Landing a coveted CSR job can be hard enough. But challenges don't stop once you're “in.” To get a clear picture of a day in the life of a corporate idealist, we chatted with three industry insiders in our most recent Issues in Depth hangout/call. Here were some of our top takeaways:
How to prepare for an impact job
Passion and enthusiasm are important prerequisites, but are no substitute for specialized skills – such as analytical acumen or legal knowledge.
“Sometimes, [impact] roles don’t exist at junior-enough levels to build those skills, so you have to go into a job that isn’t necessarily that particular [impact] job. I would just really encourage people to think about specific skill sets, other than passion, that you can bring…. To marry [those skills] to the passion will make you a far more interesting candidate.” -- Ebele Okobi, Global Head & Senior Legal Director, Human Rights at Yahoo!
How to be effective in an impact role
Social and environmental issues may be important to you, but not everyone in the company will see the world the way you do. To be effective, discover what your company wants and help it be better.
“I’ve always used the terms of sustainability or CSR or corporate responsibility, but I go out of my way to be sure the terms are translated into the business language of whoever I’m talking to. I’m really trying to make the business a better business.... I want to be an idealist, but if I come off too much as an idealist, I find myself outside of the room. I want to be the first person they call on the phone when something comes up.” -- Dave Stangis, Vice President, Public Affairs & Corporate Responsibility at Campbell Soup Company
What to know about the pace of change
“This work is incremental. Those of us who choose to work on these really thorny, complicated issues at the heart of globalization do have to recognize and embrace that [the work] is in fits and starts. I charged out of business school thinking I was going to change the world … but this is hard stuff. And it’s slow, and it’s incremental, and it takes time.” -- Christine Bader, author of The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil