Looking to find and retain the best ESG and sustainability talent? Here are five key ideas to help you achieve that goal
Creating a sustainable, corporately responsible business takes huge commitment. For that reason it’s crucial to be able to attract the appropriate talent to deliver your company’s aspirations. But where do you find the right people in this emerging and rapidly evolving marketplace? And what do you need to do to ensure you attract and appoint the best person?
Building a sustainable business is a major project. We’re talking about wholescale business transformation: from the way you light and heat your offices to the decarbonisation of entire supply chains. To meet objectives like these requires significant investment in time and money, however it is important to note that a sustainably run business is a more profitable one, therefore recruiting and retaining the very best individuals is a crucial component to achieving success.
The climate crisis has created an influx into the sustainability workforce, from experienced candidates pivoting into sustainability to ever increasing numbers of graduates eager to be part of the solution. While this is a good thing, to hire an experienced sustainability specialist with the skills to create a strategy that aligns with the existing corporate strategy, one who can guide you through its implementation and maximise the commercial benefits, there are some key obstacles to navigate.
So here are five recommendations to help you attract and hire the best talent to fulfil that role.
1. Commitment and Purpose: just what are you looking for?
Sustainability candidates are passionate about delivering meaningful impact, they work in sustainability because they’re motivated to combat climate change and that purpose led drive is something candidates want to see reflected in your business.
No matter where your organisation is starting from on its sustainability journey it is your desire to improve the business that matters most to potential new employees. Many of the best candidates are willing to take on significant challenges if they feel they will be supported to decarbonise the business, whether that is joining a fossil fuels company or one where they will have to take the company on a substantial journey of change.
Sustainability staff are accustomed to facing barriers, having to influence and educate stakeholders and communicate the process to the business, therefore it is important to be honest with them on where your company is on its journey and demonstrate there is a motivation within the leadership to support the transition.
2. Job Titles: what’s in a name?
A lot hangs on just how you describe the role. That might sound a little trite, but a title that is too vague, such as Climate Engagement and Action Lead rather than simply Sustainability Manager, will reduce candidate interest.
You might have a very clear idea internally of your requirements, but does that internal description translate to what a candidate understands when they are looking for a new role. There are a lot of inconsistencies when it comes to job titles in sustainability and so by keeping it simple, you will attract more interest and so enhance your chances of filling the position.
3. Duties, Responsibilities and Salary: how do you get it right?
Defining sustainability roles can be baffling due to the array of acronyms, interchangeable terminology and breadth of potential duties spanning net zero, circular economy, esg reporting and social value.
However, there are risks in getting this wrong, if you misposition the role’s responsibilities, which is easily done, you create a role more suited to multiple employees than one. This not only deters candidates but can present an impression that the business doesn’t understand or appreciate the role’s responsibilities.
Before you release the role, it helps to ask. Do you have a refined list of priority duties that appear balanced and within the capabilities of one employee or have you created a ‘wish list’ of what the business desires to achieve?
As highlighted, sustainability is an area where committed candidates want to make a difference, but that doesn’t mean they won’t expect to be fairly recompensed for the scope and challenges the role offers. You can also unintentionally send the wrong message to the wider market of how seriously your business values sustainability if the salary is poorly positioned.
Salaries in sustainability have begun to align having been fragmented, but remain spread by comparison with other disciplines. Experienced candidates though do know what their skillsets are worth. If you are hiring someone to undertake a full scale transformation of your business, you do need to be attracting the best candidates, or else you risk not maximising the benefits increasing sustainability provides.
Gather as much information as you can before going to market, specialist sustainability agencies are always happy to provide guidance on salary, role positioning and the candidate market.
4. Reporting Structures: where should sustainability sit?
This is a sensitive question, but one which it is critical to get right. Yes, legal, marketing and communications all play a role in the implementation of any sustainability strategy. But if one of these are the reporting line, then a candidate might feel that you don’t really value their role. Why? Because these are business transformational activities, a sustainability strategy will be expected to work hand in hand with your corporate strategy. Therefore the reporting structures should also align - which means working with the departments where business-wide change management is usually positioned.
A reporting line into communications might make sense internally, but can unintentionally send the wrong message to candidates: namely, that the business is more interested in the external optics of sustainability than driving purposeful change. If that is the reporting line then it is important to communicate to candidates why this is the structure during the hiring process.
5. At the start of your journey? Where can you go to find independent advice?
If you’re at the start of your sustainability journey, you could consider an interim solution, the short term appointment of a sustainability specialist will enable you to best gauge what the challenges you face are and therefore what the duties of any new hire should be. They can guide you through the complexity of the recruitment market by ensuring you go to market seeking the correct seniority of hire and with appropriately aligned job title and remuneration package.
Using an interim like this can put you in a much better place to assess your hiring needs, avoid costly missteps in the recruitment process and makes it more likely you maximise the opportunity a successful new hire brings to your business.
Additionally, if cost is a limiting factor, you could consider hiring an interim to design the sustainability strategy, enabling the business to hire a permanent mid-management sustainability employee to implement the strategy.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice
As a pure specialist in the Sustainability, ESG and Climate Technology space, Verdant Search has supported businesses across all sectors bring their sustainability strategies to life. We hope these five areas provide a useful insight on how to attract and retain the best talent for your organisation.
Whether you’re taking your first tentative steps or re-viewing your longer term objectives, we are always happy to provide free consultative advice on how best to position your recruitment.
For more information visit the Verdant Search at www.verdantsearch.com or contact me directly at serrol@verdantsearch.com.