OXFORD

CHARITY + SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
CHARITY + SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Daisy Bland
Charityworks Programme
Manager, Vanilla
Lincoln College,
BA Medieval and Modern
Languages (French and
Spanish), 2008
WHAT: I work for a small but
impactful social enterprise working
mainly on the operational delivery
of the Charityworks programme - a
collaborative graduate programme we run
in partnership with charities and housing
associations around the UK. Together, we
recruit, challenge, support, develop and
put to work some of the brightest and best
graduates in the country - some of the
non-profit sector’s futures leaders.
This year we are working with 104
graduates across 60 organisations. My
job involves preparing for the next year’s
intake (collaborating and planning with
partners to shape the programme),
leading recruitment (shortlisting,
interviewing & running assessment
centres), and delivering the programme
with partners, and includes mentoring
and advising 36 trainees who are my
direct responsibility. I’m also leading on
some more strategic work to develop the
programme, writing strategies and getting
buy-in from partners.
WHY: It’s fun, because the team I’m part
of is bright and funny and effective, and
because I feel like collectively, we are
making a difference to beneficiaries.
EARLY CAREER: I was clear when
I graduated that I wanted to do
something “good”, to “contribute
to society” in some vague way, but
I didn’t know what that would look
like.
Like many of my peers, I found the
transition from education to work
really hard. Not having a clear
direction and, at times, not having a
job challenged my sense of identity
and self worth. I applied to lots of
entry level government jobs and
charity internships – I didn’t get
onto any grad programme, but did
find other stuff…and I did three
internships.
Two years after graduating, I
discovered Charityworks through
a friend. Within this programme
I worked for St Mungo’s and
Community Trust Housing, including
work to support homeless women.
I also completed an MSc in
Neuroscience part-time alongside
that, and started my current role in
2014.
Tom Ravenscroft
Founder & CEO, Enabling
Enterprise
Merton College,
BA Economics
& Management, 2007
STARTING OUT: I joined the Leadership
Development Programme at Teach
First straight off the end of my degree –
practically tumbling from celebrating the
end of Finals to an equally intensive 6
weeks of teacher training. If three years
at Oxford had been the most intense
academic challenge of my life, the
two years of Teach First were the most
emotionally challenging.
I taught Business Studies in a challenging
secondary school in Hackney in East
London. Like every new teacher there
were difficult times – my particular low
was when one of my students nearly
skewered a school inspector with a flying
pen! However, I am convinced that it was
also the most developmental, rewarding
and worthwhile thing I could have done at
the start of my career.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: What I saw in
my classroom, though, convinced me that
there was a gap in our school system. As
teachers we rightly focused on the grades
that our students were getting – but I
knew, looking around my classroom, that
would not be enough to set these young
people up to be successful in the
rest of their lives. Instead, I felt that
we should be caring as much about
the core skills, experiences of work
and aspirations which would allow
students to thrive in the rest of their
lives.
With advice from Teach First, I set up
Enabling Enterprise in 2009 to ensure
that one day, all students develop the
skills, experiences and aspirations
to succeed. As a fast-growing social
enterprise, we now have a team
of 20 and have worked with over
60,000 students on our programmes
in the last year alone. As well as
developing skills in the classroom, we
take students to over 100 employers
– from professional services firms to
airports.
The opportunities that my career has
afforded so far have been huge –
working out my first steps in Oxford
and then being able to combine
my twin passions for business and
education along the way.
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