It has become a staple in professional services firm interviews for the interviewee to ask about the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility program.
It’s almost expected in order to prove that they are indeed a millennial, what with the beards and all, it’s sometimes very hard to tell.
When asked, the interviewer “approves” as though you were answering a question rather than asking one.
They put an extra “tick” next to your name and confirm there is no reason to doubt that you were indeed born in the ’90s. After a few moments they realize that it is in fact still their turn to speak and hurriedly point you to page 94 of the annual report where you can clearly see a context-less picture of a handsome young man from an ethnic minority background smiling. If that didn’t answer your question – which it apparently should have — they will turn to page 95 to show an attractive blonde graduate wearing a plastic red nose or funny wig. Given that you are in an interview, it’s only polite to hide the confused contortions on your face, to nod convincingly and to move on to salary expectations less they lead you from the interview room and start pointing at recycling bins around the office.
So for those that actually care about the firm they are going to work for, what should the answer be and how do you know which firms care as opposed to those that just comply? Here are the three questions you need to ask to find out.
Firstly, you need to ask about money. Your current or potential employer will want to tell you about process (we match fund, we have a charity of the year, etc.) and about leveraged funds (the total raised when including staff donations and sponsored fundraisers). They’ll want to add that with pro bono time billed at full rate rather than cost and come up with a number that gives you no sense of whether or not they give generously.
So ask them what percentage of the firm’s pre-tax profits it donates to charity each year. Just so we’re all clear the answer should be a number and if they can not answer it, you can be fairly sure that it’s not good news. If they can answer it, 1% of pre-tax profits is a good benchmark for a generous company, 0.5% and up is a good benchmark for “better than most” and below 0.25% lets you know that they care about the photo ops, not the kids in them.
It’s also worth asking how they come to decisions about philanthropy. If it’s based on staff votes then it may be worth asking if they would set business strategy on staff votes also. If the “good” a company does is built around keeping you happy rather than the difference they make then their priorities are not right.
Secondly, you can ask about pro bono time and volunteer days. If you can find a polite, strategic way to make it clear that stories are not data and that you weren’t asking in order to be regaled by Jeremy’s story about the child he mentors (mentored (met once)). You should have no isolated interest in what the volunteering entitlement is as this does not necessarily bear any connection to what actually happens. A workplace that offers two days a month to volunteer then skips you for promotion when you utilize it, will not have a culture of volunteering.
So, you need to ask first about what the volunteering/pro bono entitlement is (half a day a month per employee is good, a day a month is saintly, less than a day a quarter represents relative disinterest). Then you need to follow up with a question on what the percentage uptake is against that – this is the question that gives you sight of culture rather than policy.
If uptake is less than 30% then there isn’t a culture of fulfilling volunteering policies regardless of what they are and if it’s less than 10% there isn’t enough support infrastructure to help employees find opportunities and there may be an active culture of dissuasion. If they don’t know, it’s likely because they don’t care.
Thirdly, ask what the firm is doing to make the world a better place. If there’s just an awkward laugh as though this is an odd question to ask, then be afraid. If they tell you either about basic harm-reduction (e.g. recycling cleverly framed as a “five-year emissions reduction plan”), then be worried. If they tell you about their gifts to charity and staff fundraising and volunteering, then they clearly aren’t going above the very basics.
It’s only when they show you their B-Corp status or tell you how they are using the strengths of their company to change the world that it’s worth getting excited. If they answer this question well, then they may have no philanthropy, no volunteering and no CSR and still be better than the companies that do because it’s in their DNA. They are an organization with values that is driven to make money and to change the world. That’s exciting, so if this is the answer then it’s worth straightening your tie because for sure this job will be in demand.
This article was taken from here.