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In Good Company: Singh on CSR

~ Connecting the dots between Business, Society & the Environment

Tag Archives: Recruitment

Think CSR is None of Your Business?

29 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR, HR, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

aman singh, aman singh das, brand management, Business, campus interview, campus recruitment, candidate sourcing, Career advice, careers, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, CSR, diversity, employee engagement, HR, human resources, IE Business School, inclusion, job interview, jobs, management, Management, Recruitment, recruitment, retention, shared value, social responsibility, Sustainability, talent, talent acquisition, talent management, Uncategorized, Work culture


Think again, especially if you work in recruitment or human resources.

My latest editorial on CSRWire: The Power of Hiring Right: A Value Proposition that Most Recruiters Continue to Ignore

Where Does CSR Fit in with the Recruitment Process?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Social Media and Leadership: Are Twitter and Facebook 21st Century Necessities?

12 Friday Aug 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR

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Accountability, aman singh, aman singh das, brand loyalty, brand management, Business, corporate citizenship, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR communications, CSR strategy, employee engagement, Facebook, Google+, human resources, innovation, job hunting on social media, Job search, Leadership, leadership, management, Management, marketing, PR, Quora, Recruitment, recruitment, reddit, Social Media, social media, Stakeholder Engagement, stumbleupon, Sustainability, sustainability, transparency, Twitter, Work culture


There is a lot of love for social media among many in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability community. [Take this short survey and have your say: Useful, necessary engagement tool or hate it and a complete hassle?]

Lucy Marcus, founder of Marcus Venture Consulting, for example, posted a blog today on Harvard Business Review, that talks about a particular Groupon deal that annoyed her enough to tweet about it and how that rose several eyebrows and an eventual resolution.

David Connor recently wrote about his love for Twitter, calling it a fascination and being constantly impressed by the simplicity of engagement and the tangible sense of community the platform provides. In his post, he alluded to a recent confession of mine, simply titled: In Defense of Twitter: 5 Reasons Why I am a Mad Tweeter, which was a response to an alternatively headlined Wall Street Journal article.

_________________________________

For those interested, here is a recount of my top five:

1) Community: Twitter has provided me with a very diverse community of individuals who are eager to engage, argue and collaborate.

2) Soundboard: Without the 20 odd tweets I send out every day, I wouldn’t get any work done. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know—but it’s true. You’ve got to go where your audience is. They have a voice and they like to use it—and as a blogger, hearing what’s working and what’s not is inarguably essential.

3) Collaborations: And of course, without Twitter, I wouldn’t have made HR Examiner‘s Top 25 HR Digital Influencers for 2011 or named among the Top 100 Thought Leaders by Trust Across America. Nor would I have been able to successfully put together the recent panel on responsible business with Carol Sanford, Jeffrey Hollender, Sarah Murray and Bank of America, or been able to interview thought leaders like Campbell Soup’s Dave Stangis, PwC’s Shannon Schuyler, EMC’s Kathrin Winkler and many others while at Vault—and collaborated with enterprising students like Ashley Jablow, Catherine Chong, entrepreneurs like Myles Lutheran and the EDF Climate Corp fellows, or published the much-referred to series on job hunting in CSR.

4) News: Believe it or not, Twitter has become a significant source of my daily news. With the help of coordinated lists, I can scan the morning news in one stream all at one source.

5) Innovation: How many times have you read an 800-word article in one the mainstream newspapers and thought “Wow, that’s interesting, I wonder how I could learn more” or “I’d love to get involved” but haven’t known what to do next? Well, because it’s so easy to connect with others on Twitter without having to jot down strenuous emails or phone calls, now you can!

_________________________________

But Connor also brought up transparency and corporate accountability.

And here is where most companies struggle with the plethora of choices available today under the domain of social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and the new kids on the block BranchOut and Google+, to name just a few.

So, how helpful are these channels? BRANDfog, a social media and CSR consulting firm launched a survey last week that begins to dig deeper into some of these questions.

