Imagine that a friend came to you with an ardent desire to be a musician. It's the only thing she talks about. "I need to make music," your friend says. "It's in my soul!" With that level of passion, you would be pretty flummoxed if you learned that your friend never picked up her guitar, never practiced, and never sought out any gigs (paid or unpaid). If she told you that she was certainly going to start playing actual music someday, but only when some kind employer gave her a salary and benefits to do so, you'd be within your rights to conclude that she was "all hat and no cattle," as our shotgun-wielding vice president might say.

It's exactly the same with environmental and conservation work. Whether you are in school, just out of school, currently employed, or unemployed, it's essential that you keep working at the highest possible level of craft that you can find.

Fortunately, this is not nearly as difficult as it might sound. There are ample opportunities for temporary, contract, grant-funded, consulting, or voluntary work assignments that you can use to stay active and maintain an ever-growing portfolio of professional-level work results. Many people pursue these non-permanent job assignments as a way to pay the bills, build networks and stay in the flow of insider information about jobs. The real reward, however, comes from the work itself.

Find a platform for your work in the world.

You want to achieve something specific and measurable with your work? You should be looking for a job that gives you an opportunity to produce real results for people and the environment that jibes with your personal goals. Don't go looking for "a job." Look for an opportunity that can reasonably grow into a platform from which you can achieve the results you want to achieve.

For example, let's suppose your work in the world involves increasing the number of profitable, family-owned, organic farms serving local markets in your bio-region. By defining your work this way, it's likely that your next steps will be quite different than if you were "a job in alternative agriculture." Instead of a "job search," you'll be engaged in a process that incorporates elements of scholarship, journalism, policy analysis, business planning, community organizing, and program design.

You'll ask questions like:

• What is the current status of organic agriculture for local markets in my region?
• What are the drivers that encourage it and the barriers that discourage it?
• Who are the people working on these issues in my region and elsewhere?
• What do these people have to say about the greatest needs right now?
• How can I help?

So, to those of you who are gainfully employed -- take it up a notch! To those of you who are still looking -- best of luck. And to all of the wise mentors of the environmental workforce -- thank you.

Have a question for Remake a Living? Send an email to , or post a comment below.

Kevin Doyle is the national director of program development for the The Environmental Careers Organization in Boston. He is coauthor of The ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference: Environmental Work for a Sustainable World and The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers in the 21st Century.