Written by Jamie Murphy, Editorial Team, CSU Ltd..
As big business comes under fire for accounting scandals and corporate ethics, graduate job seekers have been taking note. A survey in 2001 from the Chartered Institute for Personal Development found that 65% of graduates sampled would be deterred from taking a job by a company’s ethical reputation. In April 2002 a report from Axiom Research showed that 79% of graduates would not work for a company with a poor ethical record. If you’re looking to escape or change the rat race, you may be surprised by the range of ethical alternatives. Emma Farley, manager of the Ethical Careers Service and editor of yOUR Future, a magazine aimed at promoting awareness of ethical careers, says: ‘In the past five years there has been a massive expansion in the sector and there are so many opportunities available in charities, local government and political lobbying, from solar engineering, community regeneration, community arts, working in sustainable development, fair trade, ethical PR companies to setting up co-operatives.’ Emma refutes the widely held view that these sectors offer low pay. ‘At the bottom end a local government project worker can be on £6K-£9K, and internships, if paid, can be around £8K-£10K. But there are salaries of £18K-£20K for things like fundraisers and event managers. Executive PAs and secretaries in charities can earn around £16K-£17K. Chief executives of charities can earn £30K-£90K and top local government jobs can earn up to £100,000.’ Commonly entry is through voluntary work to gain experience and demonstrate commitment. From there the opportunities are vast. ‘There are 500,000 paid jobs in charities at the moment,’ says Emma. ‘That’s apart from jobs in local government and other alternative sectors.’ The Ethical Careers Service provides information and advice on working in the alternative sector. Emma stresses: ‘Whoever you decide to work for, whether it's working for a charity, local government or a business, you must be happy that it is maximising its potential for effecting positive change and you must be happy to be associated with their work.’ Related topics
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