Looking for an ethical career

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Overview

Defining what is meant by ‘ethical employment’ is by no means straightforward.  Your challenge is to define what it means for your values and beliefs.

While some occupational sectors are more usually associated with ethical employment (such as the public sector or charity or development work) this page aims to broaden this limited definition of an 'ethical career'. It is possible to work in a far wider range of organisations while upholding ethical beliefs and values. Using the resources here you should find it more possible to factor your values into whichever occupations interest you and fit well with your skills.

What do you mean by 'ethical'?

There is no fixed definition on an ‘ethical career’. Like an ‘interesting career’ or an ‘impressive career’ it is for you do decide.

Perhaps you mean:

Doing, quantitatively, the most amount of 'good' possible:

If this sounds like your approach you might like to read a summary of the work of DPhil Ethicist Will Crouch. Will has founded 80,000 hours, a spin-off from the charitable group Giving What We Can. This Oxford-based organisation argues that by giving philanthropically in a substantial way you could fund more 'good' than you could ever achieve as an individual worker. Their PowerPoint presentation ‘Which Careers Do the Most Good’ and their new video on their proposition are both online.

Working to improve the impact of an industry or business on the world

This kind of role includes working in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) as well as consulting on these issues, managing improvement programmes, change initiatives or supporting organisations who have external beneficiaries (such as government" href="/students/occupations/civil-service--government/">public sector departments or charities) to improve their results through research, evaluation and development.

Working for a particularly responsible employer in your chosen industry

For every industry there are websites which rate and rank organisations based on a variety of ethical criteria. See the ‘Investigating an Employer’s Ethics’ section below for these links, and bear in mind that another good indicator might be to see what the published ‘values’ of the organisation are, and look at whether they’re mentioned in job descriptions.

Working directly with beneficiaries

From a sanitation support worker in Somalia to a secondary school teacher in Somerset, from an environmental education officer in Evesham to a cardiologist in Caracas, there are many people who have decided that what is satisfying and attractive is working directly with those that need help.

It might not be people that need help; those that choose this hands-on career route that 'beneficiaries' can also mean landscapes, animals, environments and ecosystems. Some of these roles (such as Social Work, Education or Medical roles) rely on qualification routes, but there are many other roles through which building experience through working in the field is valued, particularly in the charity sector.

Campaigning and influencing external decision makers

With the power to influence individual giving, redistributive taxation, laws and regulations, this group arguably have the potential to create a huge impact for good. From marketing and PR to policy think-tanks and lobbying, charity campaigning to diplomacy and many further careers, all in this group could consider themselves ‘ethical’ by the definition of what their influence has achieved.

The Ethical Careers Guide

The Ethical Careers Guide is a good read to get you thinking about the issues surrounding ethical employment, and includes valuable profiles of various career fields. It includes People and Planet’s Ethical Careers Service, which merged with this Guide.  (Available in our Resource Centre, or order online via www.ethicalcareers.org).

Investigating an employer's ethics

For some areas there are established markers to look for, such as the Fairtrade Mark or  organic certification in retail and production, or mentions of their carbon footprint featuring in the company’s web materials. Whether this actually means they are ethical in practice is something you’ll have to judge for yourself, according to your own priorities and values, as what is 'ethical' is ultimately subjective.

Some organisations may publish corporate social responsibility, environmental or sustainability reports online. Since 2006 Government legislation has required all listed companies to show that they have considered environmental and social issues within their annual report. Some companies may run pro bono schemes to share staff and expertise with particular groups, charities or public-sector projects, or may specialise in this area of work.  Another approach when researching employers is to investigate their approach to their own staff, including any equal opportunities policies according to which they may work.

You should read the information an organisation provides – both in hard copy and on its website – and look for evidence of the values that matter to you. If an organisation strongly subscribes to ethical principles, or is involved in a particular project, this may well be clearly advertised. In other instances you may have to look harder to find the information you need. You may feel that you need a more impartial assessment, or want to see the results of other people’s research into the same issues.

Useful websites for researching employers

The following websites provide a brief sample of research tools that may help you to investigate the policies and practices of particular companies. It should be noted that they are drawn from a variety of sectors, and exist for a variety of different aims, so their relationships with (and perspectives on) companies may differ considerably. Some are independent organisations that are openly critical of major companies, while others are drawn from the business world, and will provide information on particular schemes and partnerships. They by no means provide absolute answers, but instead should be used to inform your investigations.

•    www.amnesty.org.uk/business  - deals with human rights issues in business
•    www.business-humanrights.org  - independent, international non-profit organisation
•    www.bitc.org.uk  - supports business in continually improving its impact on society
•    www.corporatewatch.org.uk  - independent research group, based in Oxford,
•    www.ethical-company-organisation.org/  - aims to set “the benchmark for CSR”.
•    www.ethicalconsumer.org  - UK organisation looking at the track records of companies.
•    www.eiris.org  - independent research into corporate behaviour

Resources available

CAREER BRIEFINGS

Our guides to the various occupational sectors (including vacancy sites) include:
Civil Service
Charity and development work
Arts and cultural organisations
Entrepreneurship and social enterprise
Natural-resources and the environment
Health care, social work, psychology
Education
Think tanks
     and many, many more!

OXFORD CAREERS NETWORK

The Careers Service operates an online database of Oxford graduates, who have provided written information about what they do and the best/worst aspects of it.  Many are willing to be contacted by Careers Service users seeking further information or advice; use this to learn behind-the-scenes insights, and to create valuable opportunities for networking.  See our website, www.careers.ox.ac.uk/students/ocn  for more details. Access the Network by logging in to CareerConnect, the password-protected area of the website.

NEWS AND SECTOR-RELATED GROUPS AND ASSOCIATIONS

•    http://www.80000hours.org Oxford group promoting professional philanthropy
•    http://www.ethicalcareers.org/  Issues based UK site
•    http://www.prospects.ac.uk/features_ethical_careers.htm  Graduate careers site
•    http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/  UK National body for social entrepreneurship
•    http://www.accountability.org/  - International ethical accountability organisation
•    http://community.eldis.org/  Learning and networking in international development
•    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/ethicalbusiness  CSR developments
•    www.ethicalcorp.com  Global business intelligence for ethical development
•    http://www.csreurope.org/  Europe-focused CSR development news
•    http://corporate-responsibility.org/ UK coalition of charities, trade unions and companies
•    http://www.ccbriefing.co.uk/index.php/ccb  News and analysis on responsible business

SECTOR VACANCIES

See sector-specific vacancy sites through our career briefings (above).

The following are vacancy sites that address the broadest implication of 'ethical career':
•    We provide access to sites such as www.ethicaljobs.net, www.humanrightsjobs.com
•    Oxford Hub 'Ethical Internship' scheme, and other opportunities
•    Guardian Jobs - Ethical jobs  Refine and save your search for email updates
•    http://www.lifeworth.com/  Jobs in responsible enterprise and finance
•    http://www.ethicalperformance.com/recruitment/index.php  International CSR, SRI jobs

E-BOOKS

The following e-books are available through SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries Online) -  http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

•    A better way to think about business: how personal integrity leads to corporate success, Robert Solomon
•    Capitalizing on kindness: why 21st century professionals need to be nice, Kristin Tillquist
•    Essentials of business ethics: creating an organisation of high integrity and superior performance, Denis Collins
•    Ethics 101: a CEO’s guide to business ethics,  Patrick M. Byrne
•    Executive ethics: ethical dilemmas and challenges for the C-suite, Scott A. Quatro
•    High performance with high integrity, Benjamin W. Heineman
•    When principles pay: corporate social responsibility and the bottom line, G. M. Heal

RESOURCE CENTRE

The Careers Service also has an extensive resource centre at 56 Banbury Road, Oxford, where you can drop in to browse during opening hours (visit our website for details).

FILES

•    Ethical Issues: Corporate, social and environmental responsibility 

BOOKS

•    Careers Un-Ltd: Another World is Possible
•    The Ethical Careers Guide
•    The Rough Guide to a Better World

Help us develop

If you're part of a student organisation looking to develop events for those interested in Ethical Careers, get in touch to join our group of those thinking similarly to avoid duplicating efforts and provide new links for cross-promotion. Email lucy.hawkins@careers.ox.ac.uk for more.

Page last edited: 07 February 2012

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