Our journey to MaRS – Collaborating on Impact Careers

Houston, we have a…. paper to write. That’s not quite how we reacted when the Social Innovation Generation (SIG) team at MaRS asked us to collaborate on a paper about impact careers, but we did know it was a pretty big deal.

Since we started Bmeaningful, we’ve been trying to help more people find their way into social impact careers and if you’ve been following us since the beginning that means jobs with a purpose and a paycheque. Knowing our mission, and being a MaRS client, the SIG team approached us with an offer to collaborate on a guide that would help those interested in the impact sector find jobs, and help impact organizations recruit and retain top talent.  We loved the idea and immediately jumped on board.

Sometimes those of us in this space take for granted what is not yet common knowledge, and in conversation we can unconsciously skip over simple but helpful career tips, like what is the impact sector? What is a B corp? We know that career paths in the sector are atypical, that there’s no formula to finding an impact job, so we wanted this paper to provide tips and strategies to help those trying to find their way.

We also wanted to help impact organization’s better recruit top millennial talent. A little known fact is that Millennials will outnumber Baby Boomers in the workforce beginning in 2015. Appealing to the factors that drive millennials’ career decisions is crucial for recruiting and retaining the best and the brightest from the next working generation.

For us, this paper wasn’t just another initiative to get more people into impact jobs, it was our chance to share everything we’ve learned over the last year and bring both sides of the proverbial coin together- people looking for work and people looking for top talent.

Putting pen to paper, jotting down what we know, was one small step for Bmeaningful, but one giant leap forward for the impact sector (pardon the space puns :).

The paper would never have been possible without our collaborators and co-pilots from MaRS, Amy Weinrieb and Allyson Hewitt. Not only did we get a chance to collaborate with MaRS, an impact sector powerhouse, but we also found two kindred spirits along the way. We are very grateful for their kind support.

You can download the full paper here, and we’d love to hear your comments, tweet or email us at info@bmeaningful.com

With the paper now published, the countdown is on for our next big project. Stay tuned.

Sincerely,

Amanda and Devon

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