{"id":17798,"date":"2022-07-22T15:45:20","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T22:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scionstaffing.com\/scionnonprofitstaffing\/?p=17798"},"modified":"2022-07-22T15:45:20","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T22:45:20","slug":"how-to-write-chief-sustainability-officer-job-description","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scionnonprofitstaffing.com\/how-to-write-chief-sustainability-officer-job-description\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write a Chief Sustainability Officer Job Description"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a nonprofit organization, writing the perfect job description when looking to fill an open position can help you attract and land quality candidates, especially for leadership roles. When writing the job description for the Chief Sustainability Officer, or CSO, you want to make sure that you are attracting a candidate who has the proper experience in dealing with nonprofit organizations or has had past success with for-profit companies and has proven their success with excellent examples of sustainability strategies. In this article for Scion Nonprofit, we will explore what a CSO is, how to execute writing a stellar job description for this type of role and offer an example of a CSO job description to base your next job posting off of!<\/p>\n

What is a Chief Sustainability Officer?<\/h3>\n

The role of a Chief Sustainability Officer, or CSO, is to help organizations ensure that their business practices are sustainable economically, environmentally, and socially. Part of their responsibilities<\/a> include developing, managing, and monitoring a company or organization’s sustainability strategy while being responsible for improving their impact in the three areas listed previously. They work closely with management, employees, as well as shareholders or board members to minimize impact on the environment. This role can be both for nonprofit and for-profit companies, including large scale corporations. The CSO has become more prominent in the C-Suite at large companies that have a larger impact on resources and the environment and have had to answer questions about government policies, particularly about the environment or energy resources.<\/p>\n

The CSO’s day-to-day role differs based on the organization<\/a> at hand, but they all share a similar end goal of enacting and managing a corporate sustainability strategy.<\/p>\n

How to write a proper job description for a Chief Sustainability Officer<\/h2>\n

Are you not sure how to write a compelling job description<\/a> for your open CSO role? Follow these tips to attract top talent with your job posting!<\/p>\n

Make the job title specific<\/h3>\n

Making sure that your job title in your posting is as specific as possible is more effective than using a generic one. Include key phrases that accurately describe the position. Job seekers are more likely to search for the job title they want, rather than looking for a job within a general department or field.<\/p>\n

Open with a strong summary about your organization<\/h3>\n

Your job description should include a summary or overview of your organization that grabs the applicant’s attention and what your expectations are for the role. Introducing your organization and your brand is a great way to get a candidate excited to work for your organization. Talk about things like work culture, services you offer, your overall mission and why the applicant would love to be a part of your executive team. Don’t forget to mention an exact location so it appears higher in search results!<\/p>\n

Outline the core responsibilities of the role<\/h3>\n

When detailing the core responsibilities for the CSO position, make sure you use plenty of detail, but make sure to keep it short and sweet. Talk about different environmental initiatives or the environmental impact your organization is trying to achieve. With leadership positions, it’s important to include details about day-to-day work, who is reporting to the position, and what departments this individual may be working with or managing.<\/p>\n

Include a detailed list of soft and hard skills for the candidate<\/h3>\n

Every job description should have a list of skills or training requirements for the position. Things like education, work experience, and industry experience are all very important, but adding soft skills like communication, problem solving, and personality traits can help you widen your search for the right applicant for this leadership role. For this role, it could be beneficial to list certain sustainability practices or sustainability programs that a candidate must have certifications from in order to be considered for the job.<\/p>\n

Include a salary range and top benefits for the position<\/h3>\n

Candidates are looking for opportunities that meet their salary desires, but most job descriptions have stopped sharing salary information altogether. Listing a salary range can leave room for negotiations with a candidate. Make sure to detail the top perks and benefits of the organization, as they can have a large impact on whether or not a candidate will even apply for a job. For nonprofits, many candidates are looking for an executive officer role aren’t too concerned with the salary, but more interested in making a real impact for their cause. Some applicants will likely have personal feelings about environmental responsibility or making an impact on climate change that the salary won’t be a deciding factor when looking at the description.<\/p>\n

Sample Job Description for Chief Sustainability Officer<\/h2>\n

Here is our sample job description for a Chief Sustainability Officer:<\/p>\n

[XYZ Organization] seeks a mission-driven and experienced nonprofit business leader skilled in successfully executing strategic sustainability initiatives and empowering high performing staff. Reporting to the Executive Director and Board of Directors, the Chief Sustainability Officer will be based at the organization\u2019s offices in City, State, and have overall management responsibility for the sustainability efforts of the organization with a $XYZ million annual budget, and XYZ+ employees.<\/p>\n

POSITION OVERVIEW:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

This full-time permanent position is for immediate hire and reports to a supportive and professional Executive Director. This impactful leadership position is responsible for overseeing the sustainability issues of the organization and creating sustainability reports, as well as sustainability goals that must be within our organizational standards and adhere to governmental regulations on pollution reduction or carbon emissions. This position requires a dynamic, mission-driven leader who is passionate about leading hands-on operations, fostering growth, as well as developing and managing XYZ programs.<\/p>\n

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n