Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 1 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 1 (2022)

The thing is, people looking for a job have always wanted to work for a company with a good mission and clear requirements. It just wasn't called an "impact”. People used to say, "oh, this is something that international companies have and Russian companies don't, so let's all work for international companies”.

Impact in relation to career is a clear, transparent motivation system both inside and outside the company.

When discussing impact, a question of measurement often comes up. In your opinion, how can you measure an impact when it comes to jobs and career?

It's actually very simple. How much do I improve the world? Everyone operates on a different scale, it's not always about millions and billions. However, it is always about improving the world and improving yourself. Say, if I am sitting at a desk filling in tables in Excel, I'm not making an impact. But if I fill in those accounting tables knowing that part of taxes or contributions go to a retirement home, then yes. This is the first criterion. The second – how does this job help me get better, both personally and professionally? In other words, in which way this position helps my development and allows me to do exciting things. Therefore, there is no impact without people. If a person can answer "yes” to both of the criteria, then this is the impact related to your career.

What opportunities does the impact bring for one's career? How can it increase an employee's value?

Just the simple fact that a person has worked for an impact company, and these are mostly brand companies, is enough to make this specialist more valuable. But if you have poor skills, if you simply moved the papers around in any impact company for three years and have lost your qualifications, then of course your value in the job market won't increase. It's not enough to work for a major brand company, you need to do something important and grow as a professional.

In the newsletters from your Facancy project, you sometimes call job postings from NGOs "good karma vacancies". Can you say that working for a charity or NGO is an impact job experience by definition?

No sphere has any preferences in terms of impact. I know quite a few NGOs that were created not in order to improve the world, but to unfairly optimize taxes or income. I know quite a few NGOs with a toxic workplace environment. I also know quite a few NGOs that really help people and make the world a better place. These organizations make a real impact. In general, NGOs are naturally closer to impact. But just the fact that you call yourself an NGO does not automatically mean that you make an impact.

In your opinion, how can one make a greater impact – by self-employment or by being on payroll? And why? Self-employment has not more and not less impact. It all comes down to the same two questions – am I improving the world and am I improving myself? For instance, I have a cake shop that the whole neighborhood adores, and I also use the profits to plant three lilac trees in front of the shop, or I donate the leftover cakes to the homeless or the poor. Oddly enough, self-employment can have a greater impact because you make people happier every day and do something good on top of that. While a large corporation that spends millions of billions on impact-focused projects can have a box-ticking approach, and these projects won't bring any actual benefits. Or it may have an environment so toxic that no matter how many lilac trees they plant, they won't make any impact.

So once again, there are two key criteria – am I making the world better, and do I get better myself. If you answer «yes» to both of these questions, you are making an impact, regardless of whether you work for a company or are self-employed. If at least one answer is a «no», there is no impact.

What are the rules and criteria that can help people find a job that makes an impact?