Why become a trustee or non-executive director?
Whether you are driven by social action and the desire to influence change in society or are volunteering your free time to a cause or organisation that you are passionate about, helping steer an organisation towards achieving its goals is very rewarding thing to do.
You may have some doubts about what value you might bring to a Board at this early stage of your life or career, but we want to show you that your experiences and skills are valuable to a wide range of organisations and how to go about selling yourself. You can’t be shy about putting yourself forward – Boards need engaged and committed members to keep the organisation on track and achieving its goals.
What you will gain Becoming a member of a board is an exciting and new stage in your professional or personal development. You will get to see how an organisation is governed and see how different people apply their experience and knowledge to ensuring the organisation is running correctly. You will also create new networks and meet a variety of different people – from fundraising to HR or finance, every Board needs a wide variety of skills and professional experience represented for it to be effective. And being on a Board will help you develop your confidence and leadership abilities and show you what you can achieve.
What a Board will gain by having you on it You will bring your unique perspective of being a younger person into what is a predominantly older group of professionals. Your lived experience, insights and new ways of thinking are invaluable to help create a diversity of thought that is essential for a Board to truly thrive. As a new pair of eyes, there will be questions they haven’t thought of that will help shed light on how they can improve what they do and how they operate.
Building your experience
Only 10% of trustee roles are advertised externally – so if you are proactive and are interested in volunteering your time and energy to an organisation that calls to you, reach out and see how you can get involved. Maybe be a bit bold and tell them why they need your voice represented in their organisation? They might not have thought about it!
Volunteering with local youth or community organisations is a really good way to gain exposure to how organisations engage at a grassroots level. You could consider becoming a governor of your local school or joining a Youth Committee or Advisory Panel of your local authority or NHS Trust –think about what interests and excites you and start researching. You will be surprised at how many opportunities there are to start gaining board level exposure before applying for a full Board role.
There are many networks and organisations dedicated to helping younger people gain board experience in particular the Young Trustees Movement, Getting on Board and Beyond Suffrage.
LinkedIn – if you have a profile, add that you are interested in joining a not-for-profit board so that recruiters and organisations looking directly for candidates can find you more easily. If you don’t have a profile yet, think about creating one, it’s free and a really good way to showcase who you are and what skills and abilities you offer. It’s not just for people with MBA’s or degrees – it’s a brilliant way to start creating connections and increasing your own network and profile.
Top Talent: Regeneration and Growth
The growth and infrastructure agenda remains central to the government’s mission, and local authorities across the country are key drivers.
Mastering the Chair and Chief Executive Partnership: Insights from Our Latest Webinar
We recently hosted the second session in our Aspiring Chief Executives webinar series, focusing on a crucial theme for any leader entering the charity sector: Mastering the Chair and Chief Partnership. The session, led by our own Louise Beales, Prinicpal Consultant, and special guest Ciara Eastell, an experienced charity CEO, Chair, and coach, both provided a wealth of practical advice for those stepping into executive roles, especially within non-profit and charitable organisations.
Mastering the Chair/CEO Partnership: Your First 100 Days and Beyond – A Starfish Search Webinar
Starfish is dedicated to supporting leaders at every stage of their journey and we know that one of the hardest steps is how to go about finding the right opportunity, and what to expect when you get your first chief executive role. We are pleased to be running a webinar for our new Aspiring Chief Executives programme.
ACCREDITATIONS
ESPO is a public sector owned professional buying organisation (PBO), specialising in providing a wide range of goods and services to the public sector for over 40 years. Starfish Search has been awarded a place on ESPO’s Strategic HR Services framework (3S). Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 1, Executive and Managerial Interim Recruitment Lot 2, Executive and Managerial Permanent Recruitment.
Starfish are proud to be certified Disability Confident Committed. This scheme provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.
Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2020/21, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £2.04bn - supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers. Starfish Search has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s Executive and Non-Executive recruitment. Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 3 - Non-Executive and Public Appointments.
Bloom, launched in 2012 is the UK’s leading marketplace for professional services. They provide an end-to-end solution for the procurement, contract management and payment of all professional services, via the compliant NEPRO³ framework. Their public sector clients have access to 20 professional services categories and over 4500 accredited suppliers. Bloom provides swift routes to market via either direct award or mini competition. Starfish is an accredited supplier to BLOOM; our services can be accessed via this framework - Executive and Non-Executive Search and Interim Management.
Join the starfish team
We hire people who bring insight, integrity and ambition to their work. If you’re ready to contribute to shaping the future of leadership and you want to explore our current opportunities please get in touch.
