Some people never need to hire a professional. Whether it’s a plumber, personal trainer, or eco-consultant that they need, they’d rather teach themselves how to solve the given problem. Other people would rather spend their time and effort most efficiently, so they hire a professional when they get in over their heads. If you’re the latter type, and you want to “green” your home or office, then you’ll want to get familiar with Green Irene. They are a New York City based company, founded in 2007, that provides eco-consulting services and sells green products. If you’re worried about the negative impact that you’re having on the environment, you can have one of their consultants visit your home and office to make recommendations on how you can do better. The Wall Street Journal did a nice feature on the eco-consulting industry (it includes Green Irene), so check that out to get a better sense of the overall market.

Go Green with Irene

When I first started looking at Green Irene, there were a couple of red flags that made me nervous about featuring them. The first was that when you type “Green Irene” into Google, the top two suggestions that come up are “Green Irene scam” and “Green Irene complaints.” That’s enough to make anyone nervous, but it’s actually relatively common with companies that operate businesses like Green Irene. The results of those searches didn’t turn up much in terms of negative press. This leads to my second issue, which is probably why so many people are searching those searches: Green Irene uses a direct sales business model (many scam jobs use a similar model). That means that their eco-consultants aren’t Green Irene employees, but “independent business women and men who work from their own home or office as distributors of Green Irene consulting services and green products.” They also have a strong incentive to focus on selling products during their consults.

Although I don’t love this model for a business, I do understand why Green Irene does it (it makes starting up and growing quickly way easier). There are direct sales positions with Green Irene, but those aren’t what caught my interest (I think new grads can learn a lot doing direct sales, but it usually offers less than ideal situations). I’m more interested in the Operations Assistant position posted on their Jobs page—it’s perfect for a new grad. If you like what you see in the description, e-mail your résumé and cover note to jobs@greenirene.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• GreenIrene.com
• Jobs at Green Irene
• About Green Irene
• Green Irene’s Founders
• Green Irene in the Press
• Green Irene’s FAQ

What do you think of Green Irene?

We've identified Green Irene as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• consumer products
• green
• New York
• operations
• sales

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Jobs Near You

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2 responses to “Green Irene”

1. Rosamaria from Green Irene says:

   January 14, 2010 at 8:35 am

   Willy, this is Rosamaria , co-founder of Green Irene, wanting to thank you for the post about Green Irene. Is being a Green Irene Eco-Consultant a great job for a recent college grad? I would think they need something more guaranteed income. But it is a great way to test your entrepreneurial skills on a part time basis!! And as you pointed out, we do have some entry level or part time positions available in our NYC Headquarters for recent grads.
   As for Google suggesting the search phrase including “scam” or “complaints” after our name, we have noticed that too, and I think that what happens is that when people research Green Irene to help them decide whether to become an eco-consultant, they search to see IF there are complaints or IF we are a scam, so it has become a frequently used search phrase – and as you found out when you pursued it, there isn’t anything there.
   I encourage your readers to take a look at http://www.greenirene.com and http://www.beagreenirene.com and contact us or by calling 888-212-GREEN.

   Reply
2. Mary says:

   January 16, 2010 at 5:14 am

   This is something I’d love to do, but not as a first “job.” Plus I can’t afford the starting kits. :( I wonder if any Green Irenes need assistants?

   Reply