Does anyone work in corporate social responsibility or a similar role?

[Keke94LND]

Hi all, I'll try and keep it as brief as possible... I am 27, I have a degree in Business and Management (2:1) and live and work in London. Since graduating 6 years ago I have worked as an executive assistant in small private equity firms. This is not what I want to do forever and to be honest I have found it really hard to figure out what I do want to do!

I am currently researching and exploring different avenues I could take, and one module I did at uni was corporate social responsibility (CSR). I had a real interest in this and think I could be quite good at it .. but is it actually a career that exists? Do companies have CSR departments? And if so, how would I go about transitioning into that?

I am also researching procurement, which also intrigues me and I think the procurement could be linked with CSR in a way?

Thanks! :)

Yes it definitely is. What industry are you most familiar with?
Identify some companies from it and research their websites for CSR departments.

You will need to edit your CV with all the CSR buzz words.

And read up about it on LinkedIn at the least, ideally a few journal articles and the latest business book. Look up kogan page they do good books.

Good luck! Make it happen

also ESG - environmental, social governance, its massive at the moment.
Seems to be the new CSR imo. vaguely in that world, no more use than that though, good luck.

Ours comes under HR's diversity and inclusion team, but it's definitely a role - more than one role, though mostly at our US head office rather than here. Various stats and picies are included in the annual report. That includes our supplier - not code of conduct, but that sort of is what it is, about how they should use ethical employment practices (I think there’s something about not barring trade unions and similar organisations, no modern slavery, that sort of thing,) sustainable materials, no bribery and so on.

Yes definitely! Ours has lots of roles in this space

@EBearhug

Ours comes under HR's diversity and inclusion team, but it's definitely a role - more than one role, though mostly at our US head office rather than here. Various stats and picies are included in the annual report. That includes our supplier - not code of conduct, but that sort of is what it is, about how they should use ethical employment practices (I think there’s something about not barring trade unions and similar organisations, no modern slavery, that sort of thing,) sustainable materials, no bribery and so on.

Ah interesting, HR is also a role i am interested in, and I have actually seen a few people on LinkedIn who have jobs in CSR who previously held HR roles so this is potentially a good route into that.. thanks! :)

As you have some experience in finance, check out corporate finance ESG qualifications as well - this course is free and this course to provide a qualification is just £485. I think it would put you well ahead of the pack. I can see a future (if it isn't already happening) where companies regularly use ESG consultants to help them tick the boxes that fund managers and institutions are beginning to insist on.

Also worth checking out ESG podcasts

There’s a strong link to ED&I and HR especially colleague engagement and internal communications so emphasise anything you’ve done like that on your application.