In their book, Social Entrepreneurship, David Bornstein and Susan Davis mention that students who attended Harvard’s Social Enterprise Conference 2009 indicated that the lack of high-paying jobs made it easier to choose work they cared about. To me, that signifies that we reside in a culture where what we value and how we assign value are disconnected. For whatever reason, whether they be societal pressures, the need to provide for our families, the desire to be respected among our communities, or otherwise, we tend to be willing to sacrifice our values (and happiness) in order to accept higher wages.
This makes it difficult for underfunded social entrepreneurs in great need of competent business leadership to recruit talented managers, executives, and other workers. We often lack our most innovative thinkers where innovation is critical for survival. Pay cuts in the traditional corporate sector and the rising (although slightly) wages in social entrepreneurship have bridged the financial gap somewhat, but not enough to entice many would-be converts make the switch.
If you aren’t excited to wake up every morning to do what you do for a living, it might be time to reevaluate what gets you going. We know about Monster, CareerBuilder, and other popular job posting sites, but here are some alternatives worth a try. They all focus on socially conscious jobs.
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