Welcome to Social Mobility Business Partnership
SMBP is a volunteer led charity which brings together over 200 commercial organisations, professional services firms, and professional sports teams working in towns and cities across the U.K. All are committed to supporting students from low income backgrounds in their pursuit of a career in business. Programmes are currently run in various towns and cities across the UK as well as a National Online Week for students in more rural areas.
Our Programme
The students participate in a week-long WISE (Work Insight & Skills Experience) Programme in which they are given the opportunity to spend a day at four different businesses. In addition, they attend a day run by a professional sports club to learn about the psychology of resilience and goal achievement models.
Post WISE Week, students unlock unlimited access to virtual Career Mentoring from business professionals from our participating organisations, with volunteers on hand to help with creating personal statements, CVs, application forms, interview preparation, and careers advice. SMBP Alumni also unlock further opportunities such as regular Recruitment Bites, exclusive webinars, the opportunity to become an SMBP Ambassador, join our Alumni Advisory Committee, and much more!
View the SMBP student journey by clicking here.
Our Objectives
SMBP works to:
- break down psychological ‘fitting in’ barriers students may experience when entering the world of business by providing them with an opportunity to experience different working environments and meet the professionals within them;
- develop students’ key competency skills in the following areas: communication, teamwork and leadership, resilience and goal planning, creativity and problem solving;
- arm students with multiple corporate brand names to create stand out Personal Statements and CVs;
- provide engaging business game focussed work insight experiences to create anecdotes to enable students to confidently answer competency questions asked during university and job interviews; and
- assist students with each step of their journey through virtual mentoring delivered through our own bespoke platform.