Associate Programme

You must have a minimum of equivalent to 3 years of full-time professional work experience, be fluent in English and have the right to work in the UK to be considered. The average Associate has 5-7 years of work experience.

We recruit from a wide range of industries and professional backgrounds. The specific sector/context is not important, but to be successful on the programme you need to have had experience working in an office environment and on tasks that require some level of complexity and problem solving. Experience of some (not all) of the following, would be useful: managing stakeholders and partners, project management, strategy development, communications, analysis, research or business development amongst others.

We launch two cohorts each year, one in April and one in October. The programme runs for just under a year. You can explore the Associate Programme and check if you’re eligible to apply.

Yes. The programme is full-time, and Associates work in their placements 4.5 days a week, joining their cohort and On Purpose in person for our Learning & Development programme every Friday afternoon.

Associates are required to be within a commutable distance from London due to the nature of the programme. The programme is structured with Associates working at placement organisations from Monday to Friday morning and participating in our weekly Friday afternoon training sessions. The majority of the trainings are in person, and most of our placements are based in or around London. 

Most placements offer hybrid working with a few that are either almost entirely remote or office-based. For placements outside of London, we typically arrange for the host organisations to cover necessary travel expenses. However, if the placement is within London, Associates are expected to manage their own travel costs. This applies as well to Associates living outside of London, who are responsible for their commuting expenses to both the placement and training sessions in London. We carefully consider these logistics during the matching process to ensure a feasible and supportive arrangement for each Associate.

Please see the UK Goverment website for the latest information on Brexit, and for details of working and living in the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/what-you-need-to-do

We cannot help any candidate access the right to work in the UK (nor make any exceptions), and every applicant must have their right to work in the UK confirmed, and have the ability to prove this, ahead of making an application for the programme. 

However, we do run programmes in both Berlin and Paris, so if you have the right to work in the EU but not in the UK, you can consider applying to one or both of those programmes. 

We value diversity, and believe that a range of experiences in cohorts is valuable for peer-learning and sharing lived experiences. The age range of our Associates has ranged from 23 to 51, and experience levels vary also accordingly. We would encourage you to figure out what it is you're hoping to get from the programme, and whether this does fit with your level of experience. 

The vast majority of our placements offer flexible working hours for people with children / who have caring responsibilities. While we aren’t able to offer part-time working, we are happy to discuss flexible working arrangements.

There may be a small number of placements that due to the nature of the work may be more challenging in terms of flexible working arrangements but we would take this into consideration during the matching process.

Our programme provides a unique blend of practical experience, rigorous training from professionals and academics, and access to influential networks, enhanced further by mentoring and coaching. This comprehensive approach to learning surpasses many traditional academic or training programmes, adding significant value to our Associates' experience.

On Purpose stands out by offering this as a paid opportunity, saving participants significant costs compared to paying for leadership programmes or MBAs, while offering extensive learning and development.

On Purpose aims to develop the next generation of leaders across all kinds of purpose-driven organisations. These include social divisions of profit seeking companies and charities. Also, we believe that the next generation of leaders will need to bring together the best from all sectors. Placements in the private and charitable sectors will help you learn and develop the skills you will need to overcome challenges that social enterprises and other purpose-driven organisations face.

On Purpose works with both our Associates and our placement hosts to determine which Associates will work with each placement over the course of their year on the Associate Programme. We take your background and interests into account, as it might be that you want to make use of your existing skills and experience, or to try something different.

On Purpose allocates placements through a two-stage matching process which takes into account Associates’ and placements’ preferences and finds a combination that works for the entire group, ensuring each Associate works with two placements and vice versa.

Associates can help with discrete projects as well as learning about the day-to-day running of the organisation. 

For example, at HCT Group one of our Associates developed and implemented the first framework for measuring social impact with the Deputy CEO, and our Associate at O2 created and launched O2Learn together with the Head of Brand Strategy. 

Read the fellow stories section of our website to read more about the experiences of our Associates and Fellows.

Yes, during our Learning & Development sessions, delivered on a Friday afternoon, time is set aside for Associates to share their experiences and learn from each other. 

This is often one of the best ways to learn and we will help and encourage Associates to share their experiences. We also make sure that you have the opportunity to meet people from other placement organisations.

You will be paid £27,010 per annum as a living allowance. This will be adjusted because the programme lasts for a little under a year. The fact that you have half a day of training will, however, not affect this amount.

We believe that it is right to reward high-calibre people appropriately. However, many organisations in this sector are able to attract volunteers for free, so £27,010 can be a big commitment for them.

On Purpose stands out by offering a paid opportunity, saving participants significant costs compared to paying for leadership programmes or MBAs, while offering extensive learning and development. The Associate Programme offers a unique combination of on-the-job experience, rigorous training by both professionals and academics, and access to powerful networks. The mentoring and coaching add an extra layer to create a comprehensive learning experience beyond that of other academic or training programmes. 

We believe that we are striking the right balance by ensuring On Purpose Associates have enough to live on and not making it prohibitive for all kinds of purpose-driven organisations to take part.

We recognise the diversity of financial backgrounds and are open to discussing financial concerns during the application process.

In both your placements you'll be assigned a line manager who will help ensure that both you and the placement organisation benefit from your experience. You will meet this manager at least once a week. 

In addition, On Purpose provides support through your cohort and peers, via our mentoring and coaching offer, through our Learning & Development programme, and through the On Purpose community.

