Top tips for a career in social impact.
Looking for a career in social impact? Here are my top 5 tips to help you.
Finding a job with social impact can be challenging as there’s no clearly defined route. Career paths in the social economy are not straight forward so here are some tips to help you:-
It’s not in the title.
Research all of the different titles so you are aware of all the jobs out there and more importantly delve in to the job responsibilities to see the opportunities for impact. Sounds obvious but social impact jobs don’t have the same names and companies have different titles for their jobs. There are around 40 titles and they are growing quickly, here are a few – Social innovation, Community Organiser, B Corps, Responsible Investing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Cause Marketing.
Focus on you.
Search for the job in the area of impact that really interests you and motivates you and be led by this when you are hunting for a new role. Avoid searching for the job that you think you ‘should do’ or ‘could do’ – you need to be inspired and excited by the field of social impact you are going to contribute to. This will then help you build up a CV of jobs that ‘flow’ together rather than look like erratic moves.
Networking.
Get away from the day job and be open to communicating with people and contacts outside of your comfort zone. Leave time to relationship build and join groups where you can meet face to face with likeminded people. You’ll soon start to identify people who have similar passions and might even be doing a job like the one you are wanting who can give you advice.
Develop your skills set.
Future employers will want to know what you can do for them and how your skills set will be beneficial if you are to join their team. Invest in yourself and make sure your enthusiasm combines well with your skills and keep them up to date. Set up google alerts for areas such as sustainability and social finance. You can also get the latest news by following hashtags and thought leaders on Twitter e.g. #socent #socinn
# sustainability.
Be innovative.
Put your sustainability mindset to use when you have opportunities in your work and see if you can enhance projects you are working on or spearhead volunteer programs. You could even help get your company a B corp designation. Think laterally and be bold to seek opportunities that will add value to your team and your cv. Raise your hand and use your initiative to support those around you. Social innovators collaborate and don’t work in isolation so get out there.
For more career advice contact katie@meaningfulrecruitment or go to www.meaningfulrecruitment.co.uk