Job Profile

What does your job involve and what might a typical day involve?

Forum for the Future is a sustainable development charity – we work in partnership with leading organisations in the private and public sectors to help them put sustainability at the heart of what they do.

I work on the futures team at Forum for the Future, so I spend a lot of my time helping our partner organisations to think in a structured way about the future, and work out what this means for them today. For example, I recently worked on a project with PepsiCo creating scenarios – possible future worlds – to enable people at the company to think through what they might have to deal with over the next 20 years, and to work out how PepsiCo could address those challenges and opportunities in the most sustainable way possible.

On any given day I could be running a workshop on generating a company vision for the future, doing telephone interviews, speaking at a conference, doing research into future trends or writing recommendations for action.

What qualifications and experience did you have before starting the job?

My degree is in Human Sciences, which is a real mixture of anthropology, ecology, biology and demography! It was brilliant at giving me insight into how different issues – which we might normally view separately – connect, and to me that’s a really key part of sustainable development. I had also done stints of volunteer work, most recently at the Centre for Eco-Cultural Studies in Sri Lanka, and my first office job was in advertising. The world of advertising may seem a bit different from sustainable development but it was invaluable in giving me an insight into the business world, and I got to work on some great ‘green’ brands, like Ecover.

What are the best and worst bits of your job?

It’s difficult to choose the best bits! It sounds corny but I love pretty much every part of the job. It is varied and stimulating, and I work with a really incredible bunch of people who I constantly learn from and am inspired by. Bad bits are few and far between – sometimes its frustrating when you know an organisation really wants to change but it’s constrained by the wider ‘system’. But it’s ok, we’re working to change that too!!

What satisfaction do you get from your work and how does it make a difference?

There is huge satisfaction in knowing that you’re working with people – both in Forum and in our partner organisations – who are working towards the shared goal of a greener, fairer, more prosperous world. I love it when I’m in a meeting or a workshop and someone has a real ‘lightbulb moment’ – whether it’s coming up with a new idea or seeing a part of their business in a different way – because you know they’ll go back to their job wanting to create change.

Do you have any tips for someone looking for a career in this area?

Talk to people! Most people who work in the field are delighted to chat to others who want to take their careers in that direction, and will be able to suggest people to meet, websites to look at or upcoming opportunities. Make time to do some relevant volunteering work, and go to free events in your field of interest. You’ll meet like-minded people and have some great, tangible demonstrations of your commitment to sustainability to put on your next application.

More about Forum for the Future