What skills should a Sustainability Specialist put on a resume?

O*NET rates Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Writing, Active Listening, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Sustainability Specialist list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Photoshop. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Sustainability Specialist work?

O*NET records 20 titles for this occupation, including Sustainability Consultant, Sustainability Coordinator, Sustainable Design Coordinator, and Campus Energy Coordinator. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Sustainability Specialist need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 52% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Sustainability Specialist role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Sustainability Specialist resume example

A resume for a Sustainability Specialist needs to show the work itself: address organizational sustainability issues, such as waste stream management, green building practices, and green procurement plans. Day to day that means work like this: develop sustainability project goals, objectives, initiatives, or strategies in collaboration with other sustainability professionals; monitor or track sustainability indicators, such as energy usage, natural resource usage, waste generation, and recycling. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Sustainability Consultant
Sustainability Coordinator
Sustainable Design Coordinator
Campus Energy Coordinator
Sustainability Advisor
Sustainability Champion
Sustainable Design Champion
Sustainable Design Consultant
Building Performance Specialist
Energy Analyst
Energy and Sustainability Manager
Green Consultant
Integrated Solutions Consultant
Renewable Energy Consultant
Sustainability Analyst
Sustainability Coach
Sustainability Officer
Sustainability Project Analyst

O*NET records 20 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Develop sustainability project goals, objectives, initiatives, or strategies in collaboration with other sustainability professionals.
Monitor or track sustainability indicators, such as energy usage, natural resource usage, waste generation, and recycling.
Assess or propose sustainability initiatives, considering factors such as cost effectiveness, technical feasibility, and acceptance.
Provide technical or administrative support for sustainability programs or issues.
Review and revise sustainability proposals or policies.
Develop reports or presentations to communicate the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives.
Create or maintain plans or other documents related to sustainability projects.
Collect information about waste stream management or green building practices to inform decision makers.
Research or review regulatory, technical, or market issues related to sustainability.
Identify or investigate violations of natural resources, waste management, recycling, or other environmental policies.
Identify or create new sustainability indicators.
Create marketing or outreach media, such as brochures or Web sites, to communicate sustainability issues, procedures, or objectives.

14 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Develop sustainability project goals, objectives, initiatives, or strategies in collaboration with other sustainability professionals, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Monitor or track sustainability indicators, such as energy usage, natural resource usage, waste generation, and recycling, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Assess or propose sustainability initiatives, considering factors such as cost effectiveness, technical feasibility, and acceptance, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Provide technical or administrative support for sustainability programs or issues, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
Autodesk Revit
Bentley MicroStation
Esri ArcGIS
Extensible markup language XML
Geographic information system GIS software
Google Analytics
Inventory management systems

39 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Computer data input scanners
Computer laser printers
Desktop computers
Laptop computers
Laser facsimile machines
Multi-line telephone systems
Personal computers
Photocopying equipment

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

Inventory management systems
Power BI
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
XML
Google Analytics
JavaScript
Oracle Database

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Reading Comprehension
02Speaking
03Writing
04Active Listening
05Critical Thinking
06Complex Problem Solving
07Judgment and Decision Making
08Monitoring
09Active Learning
10Coordination

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Administration and Management
Law and Government
Education and Training
English Language
Building and Construction
Customer and Personal Service
Communications and Media
Engineering and Technology

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

52%Bachelor's Degree
39%Master's Degree
4%Some College Courses

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Sustainability Specialist do?: Address organizational sustainability issues, such as waste stream management, green building practices, and green procurement plans. Day to day that includes work like develop sustainability project goals, objectives, initiatives, or strategies in collaboration with other sustainability professionals and Monitor or track sustainability indicators, such as energy usage, natural resource usage, waste generation, and recycling.
What skills should a Sustainability Specialist put on a resume?: O*NET rates Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Writing, Active Listening, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Sustainability Specialist list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Photoshop. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Sustainability Specialist work?: O*NET records 20 titles for this occupation, including Sustainability Consultant, Sustainability Coordinator, Sustainable Design Coordinator, and Campus Energy Coordinator. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Sustainability Specialist need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 52% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Sustainability Specialist role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.