King's Careers & Employability has become the latest university partner to sign the Sustainable Recruitment Alliance's pledge.
The organisation, whose mission is to "create and empower a deeply connected ecosystem of stakeholders, including early talent recruiters, universities, and student organisations, who are committed to reducing their collective carbon footprint and embedding sustainability at the heart of their practices." was founded in 2019 and has driven significant change across the sector.
King's joins employers such as Accenture, British Airways, EY, Johnson & Johnson, Virgin Media O2 and becomes the eighth university partner alongside LSE, Nottingham, Oxford and Warwick. The pledge is also supported by the Institute of Student Employers, the UK's largest membership body of graduate recruiters.
Signatories make a sustained commitment to review their early talent processes and operations, reduce the amount of materials they produce and report on what positive change is being seen to collectively calculate the impact of all signatories in the sector.
As part of our local efforts, King's Careers & Employability has introduced new guidance for its work with employers including replacing printed materials with QR codes, restricting large-scale giveaways of non-sustainable products, providing sustainably sourced catering and refillable water bottles and using digital platforms to harness greater connectivity with global employers.
This autumn will also see employers attending our careers fairs proactively nudged to assess the direct carbon footprint of this activity, and the introduction of core questions focused on the topic of environmental, social and corporate governance across our employer panels and discussions. In February 2024, our second Focus on Climate & Sustainable Careers festival will also shine a light on the breadth of opportunities available to students seeking future employment in this important space.
