Ethical careers are not always as they seem

When it comes to ethical careers, Emma Fowler says it's not necessarily what you do, it's how you do it that matters.

''Jennine is proud of the grass roots work done by her employer and the direct contact that she has with clients in need.'' ''Heloise works in finance, yet helps to run an NGO in India.''

Ethical careers - not that hard to define right? I mean, it's fairly obvious: multinationals are bad, full stop; most pharmaceutical companies, and anything to do with finance or banking, are naturally the root of all evil; and the employee of any charity or NGO occupies the moral high ground with their feet up, a cup of tea and a chocolate hobnob. Well, on a general level this may be true, but it's not in my nature to settle for generalisations. Scratching the surface of the stereotypes, it becomes apparent that all is not quite as it appears.

Debunking the myth

My good friends Jennine and Heloise both live and work in London after graduating from university just over a year ago. Jen works with the homeless, whilst Heloise landed a job in finance (don't ask me for too many details, I've tried to understand what she does exactly, but I just can't).

Speaking to each of them over dinner last week it was interesting to discover how they feel about their jobs morally. Jennine is proud of the grass roots work done by her employer and the direct contact that she has with clients in need. Yet she feels that some people may be appointed to senior positions because of their personal relationships, rather than on merit.

Meanwhile, Heloise (works in finance = root of all evil, see above) tells me how her company outsources work to a team in India. This enables a couple of particular members in her team to run an NGO in their local community and work on development in the area. Hmmm, not exactly the work of the dark one himself is it?

So I don't HAVE to work for an NGO?

So what does this mean? I guess there are a couple of things to bear in mind when looking at ethical careers. Firstly, whose ethics? Ethics are subjective and open to change and influence. Five years ago, I wanted to be a commercial solicitor and was aiming to earn silly amounts of money. Two years ago I decided I wanted to do something to help people more, something more interesting than corporate law, and settled on family or human rights law. Now, I have passed up the places at the law schools I got into and am happier than ever working in a residential unit with young adults. My point is that things - and people - change.

Secondly, don't fall into the trap of believing that ethics are irrelevant or non-existent in certain careers. Any career can be ethical if you want it to be. In a corporate office environment there's no reason why you can't have a recycling scheme, a designated charity that workers regularly support, or input into the development of the local community (through activities such as work experience placements for kids from local schools).

All in all, I have come to the conclusion that it's better to question yourself and what's most important to you morally. Then carry this with you into whatever you decide to do, whether an "ethical" career in the stereotypical sense or not. As with so many things in life, it's not always what you do, but how you do it. If you do it with your own personal morals in mind, you'll not go far wrong.