Study by Net Impact & Ellen Weinreb CSR Recruiting
Report Overview
Goal
•Inform MBAs and companies about the CSR Jobs Market
Key Findings
•Increasing growth in CSR jobs
•Demand from MBA level candidates still outpaces supply
Companies, with specific CSR jobs or not, can attract top talent by highlighting their work in CSR and environmental issues.
Report Contents
•Methodology
•Key Findings: Supply and Demand
– In Depth: Supply
– In Depth: Demand
•Implications
•Resources
About Net Impact
Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to make a positive impact on society by growing and strengthening a community of new leaders who use business to improve the world. We offer a portfolio of programs to educate, equip, and inspire more than 10,000 members to make a tangible difference in their universities, organizations, and communities. Net Impact has a job board that helps socially and environmentally-minded companies connect with top MBA talent. http://www.netimpact.org
About Ellen Weinreb CSR Recruiting and Consulting
Ellen Weinreb’s recruitment agency specializes in CSR. She comes to recruiting after a decade of CSR consulting and coaching hundreds of job seekers. Her clients include Levi Strauss, Sears, Clorox, Hewlett Packard, Nike, and the World Bank. Resources for jobseekers and for hiring managers are available at http://www.ellenweinreb.com
Methodology: Data Sources
•Supply
– All job postings on Business for Social Responsibility’s (BSR) jobs page and CSR-Chicks*, a listserve for CSR professionals based out of London. Tracked from January 2004 – June 2007, 1255 relevant positions analyzed
– Criteria applied to ensure a certain level in the job postings:
The position must be full time permanent
The job must have something to do with CSR
Administrative junior-level positions are not included (i.e.:Admin Assistant)
•Demand
– Net Impact membership numbers tracked from January 2004-June 2007
*- To subscribe to CSR-Chicks send a blank email to: csr-chicks-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
3 categories and types of employers
1. Internal – CSR position within a company
– Multi-national companies (MNC) – Private companies over 1000 employees
– Small companies – Private companies with <1000 employees
2. Services – Providing a service to the company
– Associations – Support organizations such as BSR or IBLF
– Consulting – Headcount 200-2000 such as Ernst & Young or KPMG. Please note that these firms have many types of CSR practices within the firm, such as Ethics, CSR Strategy, Community Involvement Management or Compliance.
– Compliance – Monitoring firms such as Intertek, Cal Safety, or SGS
3. Independent- Working as an independent body in the field of CSR
– Research – Organizations that focus on research and education such as Great Place to Work Institute or University of Leeds
– SRI – Socially responsible investing organizations such as Calvert or Institutional Shareholder Services. Please note that BSR and CSR-Chicks are not the leading job postings sites for SRI positions so the SRI-related data is not representative of hiring practices within SRI.
– NGO – Nonprofits such as Oxfam or VolunteerMatch
– Public Sector/ Multilateral – Such as the World Bank or National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Key Findings: Supply of CSR Jobs
• Growth of 37% per year in CSR jobs overall: In 2004 there were 19 postings per month while in 2007 there were 48 postings per month.
• CSR largely outsourced: Service companies (providing consulting or compliance support) have the largest number of postings.
• Multinationals hire for compliance in the apparel industry: Of the 317 positions posted by multinational companies 25% were compliance related. 19% were CSR in general. 15% were community focused and 13% were focused on the environment. The apparel and consumer products industries were the top employers with 25% and 22% positions respectively.
• Top employers were Business in the Community and Business for Social Responsibility: The top CSR employers overall were two leading CSR membership associations in the UK and US respectively, Business in the Community based in London with 86 postings and Business for Social Responsibility based in San Francisco with 53 postings. Other leaders include Cal Safety Compliance Corporation in Los Angeles, CA; Disney in Burbank, CA; Nike in Beaverton, OR; and Starbucks in Seattle, WA.
• Average disclosed annual salary was $67,000: Of the 1255 postings, 216 disclosed salary information. The average disclosed salary was $67,000 with most of those jobs based in London.
Key Findings: Demand
• Growing number of MBAs interested in CSR: Net Impact is the only organization of MBAs committed to CSR and sustainability. Active membership has grown from 2617 in 2004 to 4897 in 2007 (87% growth).
• CSR job seekers actively searching: Net Impact has over1000 resumes of interested MBAs looking for both internships and full-time positions. Ellen Weinreb has over 500 resumes in her database.
• CSR job searches focus on three key terms: Net Impact members searching for jobs on its site focus on three categories (in order of frequency): CSR, Consulting, Sustainability.
