For the most part, companies don't want to be hated while taking your money. Like most people, animals, and prime-time sitcoms, they just want to be liked (while earning your money—big difference). While it may have been cool to ignore public opinion in the fast and loose '70s and '80s, corporations these days know that if they have some explaining to do, they'll have to get right on it, and then prove how they learned from it.

The reason for this newfound regard for customers is the rise of the Internet. Companies now realize if they don't show some regard for the people buying their products, the Internet will hold them accountable. No amount of hush money and snazzy ad campaigns can silence the Internet. Before they know it, their consumer base will have taken their business to some other company that's ethical, green, and community-minded.

 

Suits, ribbon, and oversized scissors: three hugely important parts of the CSR toolkit. (Source)

As a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) officer, you make sure that won't happen. You'll be a big part of developing a company's playbook on everything from environmental relations to community outreach to the kinds of benefits the employees receive. Thankfully, caring for the environment while working for a corporation tends to pay more like a corporate job than an environmental job. 

On average, a member of any given CSR team makes around $70,000―a nice chunk of change, given that your job is to sit around thinking about how to make the company look better all day (source). Once you work your way up to management, you'll be making high-class executive wages of (on average) $108,000 or more (source). 

That's right: a business or government agency will actually pay you six figures to tell them how to act like responsible adults. 

Now, are you the kind of person who can succeed in what is basically the heart and center of an organization? A good CSR manager is one who has the capitalist streak of a business owner and the sensibility of an environmentalist—a hippie with a briefcase. You have to know what's going on in the world. You'll need to be able to balance the profit-making or fundraising needs of your organization with the important work of making the community a better place.

 

"No toys in our wackymeals? They shall pay." (Source)

This is not to say that the job will be easy. The Internet makes it possible to unleash very public feedback about a company. That backlash can often start as a minor drizzle that quickly develops into a category five hurricane. Public opinion can be a fickle thing, and there'll be plenty of stressful days as a CSR officer.

Focus and attentiveness are necessary, as are determination and ambition. The business world loves a go-getter, and the community will appreciate the hard work. So, go get it. You'll be helping yourself, your employer, your community, and your planet. In fact, it would be rude of you not to try out for this job.

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