As the 21st Century storms forward, businesses are realising that profit margins and shareholder value are becoming part of a much larger picture. Companies are now increasingly recognising their new responsibilities towards creating a positive impact – an impact affecting employees, communities and also the environment.
At Career Moves Group, we’ve long believed that ethical practices and business success naturally go hand-in-hand, which is why we’re incredibly proud of our recent B Corp™ certification.
As a leading recruitment consultancy, we’ve always strived to match exceptional talent with purpose-driven organisations. Our B Corp™ accreditation is a very fluid extension that; and of our core values of integrity, partnership and expertise. By meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency, we’ve joined a global network of companies using business as a genuine force for good.
Interestingly, B Corps significantly outperform their non-certified counterparts, with 79% of B Corps experiencing solid revenue growth, compared to just 54% of ordinary businesses. For us, it’s a commitment to continual improvement and a recognition that our success is often intertwined with the wellbeing of our candidates, clients and communities.
We’re now well positioned to lead the way in ethical hiring practices and truly demonstrate that purpose and profit can – and should – coexist.
Our B Corp Beliefs
At the centre of our ethos lies a set of core values that dovetail nicely with B Corp™ principles. Over the next year, we aim to address our approach regarding sustainability, environmental concerns, while continuing to nurture long-term relationships with clients, candidates and employees. This mirrors the B Corp emphasis on stakeholder value creation.
Our ‘people first’ belief resonates particularly strongly with B Corp’s focus on worker well-being. By prioritising relationships and treating every interaction with respect and integrity, we’ve created a culture that reflects the notably high B Corp standards. Our dedication to knowledge and continuous improvement also reflects B Corp’s emphasis on innovation and best practices.
Even before certification, we had implemented practices that followed this path. As a women-owned, independent agency, we’ve long been committed to more supplier diversity – a key aspect of B Corp’s community impact area. Our focus on building sustainable teams and maintaining a diverse talent pool demonstrates this we feel.
The rigorous B Impact Assessment encouraged us to quantify our social and environmental impact, leading to more structured sustainability initiatives and clearer goal-setting around our values-driven approach. By becoming a B Corp, we have very eagerly jumped into a global initiative that’s working hard to redefining what true success means. This certification serves as a powerful differentiator in a highly competitive recruitment industry, attracting like-minded clients and, of course, the very best talent.
Better for All
B Corps attract significantly more passionate job applicants, with 70% of candidates explicitly mentioning a company’s B Corp certification as a factor during the interview process. At Career Moves Group, we’ve experienced this first-hand, seeing a marked increase in the quality and engagement of our applicant pool since achieving B Corp status.
Our certification also benefits our clients in two key ways. First, it provides access to a pool of more engaged candidates. These individuals are seeking purpose-driven work that offers suitability with their values. This quality often translates to higher productivity and longer tenure, reducing turnover costs for our clients. Secondly, our B Corp status benefits many of our clients’ own CSR goals. By partnering with us, they’re demonstrating their commitment to ethical business practices throughout their supply chain.
For job seekers in particular, our certification offers several added advantages. It provides assurance of ethical practices; giving candidates far more confidence that they’re joining an organisation that prioritises social and environmental responsibility. More than this though, it opens more doors. It offers opportunities to work with purpose-driven companies, as many of our clients are either B Corps themselves or are actively pursuing certification, creating a remarkable network of like-minded organisations.
Simply put, we’re building and supporting a community of professionals and organisations committed to positive impact.
Our Wider Goals
Our community engagement initiatives involve partnering with local charities to provide life-changing opportunities to young people and organising regular volunteer days for our team. We also have a very strong employee well-being initiative. We offer flexible working arrangements, mental health support and professional development opportunities to ensure our whole team thrives both personally and professionally. This is very important to us.
We’ve also set more ambitious goals. We aim to be carbon net zero by 2025 by managing waste properly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving natural resources and minimising the impact of our ongoing services. We’re also in the process of strengthening our policies and procedures around social and environmental issues; a point that’s to be included in our employee performance reviews, career development & onboarding conversations moving forward.
Our B Corp certification has truly reinforced Career Moves Group’s mission to create positive change through ethical recruitment practices.
Whether you’re a client, candidate or fellow business, remember that every choice we make has the potential to change the world around us in some way. It’s important for us to redefine success in business and create a lasting, positive impact.
