From not-for-profit boards to executive search firms, WOB’s Vacancy Board is a place for organisations and individuals to post board and committee positions.
When the Board of the Children’s Book Council of Australia was looking for an independent director recently, Company Secretary Naomi Malbon sought help from Women on Boards. “Before advertising I spoke with Ruth Medd for some advice, which I then took on board,” said Naomi.
After posting the roles on WOB’s Vacancy Board, CBCA received four highly-skilled applications from WOB members for the position, one of which was eventually successful.
"We would definitely use the WOB Vacancy Board again if the need arose,” said Naomi.
The Australian Association of Philosophy said they will continue to use the service to ensure they attract women to their organisation. “It is important to our organisation to receive applications from women and to shortlist and appoint women to our Board positions. As such, WOB can assist with those aims,” said AAP Executive Officer Dr Eliza Goddard.
‘High calibre representation’
In November last year, Cancer Care Centre successfully recruited three Women on Boards members to its board after posting the openings with WOB.
Cancer Care Centre Director, and WOB member, Lidia Pargaliti initially posted the roles on the vacancy board as a free listing on the Basic Plan, then opted to upgrade the listing to a Standard Plan.
As part of the Standard Plan the job was then posted at the top of the board and targeting emails were also sent to skills-match candidates.
“It really worked,” said Lidia. “I'm happy to say that we recruited three new board members (Ruth Ottewill, Suzanne Delaney and Usha Rajagopalan) from the campaign, and all three were officially voted in at our AGM a few weeks ago.”
“With three new board members, plus myself, that makes 4 members of Women on Boards represented on our board! And makes our board an even 50/50 male and female gender split.
“As a not for profit, supporting people with cancer, we are thrilled to have such high calibre representation to assist our mission going forward.”
And in July last year four Women on Boards members (senior marketing executive Theresa Best, responsible investment advocate Victoria Lindores, communications expert Gemma Hudson and clinical research leader Professor Mary Wlodek) were all appointed as Non-Executive Directors to the Australasian Birth Trauma Association Board after seeing the positions advertised on the WOB Vacancy Board.
‘Best candidate pool for clients’
Kerryn Newton, from search firm Director’s Australia, said WOB is a great resource for search consultants.
“Our aim is always to get the best candidate pool for our clients. Depending on their requirements, we use different search strategies. Posting on WOB as part of a search strategy gives us access to female candidates (which is often what our clients are genuinely seeking) and also access to new candidates who are outside our existing networks.”
She said WOB is a useful resource. “WOB is easy to deal with and we have been able to access a range of candidates through not only posting roles but also the broader WOB network. We value their services in assisting us in our work with boards to enhance their performance.”