key skills and training, salary information, and more. 

By answering a short, seven-question quiz, job seekers can assess whether a career in weatherization could be a fit for them.

Green Workforce Connect highlights the stories of real individuals working for the Weatherization Assistance Program.

The Career Stories page compiles 12 videos and profiles of Weatherizaton Assistance Program professionals and shows how these individuals’ weatherization careers have progressed over time. These stories can help job seekers imagine what their own career in weatherization could look like and hear firsthand about the factors that give current home energy professionals satisfaction in their careers.

On the Contractors in Building Performance page, contractors can learn about opportunities for their companies to get involved in the Weatherization Assistance Program. They can download the Contractor’s Guide to Success, a comprehensive resource that provides the knowledge and tools for contractors to succeed in the field.  

Contractors will see an overview of the tasks they are likely to be working on in the Weatherization Assistance Program.

Resource Hub

The Resource Hub is a one-stop shop to learn more about weatherization and other clean energy fields.

Visitors can filter information by user type (such as employer, job seeker, or contractor) and by the topics or industries they are interested in.

Bookmark this page: Here is a direct link to the Resource Hub filtered for information about the Weatherization Assistance Program.

The Resource Hub contains a wealth of new and original resources developed to better support workforce development for weatherization. Job seekers and contractors can learn more about weatherization and find job descriptions, training opportunities, nationwide certifications, and potential career pathways. Employers can find guides on hiring, recruitment, retention, and much more.

The Resource Hub also compiles existing resources about weatherization careers from key stakeholders, such as the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP), and the National Community Action Partnership (NCAP), all in one place so you don’t have to search multiple websites for key materials. 

It also contains resources and guides for local weatherization program providers and training centers, including an Outreach and Engagement Toolkit and a Contractor’s Guide to Success to support recruitment of new employees and contractors.

You can filter your search to find resources for job seekers, employers, trainers and educators, contractors, or community-based organizations. You can also expand your search to include resources in fields beyond weatherization, such as renewable energy. 

The Resource Hub is regularly updated with new information. Subscribe to our updates to stay in the loop when new materials are added!

Connect Now

Connect Now is the heart of Green Workforce Connect. Connect Now features a database of organizations of different types: employers, training providers, contractors, and community-based organizations, such as those that provide job support services to job seekers in a particular local area. 

Bookmark this page: Here is a link to the Connect Now page, filtered for opportunities in the Weatherization Assistance Program.

Visitors can enter their zip code or click on the target icon to use their location data to see organizations near them.

If you are an employer or training provider, individuals and contractors interested in weatherization and building performance can use Connect Now to directly connect with your organization. And stakeholders of all types can use Connect Now to find and connect with other organizations in their sector and region. Currently, Green Workforce Connect features Weatherization Assistance Program organizations active in nine states with more to be added soon!

Organizations can be filtered by type, making it easier to find those that fit what the user is interested in. Under the “Opportunities” menu, you can filter for organizations based on those that offer hiring, training, information, bids and contracts, or Registered Apprenticeships. Under “tags,” you can filter by Weatherization Assistance Program and energy efficiency to find organizations in this field. Or expand your search to include organizations in other energy industries.

For employers, this section of the site is a powerful source for connecting with job candidates and contracting companies. Job seekers and contractors can connect directly to you to learn about your open positions and bid opportunities! You can also use this site to identify other organizations in your area that may be relevant partners to support your workforce development efforts.

Training providers can direct their students to the Connect Now page to find potential employers near them. 

Contractors interested in connecting with weatherization contract opportunities can find weatherization agencies and other employers that may benefit from their services. 

For those interested, Connect Now also lists organizations in other clean energy industries, such as solar energy; along with other opportunities such as Registered Apprenticeships. The Connect Now page will be updated and expanded regularly.

 (Learn more about our program, our timeline, and how you can get involved on the About Green Workforce Connect page.)