Throughout my week in the city of Dublin spent visiting agencies and exciting sites, there were several experiences and moments that will stick with me for some time to come. These moments range from simple interactions like speaking with locals, navigating new landscape and dynamics with my fellow classmates, to the more educational experiences such as our meetings with all the generous companies that granted us a bit of their time and resources. Among all of these growth opportunities, what I can say translates most directly into the trajectory of my career in advertising is the necessity of authenticity.
Authenticity was an overarching aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) that we touched on before coming to Ireland. We read about it in several texts and had discussions surrounding its vitality in a company’s CSR efforts, however, once we met with one company in particular, Allied Irish Bank (AIB), and continued to explore other agencies, this concept really took root in my mind. I realized that, once I begin to grow into my career field, examining the heart of potential employers beyond just their advertised and projected values is just as important as any other aspect of job research.
In an industry as seemingly lifeless as banking and finance, CSR efforts outwardly appear as a facade meant to please the masses. And truly, this is what the case still is for most of the big names in banking. For a company such as AIB, their commendable CSR efforts are as well-rounded, well-researched and impactful as they are because these values are tied to personal beliefs held by those at the very top of their organization. To care for the humans you service and the environment you inhabit needs to be central to the people behind a business. This is necessary in order to stand on company-wide CSR efforts in the face of an industry that continuously disincentives doing so. These efforts can be written in the bylaws of an organization, but until they are internalized and humanized they do not truly stand a chance.
That being said, it now means more than just scrolling through a company’s “about us” and hoping to see socially and environmentally responsible efforts when researching a potential employer. In future considerations, researching the C-suite, founders, CEOs and higher-ups in order to gain insight as to the true identities that make up the business is a practice I will utilize.
Furthermore, I’ve come to see that in the case that a company is part of an industry known to lack humanistic care, that company itself does not definitively harbor that same reputation. As new management and leadership is brought in and adapted to the changing landscape, opportunities for growth and establishment of better care for people and the planet are also established. Companies can grow and change and still be authentic in newfound values, just as humans grow and identities change all the same. To make values personal instead of just profitable and stand behind them as core facets to an identity is integral to a respectable and respectful employer.