Social Media and Leadership:

Should CEOs be engaging on Twitter for example? Does that help gain trust with customers, loyalty with employees, or raise the bar on transparency?

Recruitment Decisions:

Has social media become a benchmarking tool for prospective candidates in their recruitment decisions?

CSR and Sustainability:

And does a presence on social media help companies illustrate their brand values, mission and corporate citizenship?

What do you think? Take this short survey and have your say. Is social media emerging as the differentiator in today’s crowded market of jobs, business, and consumer loyalty?

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How to Pursue a Career in CSR

01 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR

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aman singh, aman singh das, Career advice, career advice, careers in CSR, careers in sustainability, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR communications, CSR jobs, finding jobs on social media, Job search, Jobs in CSR, jobs in CSR, jobs in sustainability, management, marketing, marketing jobs, PR jobs, Recruitment, Social Media, social media, social media strategy, Sustainability, sustainability, sustainability jobs


At a recent workshop on how to pursue a career in CSR, I asked students at the University of Minnesota how they define CSR. Some of their answers:

“Weaving sustainability, community responsibility, and diversity in any business role.”

“Considering all stakeholders (customer, employees, community) when making a business decision.”

“I define [it] as how the company does college student become a CSR practitioner?

While the essential job search in itself is undoubtedly important, identifying how you define CSR is more important for two reasons: 1) CSR jobs — or jobs with the specific title of CSR/sustainability — are scarce; and 2) The continuing lack of standardized scope and skills attributed with these jobs doesn’t make for a very structured job search.

This dual combination then makes it even more crucial that you understand which thread of CSR really interests you, because there are several.

Nancy Lublin from doSomething.org made an obtuse reference to this at the recent UN Social Innovation Summit, noting that most of the panelists with her were founders of something. “Everyone cannot be a founder,” she said. “It’s okay to join stuff.”

While Lublin was referring to social innovation, her comment applies to all of us: We don’t need to reinvent the wheel on responsible and ethical behavior—you just need to have a clear idea of where you stand on it, and how you can apply that to your job search.

Seriously.

So, how does a college student become a CSR practitioner? Here’s my two cents:

1. Define CSR: What does that mean to you — and your career?

If you are a great communicator and enjoy writing, then marketing would be a good fit. But if research, analysis and data are your passions, then working on CSR reporting would be a better fit.

And if working with people or organizing things is your deal, then HR or even community relations could prove to be better fits.

You get the idea.

2. Identify required skills

Now that you know what you would enjoy doing, evaluate your bucket of skills. Continuing with one of the examples above, if data gathering and analysis is your forte, here’s a few things that should be on your Skills Checklist:

  • • Understanding of what kind of data is used by companies in CSR reporting
  • • How this data is collected
  • • Industry standards
  • • Thorough knowledge of the structure and organization of CSR reports
  • • Certifications: One that instantly comes to mind is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, which many more companies — and universities — are starting to adopt.

3. It’s time to think: Brand Awareness

Start building your personal brand. Blog: write about your passion, why you want to work in the field, your motivations, etc. (It might be for free but you’ll get a better-than-decent ROI if you’re seen by the right people.) Write for publications and websites, both mainstream and niche. Meet with like-minded students who are pursuing similar interests. Join your local Net Impact chapter. Arrange informational interviews with the faculty.

These conversations will go a long way towards helping you decide whether to pursue what you are passionate or change course: Either way, a huge benefit.

4. Get practical experience

Internships: Incredibly important. Pursue as many as possible in your four years at college because that’s the time when you have the least to lose.

Internships will give you the hands-on experience that no number of years spent in college can provide. But use these opportunities responsibly because there aren’t many out there. Network, approach each day as a new lap you need to complete, seek out projects, volunteer, focus on demonstrating your skills, and share your opinion.

And learn to fail.

When you do (not if), pick up the pieces and continue on, or start over—both are perfectly okay. Failures later in life will sting a lot more, so fail early and learn well.

