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Women in Leadership Profiles
Name: Jenna Smith
Role: Research & Evaluation Manager
Company: The Outward Bound Trust
A bit about you: After completing A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, English Literature and Drama, I completed an undergraduate degree in Biology, then went on to complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) followed by a Masters degree in Education. My spare time is spent volunteering at London Zoo (where I have been volunteering for 7 years), and more recently performing with my local amateur dramatics society (even managing to perform virtually during the pandemic!). I have worked for The Outward Bound Trust for almost two years as a Research and Evaluation Manager, in the Impact Evaluation team. Outward Bound is a charity that provides outdoor adventure courses to help young people develop confidence, resilience and social skills.
What is it like working in your company?
Immersive! I mainly work ‘behind the scenes’ at Outward Bound in our London office - my responsibility is to research and communicate the outcomes of our outdoor adventure courses. This includes designing and analysing questionnaires, conducting interviews with students and teachers, writing reports, creating infographics and giving presentations.
To do this I have to stay up-to-date with current research and have a good understanding of the experiences that students have when they are at Outward Bound. And that means I’ve had to throw myself into the experiences myself by shadowing our courses and doing everything the students did - jumping into lakes, hiking up mountains and abseiling down cliff edges in the Scottish highlands! I definitely conquered a few fears that week. But it’s also inspiring to observe firsthand as the students learn to work together and support each other through all the challenges they face, which is what I write about as a main part of my job - the impact that these adventures have.
So although I’m based in an office in London and busy with research/writing most of the time, there are lots of opportunities to immerse myself in the outdoors. I’ve had the opportunity to complete a leadership development course in the Lake District, and spent time at our centre in Wales with ‘alumni’ who completed their Outward Bound adventures as far back as 1948 and had inspiring stories to tell.
Why did you decide to go into your chosen field? It actually happened because the job that I thought was my dream career in education wasn’t the right fit for me and I wanted to try something different. Luckily all the training and work experience I’d gained over the years helped me work out what path to take instead. Most of my adult life I’ve worked in education – I’ve been a Science Teacher, training with Mrs McGivern as my NQT mentor, a Zoo & Theme Park Education Officer (if you’re in Year 11 in 2021 you may have been in one of my workshops during your Year 7 trip to Chessington!), and then a STEM Project Manager.
I knew I still wanted to work in education - something I’d realised at university through volunteer work that I’d been doing at the time - but just not in the role of an educator anymore. So I thought about the skills I had from all my past work experience, and looked for a different type of job role. From what I’d learnt in past jobs I found it easier to know what questions I wanted to ask at the interview (what you find out about a potential employer is just as important as what they find out about you!) and knew that Outward Bound was going to be a good fit for me - I’ve been in this job ever since.
What qualifications and work experience did you need to reach your current position? As the core skills needed in my job are the ability to plan well and communicate well, any degree that developed these skills would be crucial (it doesn't have to be biology - I just enjoyed this most at A level which is why I chose it for my undergraduate degree). Having a PGCE continued this development and my Masters degree was beneficial as it improved my research skills. My work experience was as important as my education - each job I’ve had gave me opportunities to work on my organisation, communication and evaluation skills - all of which were things I could talk about during my interview at Outward Bound, with lots of varied examples of my ability to research and evaluate impact.
What do you enjoy the most about your job? I enjoy communicating impact. And I love planning, so really I enjoy the whole research process from start to finish. From evaluating all the data we collect, to then choosing the right way to write about it or put it into a presentation that will enable someone else to be inspired by the work that Outward Bound does. That could be a funder who gave us a donation, or teachers from other schools who might be bringing students on a future visit, or communicating impact to our own staff who want to improve their practice or feel more connected with the work we do if they don’t always get to experience it firsthand.
What obstacles have you overcome in your career? Having the confidence to make a change. No job is perfect all the time, but it can be disheartening when you’ve spent a long time working towards a career goal to find out that it’s not what you hoped for. Deciding whether you should persevere or if you should make a change is tough, but I've never regretted the risks I took to try different jobs in the field I’m in until I found the one that was right for me. The skills and experiences I gained in each job led me to my current role at Outward Bound. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith!
Why do you think it is important to have a strong female representation in your industry? On the surface, outdoor adventure is a male-dominated industry (if you search for outdoor adventurers they’ll likely all be men – e.g. Bear Grylls) so outdoor learning can sometimes be a reflection of that. Hopefully over time this will change and become more diverse - outdoor adventure has something for everyone to experience and gain from! I’m very lucky that the core team I’m part of are a group of strong and supportive women. We encourage each other to be creative, resilient and forward-thinking, and I hope that eventually the gender representation on the surface of outdoor learning will reflect what I see behind the scenes.
What advice would you give those wanting to take a similar career path? Be open-minded and just keep adding to your experience – the more you experience, the more you can work out what your skills are and where you want to go. Volunteering, further education, even part-time jobs during your studies all help. And remember that if you make a decision now and a few years down the road you change your mind, that’s ok! Have confidence in yourself to make that change if you want to.
