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In a two-part feature, Gideon Burrows, founder of ethicalcareers.org, introduces the ethical questions you should ask yourself, and your employer. Congratulations! You are one of thousands of career seekers who are now looking beyond corporate banking, the Milk Round, accountancy, management consultancy and asking: what can I do that won’t harm people or planet? What can I do that will make a positive, rather than negative, impact on the world in which we live? You are not only doing a good thing, but you’re doing it at the right time. More and more employers are waking up to the fact that people simply won’t come and work for them unless they treat their staff well, their carbon footprint is minimal and their human rights record is sound. The statistics speak for themselves. According to the Guardian Grad Facts survey, way over two thirds of graduates want a career in which they can do something for society. Even more say they will only work for an employer with a good ethical track record. And the Universum careers survey shows that graduates count contributing to society among their top four career goals. Why the big change? Ethical careers are a relatively new phenomenon. When we published the first Ethical Careers Guide, four years ago, there were only one or two ethical careers events UK-wide. Ethical students, graduates and career seekers reported being turned away from careers services with a patronising pat on the head.Doing something “good” with your career just didn’t really compute. Today things are different. We get over 20,000 visitors a month to this website alone. Nearly 20,000 copies of the the Ethical Careers Guide have been distributed and many universities now host ethical or green careers events. They want you, and they’re willing to change to get you. But why the growth in ethical careers? First is the growth of the internet and globalised communications: like never before, employees (and potential employees) can see, first hand, the results of actions taken by companies. The web has given us videos of starving children in Africa, or abused garment workers in Asia, and we are able to make the connection with the companies we buy from and work for. Second is the growth in ethical consumerism. More and more of us are concerned about the things we buy, leading to a massive growth in companies that are producing goods in an ethical way. As they grow into massive ethical brands (Innocent, the Body Shop, Cafedirect, Divine), more of us want to work for them. Third, and perhaps most significantly, the days of sack cloth and ashes are gone. Professionals in the charity sector can often enjoy a decent salary and conditions, they never before could have hoped for. Corporate Social Responsibility means you might be able to work for a big corporation, but in an ethical way, and get paid a commensurate wage. The ethical sector has professionalised. There are career pathways, training and achievements. In short, you can now have an ethical career rather than just a passion. So, what do we mean by ethics? Unfortunately, you won’t get a definitive answer at ethicalcareers.org We wouldn’t be doing our job properly if we tried. Each of us will have issues we’re particularly concerned about, that ring our particular ethical or moral bell. Some job seekers would not work for a company that had anything to do with destroying rainforests, others literally couldn’t give a monkey’s about endangered species – for them, human rights are the real issue. Others want to work for an organisation that has progressive staffing policies, say for same sex partners and working parents, while others are more concerned about accountability, openness and worker engagement. Your ethical career is all about where your ethical limits lie, and what is important to you.Take for example the conundrum: You’ve just landed your dream job for a children’s charity after years of trying. You then find out it invests in arms companies. The finance director says the investments help save lives. Do you resign? How you respond to that question will depend on your limits and priorities. For you, is helping children in this country more important than peace and security overseas? Or vice-versa? Or do you think you can change things from the inside? Think about it All of which leads to the conclusion that the most ethical jobs are not those that conform to some outside list of what makes a company ethical or not, but those that you consider do or do not align with your own personal limits and values. Or to put it another way, it could be much more ethical to go and work for a big oil company after loosing sleep for a week about whether you can change the company’s practices from the outside, than to go and work for a children’s charity without a second thought. Here at ethicalcareers.org we hope we’re able to provide you with some of the resources, information, advice and inspiration to help you on this difficult, but ultimately rewarding journey. Good luck! In Part 2: What should I consider when deciding upon an employer?
Guardian Grad Facts Universum Graduate Survey 2006 Innocent The Body Shop Cafedirect Divine
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