5. Social Media: Learn to be a bystander and listen

Another skill that I just cannot overstate the importance of. While you build your personal brand–whether through blogging, research papers, tweeting, commentary on Facebook or the college newspaper—be sure to share it with others. And demand feedback: the good and the bad.

Listen to what is being written about the subject, who the prominent speakers are, the movers, the exemplified, the ridiculed (you’ll learn from both, trust me), the practitioners.

In the end, use your skills to guide your job search. Once at a company, let your passion guide you in creating the change you want to see happen. We can no longer afford to stand outside and point fingers.

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Introducing Singh on CSR: A Journalist With a Purpose..and an Opinion

Featured

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR, CSR reporting, HR, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Accountability, aman singh, aman singh das, Career advice, CSR, CSR blogger, CSR reporting, Ethics, Events, Green, HR, In Good Company, Job search, Jobs in CSR, Leadership, Recruitment, Social Media, social media, Sustainability, sustainability, Uncategorized, Work culture


*Updated July, 2014

Most recently the Editorial Director at CSRwire, a digital media platform for the latest news, views and research on CSR and sustainability. Along with leading content distribution, social media strategy and CSR/sustainability reporting services for CSRwire members, I also led Talkback, CSRwire’s aman singh, csrwireCommentary section, with over 250 contributors and increased traffic 35% – 50% year to year.

The channel featured several influencers and thought leaders – John Elkington, Hazel Henderson, Wayne Visser – as well as authors – Frances Moore  Lappé, Bob Willard, Carol Sanford – researchers, activists and CSR/sustainability professionals – AMD’s Tim Mohin, Campbell Soup’s Dave Stangis, Sustainability leader Peter Graf, John Edelman – and served as a platform to push the needle on critical topics, learn from each other and constantly crowdsource new ideas, partnerships and best practices.

While at CSRwire, I’ve had the pleasure of working with numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as the country’s leading nonprofits and academic institutions on creating and implementing communication strategies focused on stakeholder engagement and behavior change, including Unilever, Verizon, Aramark, SAP, Campbell Soup, Nestle Waters North America, McDonald’s, General Mills, HP, Mars, Avon, Sodexo, EarthShare, Points of Light and others.

Our Stakeholder Engagement Campaigns – including live Twitter chats and webinars as well as content series and multimedia – generated millions of impressions, hundreds of participants and provided our members with critical feedback, important partnerships and a pulse of their stakeholders’ concerns.

I’ve also been an active journalist for almost 15 years, including stints at The Wall Street Journal, The Villager, Tehelka.com and Vault.com, where I created, designed and managed the recruitment industry’s first CSR channel aimed exclusively at engaging, debating and discussing corporate social responsibility, sustainable (and unsustainable) business practices, responsible (and irresponsible) leadership, diversity and the lack of it, the role of workplace culture in our lives, social entrepreneurship, the newly-minted term ‘intrapreneurship’ and much, much more.

Careers in CSR and Sustainability

Vault’s CSR Channel

Skepticism is second nature to me and I’m most comfortable asking [mostly the right] questions, facilitating dialogues, editing copious pages of text, refining even the most academic articles into easy-to-read blogs and thrive on the opportunities extended by a new world of social media and access to organizations and change makers.

This is my space – to question, analyze and discuss.

I’ll examine the latest CSR report and debate how we’re faring in our pursuit of materiality and creating a new economy built on wellbeing and shared value. No question is small enough, no development unrelated. And no topic unworthy.

From careers in CSR to the future of GRI reporting, from analyzing the do(s) and don’t(s) of sustainability to the latest in impact investing and our search for materiality; from social media etiquette to transparency in this new hyper-connected world, from work/life balance to gender and age discrimination, from effective communication strategies to the immensely irritating term “greenwashing”; and much much, more, join me for a promising and thought-provoking ride.

-Aman
@AmanSinghCSR

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