With a good attendance and positive early reviews, we thought we should put together a comprehensive report of the RSM Sustainability Career Panel, which really came to life for the panel and for the audience. If you missed it, here’s what happened:
Multiple trajectories
“How did you end up in your current role and how is it related to sustainability?” This straightforward question by moderator, Dorothy Grandia opened the Sustainability Career Panel on Tuesday 17 May.Five RSM graduates of MSc and MBA programmes; Aouatif Tawik, Alex Daley, John Apesos, Yeiji Park and Tim Vervoorn returned to campus prepared to answer questions about career paths in sustainability. A wonderful dialogue between panel guests and audience participants made it quickly apparent that a career in sustainability can be accessed through many different entry points.
For example, Timon Vervoorn, Senior Staff for Climate Change and Sustainability Services at Ernst and Young explained how he moved from the Assurance Department to Cleantech, and then to the Sustainability Services Department. Career moves became available once he was inside the corporation. The idea to simultaneously exercise his professional skills in accounting and have societal impact appealed to him, so he applied for each successive transfer.
The same question yielded a different response from Aouatif Tawfik, Sustainability Manager at Unilever. She explained how sustainability was the key determinant in all her career decisions. Having worked at the municipality of Amsterdam for over seven years, she decided a corporate career did not fit her life’s purpose. After having obtained her Executive MBA at RSM in 2013, she was keen to challenge herself. She chose to work at a corporation where she had the feeling she would not have to compromise her ideals.
A different path
A third, and completely different response came from John Apesos, Managing Director & Co-founder at Growx. John talked the audience through his turbulent and eventful career up to and including a € 1.85 million investment in his start-up venture, Growx.John worked for 2 clean-tech start-ups and advised for 2 others in fashion before starting his first company. He completed the International Full-time MBA Programme at RSM.
Having had one ‘corporate job’ experience, John said he would gladly work at or for a multi-national corporation.He is convinced of the importance of sustainable business and claims that for-profit corporations will never be able to integrate sustainability to the full extent, since there will always be a trade-off with profit-making.
But … where to begin?
After two more targeted questions from the panel moderator, the audience was warmed up and began asking questions of the panellists. One audience member wanted to know a good starting position in sustainability, Yeiji Park, Market Insight & Strategy Representative at Eastman Chemical Company and former MSc Accounting and Control, explained her career search strategy two years ago when she carefully chose an internship at Sustainalytics (a research company) to gain useful background knowledge of the field. During her internship she was responsible for tracking corporate events and their related environmental, social, and governmental activity. Through the internship, Yeiji became aware which corporations were active in sustainability; her internship proved a valuable educator. Still, she was unclear about which path to take, so she applied for a traineeship with a corporation that presented great transparency in their commitment and actions towards sustainability. She said even though it appeared an unlikely option, a traineeship with Eastman Chemical was her choice. In addition, the traineeship offered great flexibility in career trajectories. She could see a range of facets and relationships within the company.Through it, she found her career path and was hired for a management position where she could indicate and work on sustainability-related projects that held her interest.
Alex Dalley, an agri-food manager and a 2011 graduate of the RSM International Full-time MBA programme, confirmed that it’s crucial to understand a company’s strategy before applying and joining. He said: ‘If the company strategy does not align with your personal goals, you will have a very hard time from the start, since you are always going to be at odds with the system.” A steady flow of audience questions continued during this part of the event. It became clear that many students struggle to see how to best to pursue a career in sustainability.
Take responsibility
The panellists unanimously emphasized that each of us must take responsibility and drive impact. Timon said, “Oftentimes companies do not even know what they want in sustainability. They read something about carbon emissions and next their sustainability department knocks on the door to see if we can help them with reporting their environmental footprint. As it turns out, their footprint is found to be high, but in a totally different sector than they first thought.” He continued by stating: “You know that companies are serious about sustainability when not just the sustainability department but the entire executive team shows up at the meeting to see how they can make the change.”
Lively networking
Enthusiastic participation meant the session with audience questions lasted around two hours; moderator Dorothy Grandia finally closed it and invited remaining questions be put to panelists at the networking drinks. Before leaving the room, John Apesos surprised the audience when he first complimented them by describing them as ‘well-prepared RSM business graduates’ and invited them to contact him about internship possibilities at his newly-funded start-up business, Growx.
Conversations continued through the networking drinks, with deeper discussions on sustainable career options.
Such a highly interactive and inspiring event in which panel guests clearly illustrate multiple ways to realize a career in sustainability showed that it is possible with plenty of personal commitment.
Next steps
Students are encouraged to continue seeking the wisdom and experience of RSM alumni; helping one another pave the way to a sustainable future. Make connections and be active with the RSM Alumni Office. The best students can do now is get involved in out-of class projects and activities; build their literacy and toolbox for a career in sustainability ahead. Contact sustainable RSM to discuss options- sustainableRSM@rsm.nl
