Sitting at the kitchen table of his parents’ getaway house in Pocono Pines, PA, Connell McGill, 24, is surrounded by laptops, business documents and cups of coffee. As part of Efish, an energy efficiency start up with no office as yet, his workplace travels with him.
“This is where I work when I’m here in the mountains. It’s my office,” said McGill, who is the business development manger for the company.
Six months ago, he wore a suit and worked out of a cubicle at a major management consultancy firm, where 12-hour days and reprimands for being two minutes late were the norm.
That was enough for him to decide that this wouldn’t be his career, and he wanted to control his own direction.
“I didn’t want to wake up everyday and have someone telling me I didn’t shave close enough,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t want to listen to people, but I trust my own instincts.”
After he quit his job as a consultant in May, he said it took him a few months of brainstorming and worrying to understand the kind of job he really wanted.
“I love what I do now, because apart from being timely and giving me the chance to work with close friends, I’m part of something that’s fighting for the small guys. I think that’s important,” said McGill. The company has developed an energy saving device that is intended to help small businesses reduce electricity bills by 15 to 20 percent.
McGill is part of a recent trend defined by young professionals who have decided to be part of the green industry. Faced with an economic downturn with no visible end, they are looking to greener pastures in the hope of jobs that are stable and lucrative.
The Pew Charitable Trusts in June reported that between 1998 and 2007, clean energy jobs in the United States both white and blue-collar positions, grew by 9.1 percent, compared with overall job growth of 3.7 percent. Meanwhile the American Solar Energy Society along with the Management Information Services Inc. published a report on the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries in the U.S. The report predicts that by 2030, the sector could generate 37 million jobs and $4.3 billion in annual revenue.
Efish was launched 17 months ago out of a Manhattan apartment by two Babson College graduates. The company has developed software that analyzes information on the energy consumed by each circuit in a building, in order to show customers exactly where they can cut consumption, and so reduce electricity costs.
The idealism of working in the green industry, however, comes at a price. The startup has still to identify an investor, and requires seed capital of $1 million.
For McGill, joining Efish also translated to a host of lifestyle changes.
Instead of the $60,000 yearly salary he earned previously, he has had to dip into his savings, and has swapped his 500-square-foot apartment on Boston’s trendy Washington Street for his parents’ home in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
“Living in my childhood bedroom again does feel weird, especially since I’m almost 25 years old,” he said.
From spending approximately $4,000 a month he has streamlined his budget to $600, cutting all but the essentials – food and gas.
“I think more carefully about what I spend on now. If I go out, I’ll have just one beer, I don’t automatically head to Starbucks for coffee – things like that,” he said. “My parents help me out a lot as well.”
McGill’s girlfriend, Cara Samia, 26, who lives in Boston, has watched the changes he’s made since switching career paths.
“It’s been hard for us since he moved to Philly, but Connell is more motivated and happier than he was at his last job,” she said. “He is more mindful of money and it’s a part of our conversations now, which is new.”
The risks and changes involving his job are things that McGill is learning to live with and be optimistic about. He said he is realistic about what the outcome of this venture may be.
“I may end up waiting tables,” he said. “I could wind up a billionaire too. Either way, I’ll have a great story to tell.”