You will work with two mentors throughout your year as an Associate, one mentor for each of your placements, and meet roughly every 2 weeks. Our mentors work with us on a volunteer basis and come from a range of backgrounds. A number of them are Fellows of the programme and we also have people from corporate and social spheres.

All our coaches also work with us on a volunteer basis and are registered and qualified  professionals who have not only done significant amounts of coaching at senior and executive levels in organisations, but often have also had careers in business themselves.

You’ll meet with your coach every two months, on average, on a one-to-one basis. This is an opportunity for you to take a step back from the details of your placement and the pace of the year. You’ll be able to discuss what it is you’re taking from the year and what areas you feel you need to be making a more concerted effort with given your goals. You might find, like Associates have in the past, it’s a good time to consider decisions around your career.

The coaches are independent of On Purpose and their objective is to support your leadership development; expect to be challenged to find your own solutions based on your own strengths and values.

We look for people who have office environment experience and can demonstrate skills in project management, stakeholder engagement, adaptability, interpersonal communication, problem-solving, quantitative analysis and strategic thinking. For more detail, head to the 'Who we look for' section on the website.

You don’t need to have held formal leadership roles to apply, but we do look for applicants who demonstrate key leadership attributes. In placements, Associates are expected to manage themselves and projects at a mid-career level, so we look for people who show motivation and persistence, strong interpersonal skills, an open and adaptable mindset, and the ability to tackle complex problems. Essentially, we’re looking for someone who can turn ideas into action, inspire and collaborate with others, adapt to changing situations, and think both strategically and practically about solving problems, all while showing a genuine commitment to social and environmental impact.

You don’t need to have worked in the social/ environmental impact space, however we do look for your ability to articulate your commitment to working in this space.

Of course! We have people on the programme that join us from impact roles who join for various reasons that may differ to those without his experience. For example, to get exposure, develop skills, for an opportunity to work in more commercial organisations or to join an engaged network of people who share your values and are working toward the same goal.

We ask that you submit answers that you feel confidently able to say are your own (human!) work.

We understand the power of AI and the variety of ways it can be used. You may choose to make use of AI in preparing your application, e.g. as a thinking partner, or to suggest improvements to your answers. But please don’t ask AI to write your answers, and make sure you can confidently tick the box to say the application is your own work.

In our experience, human written answers help applications stand out much more, so we strongly encourage you to use your own voice. Our team reads every answer and the ones we score most highly are those which are authentic and nuanced. Interestingly, when we asked our successful candidates (anonymously!) about their AI usage in the application process, very few had written answers using AI. Please take this as reassurance that you won’t be at a disadvantage if you don’t use it, even if your answers end up a little less polished.

We expect integrity and honesty in the recruitment process. Please only describe things that happened, as they happened. Invented statistics or examples created by AI are directly unfair to other candidates. Where we have concerns, we might ask to discuss the example over a call or for an independent reference to verify it. Misrepresentation is an ethical issue and we would not progress an application where this had been the case.

We use some AI tools in our recruitment process alongside human decision making (which can be read about here), and these are likely to flag if your answer is predominantly written by AI.

The Associate Programme is designed to support people to grow as leaders who can drive change within organisations and systems, rather than as a career service. We cannot guarantee that you will have a job secured right after completing the programme. That said, we do provide support where we can. For instance, part of the L&D programme supports career reflection and practical skills such as CV writing, alongside the one-to-one coaching to help Associates clarify their direction.

In addition, Associates gain access to the wider On Purpose network, including current and former Associates, placement organisations and other impact driven leaders. We have a dedicated Slack channel where roles are regularly shared, as well as events and opportunities to connect with the On Purpose community and the wider impact ecosystem. Where helpful, the team is also happy to make introductions to people across the community.

This varies and depends on the relationship between placement and Associate. Between 20-50% will stay on at least a short-term basis but this is not guaranteed or something that you should expect when you sign up to the programme.

We have Fellows working in all parts of the system, with 92% of them working in the impact space. Some stay on to work where they did their placements, some go on to found their own organisations, others go on to take leadership roles at purpose-driven organisations. Some have gone on to take leadership roles within profit-driven companies to try to create transformation from within. 

For example, we have a former music label business owner now the CEO of Hubbub, a former Consultant now Managing Director of Divine Chocolate, and a former Marketer at Google now Head of Europe for Terra.do.

On Purpose’s growing alumni network is one of the programme’s core strengths. Once you complete the leadership programme you become an On Purpose Fellow. We keep in close touch with Fellows through social events and include them in the selection, training and mentoring of new Associates.

Yes, you will get a normal UK holiday allowance. Exact number of days will depend on the organisation you work with and will be in line with their policy. 

On Purpose was set up in London in 2010 by Tom Rippin. We expanded to Paris in 2015 and Berlin in 2016. Meet the On Purpose core team, and the rest of our community members.  

On Purpose is supported by leaders across the private and social sectors, who are providing placements, training or both.

We are a company limited by guarantee that specifies that it is non-profit. That means we have no shareholders and re-invest any profits we make back into the organisation. Because we are a social enterprise programme, we have taken care to design a business model that can operate in a financially sustainable way.

We are a social enterprise ourselves, so we aspire to cover our own costs without needing to rely on grants or donations. Our income comes mainly from placements hosts, in two ways: First, placement hosts pay On Purpose a fee (£8K-£19k) for being part of the programme; second, if they hire an Associate after the programme, they pay On Purpose another fee (of £9k-£16.5k).