At the beginning of this year, I had the privilege of undertaking a placement with TBL Services through an industry module of my English literature degree at Lancaster University. Though my placement was only for a total of 40hrs, spread across four weeks, I truly feel that it was an experience from which I was so enriched. I am still super excited about it and telling everyone who will lend me an ear!

My role was to be a Reporting and Research Assistant, which meant working within the Support The Goals side of TBL, to help rate the biggest companies in the UK against STG’s new criteria. I also helped to craft a report about how these companies are contributing to sustainable development as they tackle key areas linked to the UN SDGs.

Here are some of my key takeaways from this experience:

I learnt more about real, practical sustainability

I learned so much about the sustainability sector. In my personal life, I have been on a sustainability journey for a few years, considering especially my consumption habits. But I never knew that someone in my degree line could be involved in this sector, or even that there was such a thing as sustainability consultancy and that this has become vital to so many businesses. In my personal journey, whenever I looked up blogs, brands, or Instagram accounts to learn more, I felt that there was often a disconnect between ‘ethical choices’ and ‘sustainable choices’, as if sometimes you could make one and not the other. This always dissatisfied me, as I didn’t want to compromise either.

However, as I was looking at the list of potential placements offered by my module and selecting my preferred choices (of which, no surprise, TBL was top), and when I looked up TBL’s website, things finally fell into place for me. Sustainability is about planet AND people. And nothing seems more right than that.

I really discovered the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

Because of my TBL placement, I learned for the first time about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Actually, I absorbed them for the first time – being at TBL brought back a vague memory of briefly learning about them in primary school. This solidified a new understanding of sustainability for me: sustainability ensures that people and planet are looked after, which means businesses can continue to thrive. The SDGs play an important role in ensuring that this cycle of sustainability endures.

Being part of the research for the report gave me ample opportunity to learn more about the  SDGs and what they may look like in practical terms, as I was tasked with reading the UN’s most recent report on the progress of the goals, and creating a summary of progress of the five goals which Support the Goals’ new rating system focuses on.

I learned how businesses support the Goals

I learned so much about practical actions that businesses are already taking to align with the SDGs. As part of my role, I was tasked with rating some of the top UK businesses against Support the Goal’s new rating system. I went through multiple businesses’ web pages, searching sustainability reports and sections where they highlighted how they were tackling gender inequality or aiding biodiversity. I was surprised at how there are genuinely good actions and exceptional examples happening amongst some of these companies.

More than that though, the few weeks I spent at TBL gave me a personal glimpse of what it looks like for a business to look after its people and the planet. I had the opportunity to read some of their policies, such as their parental leave and sickness policies, and to hear of the choices they have made, including how they implemented a four-day week which has benefitted both employees and the business.

Invaluable perspective

All this has given me an invaluable perspective as I head back into the workforce. First, it has made me dig deeper into the websites of companies to which I am considering applying. I want to know that I am working for a place that is not completely ignoring the role they should be playing in sustainable development. A place that looks after their people. A place that looks after our planet.

Secondly, I know I want to be involved in making that happen. In a previous job I was passionate about how we could operate in more sustainable ways, occasionally making suggestions of simple choices we could implement. Now, I realise that I am interested in learning more about policies, in researching and collaborating to generate new ideas of how a business may work in a way that balances sustainability and profit. While I don’t know yet where I will land after my degree, I hope I can work my way to a role which allows me to do these things. Or at least work for a place that is doing them and involving its employees in their sustainability efforts.

I am very grateful to TBL for providing me with this opportunity, and to all the colleagues I had the joy of interacting with. Though it may seem exaggerated to say it (blame it on my effusive Brazilian nature), I truly believe that this has changed the course of my career. I have had the space to consolidate things that I have always known were important to me, realise how aligned they are, and catch a glimpse of how it can be as relevant to my career as my personal life. Whether I go on to work in the sustainability sector or any other, I now know that sustainability can and should be an important part of all businesses.