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

It’s Time to Stop Hiring Climate Tech Talent in the Dark

Anyone who’s ever made hiring decisions knows the real danger of hiring the wrong person. By some estimates, an unsuitable employee can cost a company as much as $240,000, not to mention the collateral damage inflicted on company morale and reduced productivity and achievement. In a world where every decision…

People power: The key to climate tech’s industrial revolution

As we head towards impending climate targets, a new era is unfolding—one that seeks to combat the consequences of climate change, innovative technology has emerged as a beacon of hope. Co-founder and CEO of Sea Change Paige Carratturo analyses this industrial revolution against the last two and explains why this…

Turning the Tides of the Climate Talent Ecosystem, as Sea Change Advisors

For those of us active in the energy transition and committing our careers to mitigating the worst effects of climate change, each passing year amplifies the critical nature of our collective efforts. We deeply understand the risks to humanity (all life, frankly) if we cannot keep global temperatures to 1.5…

US smart grid talent: Are you looking in the right place?

The article below was first published in Smart Energy International. Smart grids are disruptive by nature. The US energy industry is adapting to new technologies, business models, and roles for utilities and consumers borne out of the development of the smart grid market. Driving this transformation are clean energy companies…

The Rise of the Cleantech Chief Commercial Officer

The CEO of cleantech recruiter Enertech Search says a CCO or CRO can be the best-kept secret of success during early commercialization. The article below was first published in Greentech Media. The global smart-grid market is expected to cumulatively surpass $400 billion worldwide by 2020, according to GTM Research. That’s an…

How to recruit for clean tech

The article below was first published in GreenBiz. Let’s face it. Clean tech companies, especially in the grid edge and smart grid space, are under extreme pressure to hire the best and brightest minds very quickly. Each month that goes by without finding the “right” candidate is a month of…

‘Cleantech Cool’ Is Not Enough for Attracting Top Talent

The article below was first published in Renewable Energy World. In the cleantech space, grid-edge companies are hot. These startups are growing up quickly and almost all of them started out leveraging their “cool factor” to attract talent. They are working hard to transform our old electrical infrastructure into one…