Creating Your Game Plan for a Career in Corporate Social Responsibility
The past few years have undoubtedly shifted perspectives in the workforce, especially in how job-seekers and employees view companies' commitment to corporate social responsibility. According to a 2021 Business & Social Justice Study, “more than half (58%) of employees today say they hold their employer to a higher standard than other companies when it comes to addressing social justice issues and 43% say they are reconsidering their current job because their company is not doing enough to address social justice issues externally".1
Questions to Ask When Thinking About Switching Careers
In fact, social responsibility is redefining corporate culture across the board and becoming a major driver of job switches. If you fall into this category and are seeking to take the next step into mission centered work, these questions will help you focus on the type of impact job you want to land:
- What am I passionate about? Another way to frame this is: “What key missional factors am I prioritizing in my job search?”
- What skill sets do I bring to the table? How can your previous work experience further the cause of an organization? If you want to move from a nonprofit role to a corporate social responsibility (CSR) role, how can you translate your skills to apply to CSR work in a broader space?
4 CSR Job-hunting Resources to Consider
Having these deeper questions answered, you can move forward in your social impact job hunt with a clear idea of what value you offer and create a game plan to land the right role! When you are ready to proceed, this list of resources can aide in your CSR job search process:
1. Use LinkedIn to connect to mission centered work
- Join social impact groups such as: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Recruiting, Strategy, Planning and DEI Related Jobs, Women in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Responsibility CSR & Sustainable Development (Sustainability) - Development Crossing
- Follow Hashtags to stay up to date with current trends and job postings. For example: #SocialImpactJobs #SustainabilityJobs #TechforGood #CorporateSocialResponsibility #DEIJobs
- For helpful conversations and tools, follow influencers such as: Shannon Houde, MBA, PCC, Craig Zelizer, Erin Erwart
- Stay up to date on company CSR or environment, social, and corporate governance (ESG) pages to see their current initiatives and watch for potential job postings. A few examples are: Cisco CSR, VMware ESG, Campbell's CSR, Microsoft CSR, Netflix CSR
2. Network in Slack Communities to connect with peers and gain further knowledge of the CSR industry
- Social Impact Chat is a Slack community (and membership organization) dedicated to corporate change makers.
3. Save social impact job boards to check regularly for qualified leads
- BCCC Job Board
- Engage for Good
- Business for Social Responsibility
- Sustainable Business
- Net Impact
- Green Jobs
- Social Impact Chat #Jobs
4. Consider CSR Career coaching
Organizations like Careers for Social Impact offer 1:1 consulting, resume building workshops and plenty of free webinars to provide you with as much knowledge as possible to land a job in the social impact industry. If you’ve exhausted your resources or are looking to take your job search to the next level, consider utilizing a CSR career coach or consultant group!
Taking the next step towards a new career can be a daunting task, but with a clear vision and the right tools, you can be one step closer to landing a role in the social impact industry.
1 Porter Novelli, 2021 Porter Novelli Business & Social Justice Study, May 2021.
