Trustees of South West London Law Centres

Women in Banking and Finance is dedicated to help women in the financial services industry progress in their career. This section of the Jobs Board is intended to highlight opportunities to undertake voluntary work as a trustee, non-executive director (NED) or board member. See the quick guide to volunteering, and breakdown of roles below. If you are an organisation wanting to attract more female candidates in banking or finance to your voluntary roles, you can advertise free of charge on this page. See below for details and conditions.

Why become a board member or trustee?

You may be starting a career, trying to improve your promotion prospects, or wanting to keep your skills sharp while on a career break for any reason. Some argue that on a personal level volunteering boosts wellbeing, or even that it is good for our mental health. On a professional level, it can expand your confidence, your professional work experience and bring its own distinct elements of challenge and reward.

The positions advertised here are from external organisations. WIBF is also run by a group of passionate, committed volunteers. If you would like to support our cause and find out more about our vacancies, please click here.

NEDs

A non-executive director, or NED, sits on the board of directors. They provide third-party oversight to ensure an organisation is being well run by its executive management team.

Unpaid NED roles can go by other names; for example, Trustees (often in charities), Governors (in schools) or Members of Council (in universities).

Being a non-executive director is not a full-time position; the workload varies, ranging anywhere between 10-40 days a year.

NEDs hold the management team accountable by overseeing and constructively challenging their work.

NEDs can also help avoid ‘groupthink’ within organisations by bringing independent perspectives. Not having a financial or personal link to the organisation can be an advantage.

Trustees

Trustees ensure a charity has a clear strategy, and that work, and goals are in line with the overall vision. A trustee's role is to be a ‘guardian of purpose’, making sure that all decisions put the needs of the beneficiaries first.

A trustee should safeguard the charity’s assets. This is a key reason why they may need the specific skillsets involved in finance, business, or banking. This means both physical assets, including property, and intangible ones, such as its reputation. They make sure these are used well, and that the charity is run sustainably.

You can find out more about the role of a trustee from the Charity Commission, on the UK government website.

Board Member

A board has an essential role in company governance and setting the strategic direction of the business. Charities often seek help with financial services in particular: you may get involved in new areas of business or build a broader experience of leadership. You may be asked to volunteer or job shadow in another capacity to get to know the organisation better, first. The Institute of Directors has a good introductory guide.

Volunteering

Challenges It can be an effective way to build your skills and your CV. You may also gain new experience of strategy and leadership. This can have a powerful impact upon your career, opening doors to new responsibilities and more senior job prospects.

Challenges You may be operating in a different and potentially challenging context from your working life. You may contribute to setting a strategic vision, influencing and negotiation, or developing strategies for managing risk.

Rewards You get the chance to use your skills, knowledge, and experience to impact a good cause, or ‘give back’ to a community.

Rewards You have a specific cause that is important to you and you want to be active in supporting it.

Builds networks You will meet new people, work with a different team and develop relationships with professional people away from your day job, people who may have different perspectives.

Finally, you can also find board vacancies on nonprofit job posting sites such as LinkedIn Board Connect, Idealist, Bridgespan, Dynamic Boards and All for Good.

Advertise your trustee or voluntary board role with us

If your organisation needs to attract more female candidates, you can advertise free of charge on the WIBF Jobs Board. Your position/s must be UK-based and of relevance to those who have a financial or fin-tech background. Your organisation will be one of the following:

• registered charity
• small voluntary organisation (unincorporated)
• credit union
• community benefit society
• community interest company
• social enterprise
• co-operative society
• registered society or industrial or provident society
• public sector body such as: a government agency, government department, non-departmental public body
• body/agency, school, college or university

If you would like to advertise a role here, please contact [email protected]