Weinreb Group Sustainability and ESG Recruiting

CSR Jobs Report 2004

Jul 6, 2004 | What We Think

  1. 1.    Top 3 Sub-Categories: Internal CSR jobs, CSR Associations and Boutique Consulting.

In addition to analysis by Tier, a further analysis of sub-categories in Tiers 1 & 2 indicated that top categories were

  • Internal CSR jobs (32)
  • CSR associations/support organizations (22)
  • Boutique Consulting firms (14). 

 
Note that Tier 1, Internal CSR, is a sub-category of itself.   Boutique consulting firms are non-management consulting firms and happen to be more prevalent in the UK with 2.5 times more postings. 
CSR Associations/ Support Organizations include the organizations that have a well established reputation as supporting companies’ CSR programs.  Such leaders include Business for Social Responsibility (BSR, and their affiliates such as Canadian BSR), International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF, formerly known as Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum), AccountAbility, Forum for the Future, and Business in the Community (BITC, and affiliates such as Scottish BITC).  The CSR Associations are not only top CSR employers but also “feeders” into the Tier 1 positions meaning that the Tier 1 employers are attracted by resumes with CSR Association experience.

  1. 2.    What are the salaries for CSR jobs?

Of course the salary question is often the burning question for job seekers.  Unfortunately, few job postings included enough salary data to be a representative sample.  All the same, the information that was gathered is included here for the job seekers perusal.  Four out of the 32 Tier 1 Internal CSR postings included salary data with the average salary being £41.9K ($77.2K)- these 4 were UK jobs.  Amongst Tier 2 jobs, salaries for 6 UK positions within the CSR Associations/Support Organization sub-category averaged £27.9K ($51.4K).  This anecdotal data supports an assumption based on experience that internal corporate CSR jobs pay approximately 25% more than CSR Associations/Support Organization positions.  Future research will attempt to obtain a representative sample of salaries.

  1. 3.    Who are the top employers?

Top employers were all from Tier 2: Business in the Community (BITC) (6), BSR (5) and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) (4).  Of all the positions listed, Business in the Community had the greatest number of positions with 6 positions listed.  BSR came in a close 2nd with 5 positions.  Institutional Shareholder Services was the 3rd leading employer with a total of 4 positions offered in the first half of 2004.  BSR is currently undergoing structural and leadership reorganization with a new CEO at the helm effective August 1, 2004.  It is predicted that BSR will win the top employer position for the 2nd half of 2004.

  1. 4.    When is the best time to Search for a CSR Job?

The distribution of job announcements were evenly distributed over time implying that anytime is as  good a time to look for a job in the CSR industry.  On the other hand, it’s possible that 32 Tier 1 internal CSR and 49 Tier 2 jobs (81 total positions) is too few positions to meet the demands of those interested in CSR positions.  Future research will attempt to analyze this supply and demand.
 

  1. 5.    The Increase in CSR Reports Has Not Led to an Increase in CSR Reporting Jobs Listings

With a general trend of corporations producing Social Responsibility and Sustainability Reports, one would think that positions would open up in this arena.  Of the 119 jobs posted, there were none specifically geared towards Reporting.  Certain positions would presumably support the reporting effort.  Anecdotally, reports are written internally by staff whot have been with the company for a considerable amount of time.  There are writers with CSR report writing expertise who receive consulting contracts to write the report.  Many of the 2nd tier organizations (consulting firms fitting under management consulting, lead CSR think tanks and boutique consulting) support companies in the writing of their CSR reports.
Next Steps
Ellen Weinreb Social Responsibility Consulting will continue to gather information about CSR jobs.   

  • The next phase of analysis will include city data in addition to country data with the hypothesis that over 80% of the UK jobs are based in London and 10% of the US jobs are in the San Francisco and New York each.
  • Further analysis will cover the level of experience required for the various positions.
  • To conduct even deeper analysis, Social Responsibility Consulting would need funding.  If you have ideas for funding, please email ellen@ellenweinreb.com.

What further information would you find helpful?  Please email me at ellen@ellenweinreb.com