How to be a Full time CSR Advocate during your job search

Over the past few months, I have been thinking about how to embed social responsibility in the job search process.  I believe that Corporate Social Responsibility, like any revolutionary business strategy, is like a cause that needs to be advocated for and promoted.  While a job search is a great time to take on volunteer projects with non profits that may not have been feasible while working full time, another way to further social responsibility in a job search is to become a CSR advocate in the business community.  Any MBA-level social impact job search requires lots of networking and lots of meeting with interesting people who happen not to be working in your chosen field.  I see these conversations as an opportunity to advocate and educate the business community about what CSR is.

While networking around the city of Chicago, I have met some very impressive people. When they hear that I am passionate about CSR, they often volunteer some aspect of their job where they see social or environmental responsibility “may sort of” be involved. For example, a brand manager who was asked to weigh in on the costs of the new EH&S (Environment, Health and Safety) commitments being asked of the company.  Or a Hospital HR executive who wants to find new ways to engage employees and help them to understand the purpose of the latest gold star certification scheme.  

I find these parts of my conversations exhilarating. As we talk more and I probe them about these aspects and how they relate to overall business strategy, I can sense the wheels turning in their heads. I can often suggest a contact at another company or at a non-profit that is doing a similar project. It is wonderful to be able to provide concrete help to someone who is giving up their precious time to help me. Also, by brainstorming about how CSR relates to other parts of the organization, we both learn more about the complexity and power of CSR. We learn what CSR touches at that their organizations and the language that their organizations us to discuss CSR strategies.  And isn’t that what CSR is all about: making small changes that have the prospect to make huge changes?

Here is my advice to others who want to be a full time CSR advocate during their job search:

1. Look at every informational interview as an opportunity to learn more about how CSR affects different groups.
2. Don't go for the hard sell.  An informational interview is not the place for a lecture on CSR or a place for you to tell your interviewee how to do their job.  
3. But look for any opening.  Listen closely to what your interviewee says and if it relates to something in CSR, speak up and explain yourself.  
4. Offer contacts and resources freely.  By connecting people who are working on similar issues in different companies you really can bring value to your interviewee and help move the needle on CSR issues.

What do you think? How do you think I can further the cause of CSR in my job search?