Are recent graduates choosing social enterprise as a viable career path?

A few months ago, I graduated from university, and now, I'm confronted with questions – mostly rhetorical – from my peers about what we're doing with our futures. More school? Travel? Corporate gig? Freelance? For those of us privileged to be recent university graduates, the choices are seemingly endless.

However, working for a social enterprise – or starting one – is not typically on the docket of new career planning. As a Canadian who works in social enterprise, I'm aware of the tight communities that exist in the UK and the US – communities that cannot be compared with those in Canada. This disparity exists for multiple reasons: geography, political climate and legal structures all have an impact on the level of awareness and influence of regional social enterprises.

Two recent Globe and Mail articles, "Canada playing catch-up in social enterprise" and "New businesses are cooking up more than just profits" reveal the status of social enterprise in Canada. In universities, it's a similar conversation – or lack thereof. For recent graduates who haven't specifically studied social entrepreneurship, is social enterprise a viable career option? Do they consider it a risk? Do they even consider it at all?

On the one hand, Simon Denny, social enterprise development director at the University of Northampton, recently wrote a piece about how his university is implementing strategies in order to become the UK's leading educational institution for social enterprise. On the other hand, many universities don't substantially integrate social enterprise (or even a social side to business) into undergraduate university programmes. Should they? Ever since university has become increasingly accessible in the industrialised world, there has been an effort to preserve the "generalness" of liberal arts education.

It's often been assumed that entrepreneurial skill is unteachable, however, a recent study from one of the world's most recognised entrepreneurial universities, Babson College in Massachusetts, found that entrepreneurship can be taught. The same reasoning can be applied to address social enterprise's place in higher education. In part due to a lack of awareness, but also due to a lack of infrastructure, the value of studying social enterprise has yet to be fully understood.

The Babson study showed evidence that the proportion of those intending to become entrepreneurs decreased after graduation for a number of reasons, including the acceptance of salaried positions because the need for job security. The same argument, again, could be applied to social entrepreneurship. But what about working in one? Although it may be more difficult, recent graduates can find salaried jobs in social enterprises doing what they know and love. Numerous posts pop up, for example, researcher, social media co-ordinator, editor, web developer, public relations officer, marketing strategist, and community manager. There are countless jobs in social enterprise that span degrees and skills, and are certainly not limited to people who studied social enterprise.

Is lack of awareness the issue for undergraduates not choosing social enterprise as a career option? I have been astounded by the influence of the communities in the UK in creating discussion and establishing support. But are we preaching to the choir? In 2007, The Guardian's Marianne Barriaux wrote that, despite the presence of approximately 55, 000 social enterprises in Britain, only a quarter of of the population were aware of their existence.

Let's say that awareness isn't the issue. Could it be because recent graduates believe that working in a social enterprise will mean a cut in their imagined salaries? Barriaux argued that social enterprise can (and does) create lucrative career opportunities for some, and even some that attempt to match salaries in the private sector.

Furthermore, part of what it means to be a social enterprise is to offer a great place to work. Places where ideas are nourished, personal working styles are respected and the brain is stimulated. Most recent graduates would divulge that they would prefer to work in a challenging and invigorating environment. This aspect of social enterprise needs to be promulgated, and also that social enterprises span all career areas – from fashion to finance to food.

Interestingly, Babson found that the more entrepreneurship students were dissatisfied with their jobs, the stronger their desire to become entrepreneurs. Similarly, this has been a trend I've found through interviewing dozens of people who work in social enterprises: many of them expressed a level of dissatisfaction with their (corporate) jobs before they changed career paths.

Will it take a hoard of miserable employees to make the leap to social enterprise? Let's hope not. Maybe it will take time and awareness; maybe it will take more social enterprise-focused university programmes. Nevertheless, it will indubitably take the ideas and energy of recent graduates to ensure the longevity of social enterprise. And that's worth shouting about.

Tiana Reid is the editor and community manager of SocialBusiness.org

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