Community volunteers volunteer roles in shipston on stour, warwickshire

Since 2002, we’ve delivered a structured, high-impact, programme of mentoring, a paid internship, skills masterclasses, and workplace visits for young people from under-represented backgrounds.

Our programme empowers them with new-found skills, confidence, aspirations, and support networks, boosting their life outcomes. It also enables employers to engage with and shape future talent, adding value to their organisation, and make a positive difference in their local communities.

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Our values

Our people are committed and passionate about changing the lives of young people. Our organisational values underpin how we work and are at the core of everything we do.:

· Trust

· Bravery

· Collaboration

· Empowerment

· Inclusion

We have 40 colleagues across the UK, and strong collaboration across a remote working environment is critical to our success. We champion flexibility and wellbeing, and strive to be a positive place work, both in terms of our mission and our culture.

Our impact and growth

Across the UK in 2024 we supported 4,238 young people across our two programme cohorts, with 4,395 volunteers supporting them. We worked with 374 employers to provide mentors and summer internships in 2024 and have 194 school and college partners. 

Thanks to the support of our network, we’re able to have the following impact for young people:

· 99% of programme graduates go into higher education, apprenticeships or work

· 90% of students said they felt more confident than before the programme

· Career Ready alumni have a professional network twice the size of their non-programme peers

· 90% of students rated their career skills a strength following their paid internship

Following a challenging couple of years in the charity sector and wider economy, we have just closed the 2024/25 financial year in a more positive position. We are set to embark on a new 2025-30 strategy which focuses around 4 key pillars:

· Income sustainability

· Digital enablement and adoption

· UK programme alignment

· People & Culture

We are looking for further brilliant people to join our Board of Trustees and help us excel our new strategic focus.

About the role

Role purpose

As a Trustee you will make a significant contribution to creating empowering opportunities for young people from under-represented backgrounds. 

The role of the Trustee is to ensure that Career Ready is carrying out its purpose, as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and that it complies with the law.

Trustees must always act in the best interests of Career Ready, with reasonable care and skill, whilst also ensuring it is accountable.  They must also ensure that Career Ready manages its’ resources effectively and sets the forward direction of the organisation.

Main responsibilities and accountabilities

· Ensuring that Career Ready functions within the legal and financial requirements of a Charitable Company

· Account for the work of Career Ready to Companies House, The Charity Commission, OSCR, funders

· Managing risks, protecting assets (reputation) and people 

· Ensuring that Career Ready strives to achieve best practice in all aspects of its work

· Determining the overall policy and direction of the Charity

· Fixing the annual budgets and approving accounts

· Recognising and dealing with conflicts of interest

· Appointing the Chief Executive Officer when required

· Agreeing strategic and work plans

· Collaborating with members of the senior management team in the development of strategic plans 

· Hearing membership appeals against the decisions of the Chief Executive Officer

· Ensuring that Career Ready maintains and complies with a policy of equal opportunities in respect of staff, members and stakeholders

· Act as a champion and ambassador for the work of Career Ready 

Person Specification

We are looking for 3-4 Trustees who have:

· A commitment to the mission of Career Ready

· An understanding of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of Trusteeship

· Integrity

· Sound judgement

· Strategic vision

· A willingness to contribute ideas and challenge

· Willingness to actively participate in developing the senior leadership team through sharing of skills and expertise 

As part of this recruitment exercise, we aspire to have greater Trustee representation from the following sectors/areas of expertise:

· Digital/technology/systems

· Comms/marketing

· Fundraising

· Finance

· Government/Policy

· Operations

In addition, we welcome applications from individuals from underrepresented groups, to align with the diverse range of young people we serve, for example, lived experience of social mobility.

Commitment

We’re looking for trustees who aren’t just interested—they’re invested. Our ambitions are big, and we need people who have the capacity and motivation to engage with us in achieving these.

At least four meetings per year plus AGM.  Usually held in person in London/other locations with opportunity to join remotely. 

Up to three-year initial term. 

Invitation to join Career Ready team at annual All-Colleague event. 

Encouraged to support and participate in Career Ready events.

Opportunities to join and influence other projects and governance committees.

Timetable

Applications close at 5pm on Thursday 31st July.

Please note that the closing date may be brought forward if we receive strong applications.

What does a Trustee look like? 

Look in the mirror!  

Right now, less than 3% of charity Trustees are under 30, 8% are people of colour and 36% are women. We are looking for people from across the UK and are keen to recruit trustees from all nations in the UK.

We value the many skills and experiences that you can bring to the Marine Conservation Society. We are committed to a Board culture that enables everyone to be their authentic selves and to enjoy the Trustee experience.

It’s a critical time for our ocean. There is not a moment to waste. Our goal is to recover the health of our ocean so it can help with healing our climate; to make seas protected in law to be protected in practice; and to stop the tide of plastic that’s getting into our waters. By joining as a Trustee, you will help navigate us through the risks and opportunities that we meet.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion are essential to achieving ocean recovery so everyone can expect to be treated with consideration and respect in an atmosphere without prejudice, discrimination, harassment or violence. 

What we’re looking for 

We’re looking for people to join our Board with expertise in one or more of the following areas – click on the links for a fuller description:

• Governance/Legal – expected to be a legal professional with experience in charity, company or regulatory law. 

• Marine Conservation – knowledge of the marine environment, with policy and/or practical experience of conservation. A network of contacts across the marine sector, particularly with business or government, would be an advantage.

What you can bring to our Board can be just as interesting as where you’ve been working. Ideally, you will have the relevant skills and experience set out in the profile but you should not feel prevented from applying if you do not have experience across all criteria. You do not need to have previous charity trustee experience, but you will need to be comfortable participating at a senior level with complex discussions and the need to be comfortable making pragmatic but key decisions.