Green Job Fairs: Beware of the Scams

Recently I went to a Green Jobs Fair sponsored by the Los Angeles Community College District.  I figured it would be a good opportunity to network and meet companies; after all, few people actually get a job through such an event, so I went for the heck of it, with zero expectations.  Unfortunately, my expectations were way too high.  I left after 15 minutes, and felt terrible for telling a friend of mine, a recent USC grad who’s trying to land a job in the green tech sector, about this joke of an event. Let’s start with my thoughts as I entered the Pasadena Convention Center.  Apparently, “green” means that the workers were wearing green T-shirts and green balloons were on display everywhere.  The green ended there.  Plastic cups for water were everywhere, and were not recycled.  But even worse, many of the booths had plastic bags (including the LACCD and the California Employment Development Department), which I guess were for carrying your brochures and plastic trinkets. Thankfully, there were some green construction jobs—most were for solar panel installers, which I am sure were competitive since the construction industry has taken a hit in Southern California.  But the vast majority of the booths were manned by temporary employment agencies—none of which advertised anything “green.” Even worse were some of the other booths:

• Prepaid legal services (start typing that term in your search engine and “scam” will show up).  By the way, a few days later, they sent me an email saying how nice it was to meet me (we didn't), and to show up in a few days at a Hampton Inn in Chino and wear business attire--for a presentation for which they had on described as a "business opportunity."  (I think I'll stay with the mangosteen elixer that cures everything from SARS to H1N1).
• “Green cleaning products,” only available for mail order and by “individual distributor” (translation:  MLM or pyramid schemes).
• A green interior design center, where I was told green designers can “rent space or whatever.”
• A mobile phone company, the business model of which sounded like something akin to the emails I get from Nigeria and Indonesia about business opportunities that are available if I offer access to my bank account.

Southern California Edison was there, but had nothing remotely “green” displayed, and the employees there knew nothing about their research center in Pomona.  The LAPD was there and I’m still trying to figure out the green or sustainable connection. What bothered me was a community college district organizing an event that I am sure was conceived with good intentions, but was executed with no thought save for slapping on the “green” label.  And what was really disturbing was the fact that you had scam artists there who had no agenda other than taking advantage of the many desperate people (the place was packed!) who attend events like this farce. With all the greenwashing going on, if you were suckered into attending an event like this, you have my sympathy, but not my surprise.  Have you ever attended a “green” event that left you red in the face? I think we need to replace the word, “green.”  Too bad sustainability has too many syllables . . .