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Career Opportunities in CSR

Career Opportunities in CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not a word in fact it is a world that is to help and work on many fronts for the welfare and betterment of the people, society, business, and life style and much more in all the possible ways.

According to a survey from The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) the expectation and beliefs of the public, or we can say common people's trust in businesses and from corporates are growing, and they think that these sectors play a crucial role in the betterment of the society such as to eradicate poverty, providing massive job opportunities, right remuneration according to labour laws and provide good atmosphere to work without human right abuse.

CSR is an emerging industry with many opportunities on offer for young and aspiring talent. A CSR Professional is someone who covers careers in the CSR environment. Careers related to CSR include community outreach, stakeholder management, and overall community engagement. Social Media marketing is also increasingly important for traditionally conservative brands who have previously avoided taking an interest in digital media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The new and forward-looking field of CSR is no stranger to opportunities of all levels and entrepreneurship. In order to operate with sustainability in CSR, non-profits need to understand that they cannot just think about the “here-and-now” because CSR doesn’t have space for smaller dimensions but instead have to commit themselves to long term operational goals by considering the effect on the whole world.

Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR is having huge success in important areas such as sustainability practices, transparency in partnerships, and advocacy efforts on behalf of both given populations and home communities. However, with these great opportunities also come challenges as organizations struggle with long term occupational commitment within CSR. Organizations are often going bankrupt since they don't have strong leadership and focus on organizational goals.

We cannot underestimate the significance of non-profit leaders who show commitment for a lifetime for the success of their organizational commitment, their only mission is the betterment of society through good deeds.

We are moving towards a future where brands are more than just marketing projects they used to be. The bigger their revenues and the higher their performance, the more they will become an important part of people’s lives by their economic and service contribution.

A career in CSR is a journey that allows you to engage with new organizations, cultures and social environments. You grow your knowledge and understanding through committed project work, learning from innovative thinkers and joining training opportunities to help grow your skillset to better understands the societal problems and their solutions accordingly.

The field covers diverse areas from sustainability to rural communities through giving back programs, whether one day a week or as a dedicated employee or volunteer—there is always time for some contribution, so everyone should offer their service as much as possible according to your will and ability.

If we talk about career opportunities in CSR education then it is a very broad field in all sectors like Public, Private and Non-Profit sectors. There are brief details is given below for all these sectors-

The private sector comprises Legal Division, Compliance, Public Relations etc. and is commonly known and consist of a reputation management program, environmental risk program and human rights program other domains are investor relations, marketing, environmental management, public affairs, finance, and human resource these departments also provide mass job opportunities.

Mainly, the Public sector deals with international organizations, government agencies or government NGOs.

Non-Profit sectors or NGOs are working as a watchdog for the private and public sectors whether all the schemes provided by these sectors are reaching people or not.

Types of Jobs in different domains are as follows-

  • Project Management
  • Consulting
  • Public Relations
  • Community Relations
  • Human Resources

Some of the major skills that are required for a successful CSR professional are as follows-

Business Skills- It comprises of communication skills, decision making, Information Technology, Innovation, Strategic awareness, problem solving, handling complexity, commercial awareness.

Technical Skills- It comprises of technical expertise in the subject, understanding impacts, stakeholder dialogue, internal consultancy, understanding human rights and understanding sustainability, selling the business case.

 People skills- It includes   integrity, adaptability and empathy, developing others, influencing without power, open minded for everything, political awareness, self-development and learning, building partnerships, team working etc.

The following six key competences are specified for managers participating in CSR in organizations, based on the three abilities mentioned above are as follows-

  1.  Building capacity
  2.  Questioning business as usual
  3.  Understanding society
  4.  Harnessing diversity
  5.  Strategic view
  6.  Stakeholder relations