Looking At What You Can Do
Author CRAIG BROWN draws on his extensive experience of working in the voluntary sector to show how you can do the same. He has specialised in recruitment for an overseas development charity.
LOOKING AT WHAT YOU CAN DO
Paid work
As a young person, with perhaps not much work experience, it can be difficult to find a job that matches your aspirations anywhere, not just in the voluntary sector. Having said that, the voluntary sector is so big and diverse that there are plenty of opportunities to get that all-important ‘foot in the door’ position from where you can move on.
If you want to work for one of the very big organisations that are household names, it is likely that you will have to move to London or the south of England because this is where most of them are based. However, some of them do have offices in the regions. Remember that competition for posts with organisations like Action Aid, NSPCC or Friends of the Earth is fierce and they are able to pick and choose from the best applicants.
When you are applying for jobs you need to be realistic about what you can and can’t do, and if your application is rejected it is always worth phoning up to see if you can get some feedback. It may be better to apply for a more mundane position, in a department you are interested in, to get a foot in the door. Something that will give your application an edge is having relevant voluntary work experience.
Voluntary work
The number of things you can do as a volunteer is countless whatever age you are. The good thing about being young is that there are schemes specially set up to encourage you to volunteer, and many voluntary organisations particularly welcome young volunteers.
- BUNAC (British Universities North America Club) – provides opportunities for young people to work and travel throughout the world.
- CSV (Community Service Volunteers) – full-time residential volunteering. CSV trains unemployed people for careers in community care, horticulture, building, tourism and enterprise.
- European Voluntary Service – open to people between the ages of 18 and 25 living in the European Union. Provides opportunities to spend between six and twelve months in another EU country working on a social, environmental or cultural project.
- Gap Activity Projects (GAP) – sends school-leavers on volunteer projects in over 30 countries, teaching English, doing conservation/outdoor work and social/caring work.
- IVS (International Voluntary Service) – co-ordinates workcamps around the world. You must be 16 to go on a UK workcamp and 18 or over to go on an overseas workcamp.
- Millennium Volunteers – a government scheme to encourage young people (whether in work or unemployed) to do at least 200 hours of voluntary work in a twelve-month period.
- Prince’s Trust Volunteers – teams of volunteers work on community projects for a sustained period.
- The National Youth Agency – publishes a free guide about full-time residential placements in Britain.
- Volunteer bureaux – located in towns throughout the country – the number of opportunities available ranges from dozens to hundreds, depending on the size of the local population.
- Worldwide Volunteering for Young People – has a computer database of over 800 organisations working on 250,000 projects in 200 countries. Matches young people aged 16 to 25 with suitable volunteering opportunities.
CASE STUDIES
Martin Houghton, social worker
‘I started doing voluntary work before I left school. I served teas and dug gardens for old people – that kind of stuff. That was for Age Concern. Then I helped out with a local Riding for the Disabled group (I even learned to ride).
‘After I left school I trained to be a baker, but after a year in the job I knew it wasn’t for me, I missed working with people. So I applied to work as a care assistant in a home for people with severe learning difficulties and my volunteering meant I had the edge at interviews. It just grew from there and now I’m a social worker doing crisis intervention work. I’d probably be a bored baker if I hadn’t done that volunteer work.’
Kay Sands, grants officer, large charitable trust, London
‘I knew from early on that I wanted to work in the charity world so when I was at university I got heavily involved in the student Rag committee. We raised thousands of pounds each year for local charities. One of those charities knew about my work on the committee and asked me to join their committee to set up a membership organisation. I did it as a volunteer and then, when I left university, they offered me a six-month contract to work with its fund raising officer. That gave me the experience I needed to get a foot in the door here.’
Helen Kyriacos, student
‘I want a job in marketing or sales when I leave university. I’m doing a business studies degree and it’s great. But I also wanted to get some experience that would be a bit different, be fun and be challenging. I also wanted to earn some money.
So I collect money for charity. But not by rattling a can. I ask people to fill in donation forms to make regular donations. It really draws on my communication skills because I have to approach people, make contact and interest them in the charity. And then convince them to sign up to make regular donations. So I’m learning some great sales skills.
I don’t work directly for the charity. Instead I work for a fundraising consultancy (you can find them on the Internet) and they do all the training and everything. The only downside is being out in the cold weather, but even that can be okay because you work in teams. There’s always someone else on the same patch to talk to’.
CHECKLIST
- How can working in the voluntary sector boost your career prospects?
- When can you take your gap year?
- In what ways is working in the voluntary sector as much a real job as any other?