•MBA programs responding to increase in interest in green jobs: This includes green investments, clean technology, renewable energy, solar and more. Business schools are helping to prepare their students through joint degrees and concentrations in environmental sustainability.
Growth in CSR jobs: 2004 – 2007
CSR positions have increased on average 37% per year over the past 3.5 years. In 2004 there were 19 postings per month while in 2007 there were 48 postings per month.
• Steady rise amongst all 3 categories
• Independent positions more volatile
All of the 1255 postings were separated into 3 categories: 1) Internal(25%)- working on CSR in their own company, 2) Services (41%)-providing consulting or third party compliance support to companies and 3) Independent (34%) – working in an independent capacity to research, monitor or support CSR.
• Skews low because disclosure of salary occurs when salary is low
• From 2004 – 2005, average disclosed salary was $56,200 USD
• Mostly manager level
• Majority posted by CSR Chicks
• All things equal, for MNCs CSR positions pay less than non-CSR positions
Resumes
• Net Impact has over 1000 resumes in its database. Almost 600 were submitted in relation to the largest ever 2007 Annual Conference.
-From 2005-2007, the number of resumes has increased by 46%, from 769 in 2005 to 1126 in 2007.
-Net Impact’s database has three types of candidates: first year graduate business students looking for internships; second year students looking for full time positions; and professionals who have their graduate degrees and several years of post-grad experience.
• Ellen Weinreb has over 500 resumes in her database
-Ellen’s recruiting services typically focus on candidates with at least 5 years post-MBA experience.
BA schools respond to demand by offering environment-focused programs
• University of Michigan – Joint degree between Ross School of Business and Erb Institute (Environmental)
• Yale School of Management – Joint degree with School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. And newly formed Center for Business and the Environment.
• Wharton – Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership
• UCLA – Developing interdepartmental Sustainable Leaders Program
• Haas – New Sustainable Products program sponsored by Dow
• Stanford – MBA from the Business School and an MS in Environment and Resources from the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources (IPER) at the School of Earth Sciences.
• Duke – Duke Environmental Leadership Program
• UC Davis’ Graduate School of Business – Partnered with the Energy Efficiency Center and Center for Entrepreneurship to bring Green curriculum to students
• San Francisco State University – Created a Sustainable Business Emphasis
Note: list is illustrative, not comprehensive
Green is the color of CSR
• The Wal-Martization of Sustainability
-Consumer packaged goods and apparel companies are finding opportunities in all aspects of their businesses to become more green, including through sustainable packaging, greening the supply chain, and green product design.
-The major P.R. companies (such as Edelman, Fleishman Hillard) have all started “sustainability practices” focused specifically on communicating a companies green strategy.
-Financial markets have also gone green. With emissions trading, green venture capital, and green banks, there are many more options for MBAs interested in finance to go green.
• More job sites cropping up from ones focused on “green jobs” to meta-search engines that are now seeing more CSR postings.
-For a comprehensive list of sites posting CSR positions, visit Ellen’s site: http://ellenweinreb.com/boards.htm
-For jobs targeting MBAs specifically, visit www.netimpact.org/recruit
Career Resources from Net Impact
www.netimpact.org/career
Job Postings – Logon to the Member Community to see the latest job opportunities from companies eager to hire Net Impact members. Post your resume so hiring managers can find you. https://netimpact.affinitycircles.com/netimpact/postings/index.html
Social Impact Career Handbook- Information on careers in International Development, Green Business, Foundations, Social Entrepreneurship and more.
http://www.netimpact.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=1056
Career Newsletter – Bi-weekly newsletter featuring new career resources, upcoming Issues in Depth calls and the latest job postings.
Sign up by updating your Net Impact profile and select to receive the Career Newsletter.
Career focused Issues in Depth Calls – Look for monthly calls focused on career topics
Member stories – Read internship and job highlights from Net Impact members.
New MBA Assurance Protocol – Gain valuable CSR reporting skills and insight through these student projects working with companies who need verification of their CSR reports
Resources from Ellen Weinreb
Resume Upload – Submit your resume to database
https://weinrebgroup.com/sustainable-jobs/
CSR Jobs Sites – Links to over 35 jobs sites where you will find
postings for current openings (https://weinrebgroup.com/sustainable-jobs/useful-job-boards/)
Insights- https://weinrebgroup.com/category/insights/
To subscribe to CSR-Chicks send a blank email to:
csr-chicks-subscribe@yahoogroups.com