Where To Find "Sustainable" Employment?

GUEST BLOG POST: Mark Swartz is a the National Career Advisor on Workopolis.com's homepage. His current focus is 'Sustainable Employment', helping people profit their career, employer and society. You can find out more about Mark on Linkedin.

The Opportunities Are Increasing

The idea of employment being sustainable has a lot of appeal in this day
and age of job insecurity. Now there’s a whole new meaning to the term.
“Sustainability” these days means your job involves green,
environmental initiatives, or else falls under the umbrella of
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

It’s a great new way for you to increase your marketability. You can
differentiate yourself as a capable employee who can also get
profit-enhancing CSR done. But don’t just take it from me.

Being a Strategic CSR Employee

Adding his viewpoints is Dr. Andrew Crane, George R. Gardiner Professor of
Business Ethics and Director, Business & Sustainability Program at
the Schulich School of Business, located at York University. He says that this the right time for people
to clarify their role as an employee involved in CSR initiatives: "You
are not merely the company's conscience or donations person. You are
uniquely prepared to deal with complexity and multi-stakeholder
relationships on a strategic basis."

Andrew adds that those who can create new socially responsible products and
services (e.g. fair trade coffee, green mortgages), or who can reshape
processes to enhance the triple bottom line (e.g. using fewer scarce
resources, leaving less of a carbon footprint, making governance more
effective), will be in demand. He also notes that "Consumers will purchase
responsibly - assuming that price, quality and branding are equal to
the alternatives. Thus we need business-savvy employees who can make or
promote exciting products and services that have CSR built-in and the
potentially daunting tradeoffs removed."

Jobs for Responsible Business Employees

As for where the jobs might be, Andrew says that you needn't focus your
search exclusively on employers in the environmental or not-for-profit
sectors. "When you look at who is winning awards for being socially
responsible, it includes companies such as Walmart, IBM, Loblaws,
Vancouver City Savings and Home Depot; places you may not have thought
to look first." Each of the companies cited above is on the "Best 50 Corporate Citizens" list for 2008 or 2009, prepared by Corporate Knights (the Canadian magazine for responsible business).

How to find an employer that might value your CSR credentials? Well, it
makes sense to look at that Best 50 list above and also review the Canadian Business for Social Responsibiltiy (CBSR) membership roster, for starters. To that you can add member organizations of the Canadian Centre for Ethics and Corporate Policy, and the top performers on the Jantzi Social Index.

Here’s a tip from Adine Mees, President and CEO of CBSR: "Seek out industries where there are already obvious aspects of CSR that
directly impact profitability and the capacity to function within
communities, such as mining or oil and gas." Your goal is to be at the
intersection “where significant
stakeholder concerns and corporate strategy meet head on." As well,
search for employer websites where they boast of their sustainability
efforts. And keep an eye out for those that issue a CSR or
Sustainability Report in addition to the standard Annual Report.

Andrew adds that "So far there are few actual jobs with CSR in the title, yet
employers often look for people who match their values and vision
statement, who can position themselves as a solid recruit based on
respecting integrity while also being a champion of innovation,
profitability and sustainability." He reminds us that to meet the needs
of multiple stakeholders (both internal and external), you may need to
prepare yourself to be "politically astute and tough, declaring
yourself a true agent of change."

Earn and Return

So that’s where things stand for now. Employers who aren't serious about
CSR may well cut back in this realm during a downturn. Those who have
seen that the benefits of deeper corporate citizenship outweigh the
investment are likely to continue their core commitment to CSR, though
they may need to defer major projects until conditions improve. In any
event, hiring in the “Green Collar” workforce is picking up steam as
environmental issues and carbon reduction become more pronounced. Not a
bad way to make a good living while making a difference.

Mark Swartz, CareerActivist.com
Speaker, Author, Sustainable Career Specialist

Mark has built a reputation as Canada’s Career Activist.
His insights are available to millions yearly as the National Career
Advisor on Workopolis.com’s homepage. A former Toronto Star careers
columnist, Mark’s current focus is “Sustainable Employment,” helping
people profit their career, employer and society. Schulich MBA (1985),
M.Ed. OISE (2000).

Published with permission. Copyright Mark Swartz 2009.