Jobs that make sense: good opportunities for career changers

Sometimes Nina Hille's old job felt like a round of "Monopoly". "I had a great team and many opportunities to be creative," the 43-year-old remembers her time on the management board of Langenscheidt-Verlag. "But I felt like I was playing a game. With great ambition and commitment – but if I lost it wouldn't make any social difference."

Nina Hille wanted to make a difference. For a good one. She is not alone in this. Jobs that make the world a little better are in demand like never before. This applies to positions at large nature conservation NGOs or foundations as well as at the small bio-mill, the e-mobility start-up or in the sustainability department of a group.

The question of "Why?" Has not only been asked since the Corona crisis shook up old certainties. more and more important to many of their work. "This is also due to social developments such as climate change," says the Frankfurt political scientist Friedericke Hardering, who researches the meaning of work. "It gives many people the feeling that they should do something good themselves."

Jobs that make sense are booming

At the same time, more and more organizations and companies are emerging that offer such jobs. According to an analysis by the LinkedIn network, the number of job postings for sustainability in Europe rose by 49 percent in 2019. There are now many providers who bring job seekers and green or social companies together – job portals like greenjobs.de or goodjobs.eu, websites like tbd.community or recruitment agencies like Talents4Good.

The desire to do good professionally is anything but new. He has always driven geriatric care workers and social workers. Now, however, it is increasingly packing people outside of the traditional social professions. For example in the start-up scene. "Just a few years ago, everyone just wanted to work," says Antonia Albert, who founded the care portal Careship in 2015.

"Now more and more people are looking for a meaningful activity. They want to know what they are working on and stand behind it." Even the many fixed-term contracts in the industry and relatively low salaries – in the social sector, regardless of whether it is a start-up or a charity, the annual income of 45,000 euros is 20 percent lower than the German average – do not reduce the enthusiasm.

Social start-ups

A corresponding number of social start-ups are founded, i.e. young companies that fight against littering the seas or market regional organic vegetables. They don't want to achieve their goals through donations, but profit-oriented and with economic means. And for this, they are happy to hire employees with a business or PR background.

One thing is clear: the current recession will cause unemployment figures to rise here too, and companies will be cautious about new hires in the coming months. Especially since many crisis-ridden social start-ups fall through the grids of the funding programs.

New business models

But there are also founders who quickly adapted their business models to the new situation or who launched completely new companies. Zarah Bruhns, for example, who has been managing the "Bring and Ring" shopping aid app since April in addition to her job agency for refugees, "Social Bee".

Carola von Peinen, co-founder of Talents4Good, says that her corporate customers would definitely keep looking for applicants, and that there has been no drop in orders so far. On the contrary: Some companies, such as the producers of organic food, even recorded growth. "A lot in our society willjust renegotiated. For people who want to help shape things, now may be a good time to start. "

What can i change?

For people like Nina Hille. When the manager's desire for more commitment grew, she attended a workshop at Talents4Good. There she was advised to volunteer, go to events and make contacts. Because classic career planning doesn't work so well on the world saver job market: there are simply too few positions.

Five years ago, however, Nina Hille didn't have the time for extensive networking; her children were still small. So she tried first to use the leeway that her own employer offered her. A path that Friedericke Hardering advises: "Before I quit, I would consider: Are there things that I can change? Can I take on new tasks? Bringing in talents that I have not been able to show before, for example by working in the department change? "

At that time, Nina Hille's team published a dictionary with pictures for refugees. The idea came from a colleague. For Hille it was another eye opener: for the first time, she had the feeling that her work was really changing something. She later switched to business development at the publishing house and developed a training academy. In 2019 she finally came across a job posting that was made for her: We were looking for someone with experience in publishing and business development.

The salary was significantly lower than her income at the time, but otherwise the job felt perfect for her. "Everything I had done so far led to this position. It was like a sign of fate for me." Today Nina Hille heads the development of new business areas in the SchlaU workshop for migration education in Munich. She didn't get the job even though, but because she comes from another world.

Who is in demand?

That happens more and more often. "Many organizations want an entrepreneurial mindset and a different perspective," says Carola von Peinen. Jobs are therefore offered primarily in controlling, fundraising and commercial management.

Also in demand are people with experience in the areas of purchasing, personnel, logistics, PR, but also for management, board and department heads. In such positions, specialist knowledge is not absolutely necessary, but experience in management – a topic in which many NGOs are not yet well positioned.

"Listen, shut up"

When the world of business administration and the eco- or human rights scene collide, friction is of course inevitable. Carola von Peinen therefore advises career changers to be cautious: "A typical pitfall is to believe that I can bring in a bit of speed. We recommend for the first four to six weeks: listen, shut up." In an animal welfare organization, one or the other may take longer than with a drill manufacturer.

The processes are often more complex, many NGOs have emerged from associations in which participation is a top priority. Management vocabulary such as efficiency or opportunity costs can also cause astonishment. "The organizations want a breath of fresh air, but it has to come in a good dose."

Those who assume that the change will automatically end up in a better world will also be disappointed. This is what happened to Tina Binner *. After the birth of her children, the PR woman dared to move from a marketing agency to a nature conservation organization. She wanted to help shape a world in which her children grow up well. At first she was downright intoxicated to finally be on the side of the good guys.

But she soon encountered an elbow mentality in her NGO that she did not know from the agency scene. “The budgets are always tight, so there is a lot of competition between the departments.” She also feels that her colleagues from science do not take her seriously as a marketing woman: Marketing has a bad reputation in her NGO, she says, it will associated with little substance and specialist knowledge.

Nevertheless, Tina Binner has stayed to this day. She is just very interested in the content she deals with; also the feeling of actually helping to make the world a little better makes them satisfied. However, she is considering feeling with other organizations whether they are looking for someone like her. Because in the end it is no different with jobs that make sense than in industry or retail: You can't stay forever where the corporate culture isn't right. World salvation or not.

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