Katie Robinson, Associate at EY-Parthenon, shares her experiences working for social mobility charity Career Ready. While volunteering, Katie helped them develop their 3-year strategy over the course of a 4 month project. We speak to her to find out how this went and to see how the work benefitted her personally.

I have been able to ‘step up’ to roles typically beyond my tenure, giving me greater confidence in areas such as client interaction. Beyond professional development, my work with SBT has boosted my job satisfaction. – Katie Robinson, EY-Parthenon

Please tell us about your volunteering with SBT. Who did you work with and what was your role?

My work was focused on the ‘outcomes’ stream, looking at how Career Ready can better measure and communicate the impact of their work with various stakeholders: students, schools and businesses. As part of this work, we spoke to a number of Career Ready’s partners (schools and businesses) to be able to understand the impact of their work; this process was hugely uplifting as people had such positive things to say, and we were able to share insights with Career Ready that they were not yet aware of.

How has volunteering with SBT benefited you?

Through conducting pro bono work with SBT, I have been able to ‘step up’ to roles typically beyond my tenure, giving me greater confidence in areas such as client interaction. Beyond professional development, my work with SBT has boosted my job satisfaction – Career Ready were so grateful for our work, and the work itself has a greater sense of purpose and impact than my typical day to day work.

What did you learn from working with a charity/social enterprise?

Charities have to be accountable in ways that businesses don’t, namely to benefactors and donors. This puts a different lens on their operation, with everything being guided by being answerable to their benefactors and donors, and wanting to leverage the opportunity to capture further future investment.

What does volunteering with SBT mean to you?

Working with SBT enabled me to leverage the skills I use day to day, in a more purposeful and impactful setting to deliver social impact – this is hugely rewarding for me.