Published: Feb. 18, 2015
Mark Meaney, Business Ethics

The job marketplace has caught up to CESR! That was a major takeaway from our first CSR CareerÌýTrek. In partnership with Katie Connor, Executive Director of Undergraduate Career Development, and Helen Zucchini, Director of Marketing & Outreach in the MBA Office, CESR sponsored a career trek out to the San Francisco/Bay Area. We travelled with 12 MBA students (the most ever to attend a Leeds career trek) and 12 undergrads.

We arranged the trip so students would gain access to executives in corporate social responsibility and sustainability programming as well as HR managers. We visited Cisco, Clorox, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, PG&E, and Salesforce. Students heard at each company that they possessed a unique job market differentiator.

As a prime example, Clorox has made sustainability one of four strategic goals. The company has integrated sustainability into everything from product design and development to operations and marketing. An HR manager observed that Leeds students possess a unique advantage over many of their peers. Leeds students bring a unique perspective as a result of their coursework in ethics, social responsibility and sustainability. Leeds students might be recruited for their acumen in finance, operations, marketing, etc., but they would be hired because of a skill set that would assist Clorox in achieving this important strategic goal.

Job placement is a top priority at CESR. We want to help Leeds students marry their passion for social responsibility and sustainability with employment. Leeds students may thereby exert a transformative impact on corporations. We celebrate our first CSR Career Trek because it shows the job marketplace has indeed caught up to CESR.

Read more about the career trek .

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