Sea Change Candidate Sentiment Report

The State of Climate Tech Candidate Risk Tolerance, Compensation Priorities, and New Opportunity Considerations

Key Takeaways

As climate technologies have become more mainstream, much of the recruiting industry has turned its attention to figuring out how to attract top talent into the climate market. While we recognize the value in these efforts, we believe startups need data-driven insights around what those already in climate want out of their jobs to survive the significant correction in venture capital investment. Our report explores the priorities and risk tolerance of top talent in our space amidst a turbulent political and macroeconomic environment. Here are five takeaways:

  1. Candidate risk tolerance is decreasing
    • 68% of respondents’ desire to consider new job opportunities is somewhat or to a great extent affected by political and macroeconomic uncertainties
  2. Cash is king
    • 71% of respondents ranked base salary as their first priority for monetary compensation when considering a new opportunity
  3. Equity and benefits are the cherry on top
    • 23% of respondents marked equity or benefits as a top compensation priority
  4. A strong product is recruiting gold
    • 37% of respondents ranked belief in the company’s product or solution as their top non-monetary priority
  5. Flexible work models are here to stay
    • Fully remote and hybrid models were the top non-monetary factor for 12% of respondents, primarily driven by those with 6-15+ years of experience

The Data

This report combines proprietary data from Sea Change’s survey of 200+ candidates from our candidate pools, and supporting market research from Sightline Climate by CTVC, Silicon Valley Bank, and the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index.

Read the full Candidate Sentiment Report

Get the context behind hiring trends and recommendations for fast, successful hiring.

Paige Carratturo

September 10, 2024