On December 17th, Hallam-ICS became a Certified B-Corporation, joining thousands of other purpose driven companies around the world committed to the concept that businesses exist for both purpose and profit.  On their website, B Lab states:

About eight months ago, the engineering internship scramble was beginning at the University of Vermont.  Students all over campus were struggling to get a resume and cover letter to every engineering company around Burlington VT; maybe to get an interview, and maybe even to get a job.

Yes, it’s true.  We do love Engineering and People (and beer) at Hallam-ICS.  And apparently, so do our clients, partners and community members.  Last year, we decided to put them all together into our first Hallam-ICS and BEER campaign.   We asked, and you HOPPED.

“I don’t get it!  Since when does a company need to provide more than a steady job with a competitive salary and good benefits?  We treat our people well.  Why isn’t this enough for Millennials?”

Our firm’s culture has included an aspect of social responsibility since Dave Hallam started in 1981 and the successor leaders and staff have expanded it. When I joined in 2010, it was a foreign idea to me that a firm would donate company money and pay employees to do volunteer work.

Earlier this year, I took on the job of Chairman of the Board at Hallam-ICS.  Last week, I was asked to speak at a company event and to address a question raised by one of our colleagues,

We recently set out to try and capture the essence of Hallam-ICS so that we could better communicate what we do and who we are to current and potential clients and employees.  We learned that this can be a challenging exercise!

My experience prior to starting with Hallam a year ago was as a Canadian engineer, in the field of electrical consulting engineering and in support thereof.  It’s a field where despite some minor changes in supporting technologies, not much has changed in the last 30 years.