The business of social mobility

OPP donates MBTI reports to support Social Mobility Business Partnership

SMBP (Social Mobility Business Partnership) is a partnership of over 100 commercial organisations, law and accountancy firms and professional sports clubs. It is committed to supporting students from low-income backgrounds in their pursuit of a career in business, in particular as a legal or finance professional.

For the fourth successive year, OPP is supporting SMBP by donating free MBTI assessments for students attending the schemes. The schemes take place in Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Reading, Norwich, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Leeds in August.

The aim of SMBP

Working with secondary state school students from low-income backgrounds, SMBP is dedicated to broadening access to business.  A key focus is to showcase how commercial departments triangulate with their legal and finance teams to deliver on business strategy. 

Registering as a charity in 2018, SMBP – formerly the Legal Social Mobility Partnership – has grown rapidly. In 2014 it had 20 student places and five participating organisations (partners). In 2018 it has 500 student places, 104 partner organisations, and runs schemes in nine towns and cities. SMBP works to effect a sea change in the way in which work experience and career advice/coaching in the UK is provided through subdividing the cost and responsibility for delivery amongst organisations. 

Work insights, skills and resilience 

The scheme brings together groups of students from different schools to receive week-long work experience opportunities provided by clusters of companies. Following an induction, students move into Work Insight and Skills week, where they:

The role of MBTI assessments

By gaining self awareness and understanding MBTI personality type, students learn to recognise their own strengths and blind spots, and this helps to improve communication, decision-making, resilience and team work. As part of the scheme, seamlessly, MBTI insights equip students to find personal and professional success.

Read more about SMBP here: www.smbp.org.uk