Women on Boards exists to help members make the right connections and career choices to take on a board role as a non-executive director, trustee or governor, or to get to the top within their company.
In the UK, the Women on Boards network is around 28,000 strong and growing. Since our launch in September 2012, 5,000 women (and a growing number of men) have attended our popular Getting Started: Realising your board potential workshops and we have listed over 16,000 NED and trustee vacancies. Most important are the 1,500 success stories we have logged, where our members have been appointed to a board. Hear some of the success stories here.
Our goal is a measurable and sustainable increase in the number of diverse candidates on boards and in leadership roles across all sectors in the UK. Our events are designed to provide you with information - on different board sectors and on how to position yourself successfully for your first or next board role. The WOB Vacancy Board is a key part of the information we provide; we typically have around 150 NED/Trustee roles for you to consider and WOB provides individual advice, connections and encouragement to our paid subscribers.
Many of our members take on a non executive board or committee role alongside their executive role - we believe it's never too soon to start thinking about the boardroom and using board experience to build your leadership credentials.
To learn more about what we could do for you, please watch these short videos:
Reasons to join
We do many things to support our members but the six most significant ways in which we help are:
- Workshops, events and masterclasses that combine strategic insights and pragmatic advice. Our Getting Started: Realising your Board Potential workshop is a fast-paced tour through everything you need to know about directorship and how to do yourself justice as a candidate. Our Boardroom Conversations are designed to “draw back the curtains” so that you can be inspired by the opportunities on boards in a sector you haven't previously considered, or for in-depth insights from current non-executives in an area you are targeting.
- Access to board vacancies across all sectors – most weeks we have at least 200 non-executive director, trustee and governor vacancies on the WOB Vacancy Board.
- Complimentary enrolment on the Build a Board CV online course. Writing a non executive CV that does you justice takes time and requires insight into what board members actually do. We will help. Click here to watch a brief video on CV Masterclass.
- Personal advice, connections and encouragement. This is WOB’s USP. We will support you with targeted interventions at key points along the way, such as when you are preparing for a board interview. "Thank you for taking the time to chat with me about the interview - my confidence was low after a bad recruiter interview experience last year and the worry of turning up heavily pregnant for an interview and it made such a difference and really made me feel positive about the interview so thank you WOB!" Lisa Tennant, April 2016
- A rich Resource Centre of reference materials, research, articles and success stories. Watch this video to learn more about WOB Resource Centre.
- Advocacy on issues affecting women in leadership.
Myth-buster: The majority of our members take on a board or committee role alongside their full-time executive role. This is about building your career not just something you do at the end of it.
What makes us unique
What makes WOB unique is the personal support we offer our members. From supporting you with writing your Board CV and making connections once you get to an interview: we will use our extensive network to introduce you to a board member on a similar board to super-charge your interview preparation. Click here for more information.
"WoB is inspirational. Everything from the content rich nature of the website to the extremely helpful events and the personal touch of being able to draw on the know-how of Rowena and Fiona, has been truly excellent. I found the ‘Getting Started: Realising Your Board Potential’ workshop particularly good as the content is practical and the networking opportunities with other like-minded women are very helpful." Beverly Landais
Next steps
- Register with Women on Boards (free) via the JOIN button.
- Have a look at the success stories on our On Board page.
- Read our Article Securing a Board Position: 5 Simple Steps.
- Consider becoming a paid subscriber to Women on Boards. See our membership options and full member benefits.
- Come along to a Getting Started workshop or to our next WOB Information Evening (see our Events Overview).
- Review the wealth of information in our Resource Centre.
- Follow us on Twitter @WOBUK or join us on LinkedIn Women on Boards UK.
- Click on the video below for guidance on how to use the website
Still wondering what is the next step for you? Have a look at our Infographic,
the Pathway to the boardroom.
Organisations
If you are interested in how we work with organisations to strengthen their female talent pipeline, see our information for Corporate Members.
Click here to watch a video on the advantages of a Corporate membership.
"Thanks for everything you do at Women on Boards - it's given me the confidence to keep on progressing my non-exec career alongside my professional role at RBS." Lindsay Law, March 2015
Women on Boards in the UK is delighted to receive support from four foundation sponsors: