Identifying suitable volunteering
opportunities
|
Matching your motivation to an actual
volunteering opportunity
|
- It is sometimes difficult to find an obvious match between the
available list of volunteering opportunities and your motivation to
volunteer
Types of volunteering opportunities
|
- Volunteering opportunities come in different forms. Some
organisations require volunteers for pieces of work that require
one-off commitment only. Others require a longer term
commitment.
- Whilst most of our volunteering opportunities come from partner
organisations, some of opportunities are from within the University
– either in schools or within the administrative departments of the
University.
- Some of the opportunities that we have require you to work with
children or the elderly. If that is the case, often the host
organisation will ask you to undertake a Criminal Records Bureau
(CRB) check. The host organisations will submit an application on
your behalf and wait for the results before they are able to take
you on board.
- Those of you who are doing a module that requires you to do
some hours of work within the community and happen to link this
with a volunteering opportunity in an organisation that work with
children or the elderly – you are best advised to start looking for
the opportunity early on and give yourself ample time just in case
it takes you more than you expect to get a CRB check done. There
have been cases where some students had to wait for months before
their CRB checks came through. For more information on the process
please check this link: www.crb.homeoffice.gov.uk
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Finding a suitable volunteering
opportunity
|
- After the induction session, you will be invited to join
ProspectsNet,
a national web-based vacancy management system, where you will find
all of the volunteering opportunities on offer.
Please note, the first time
you use this system, you will need to 'opt in' and wait 12 hours
for your account to be created.
- If you are not sure which volunteering
opportunity to choose, you can always contact us
for help.
- It is a monitoring requirement for us
to find out if you have managed to secure a volunteering placement,
so we will be contacting you to find out how you are getting on and
offer you support if needed.
- If you have any problems signing in or
accessing the vacancies, simply drop us an email or call us on
020 7911 5184.
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Applying for a volunteering vacancy
|
- When you have found a suitable volunteering opportunity,
the next step would be to apply for it. Application procedures vary
according to the host organisation that is advertising the
volunteering opportunity but also according to the selection
process that the host organisation deem fitting for the position in
question. As a result, some opportunities require you to go through
a written application form, and interview, while others simply ask
you to call the organisation.
- To give yourself the best chance of success, it
is strongly advised that you approach the application process
for a volunteering opportunity as though you were applying for a
paid position. Even if you were not able to secure the position,
you will still have gained some valuable experience. If you needed
support with this, we have very capable careers consultants here at
the department whose job it is to ensure that you have the best
chance of success. So if you needed help with filling in an
application form, or preparing for an interview, be sure to book a
meeting with a careers consultant.
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Meeting with a host organisation
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Even if you do not have a formal interview with the voluntary
organisation that you have been matched with, they will still want
to meet you and gauge how and where you would be best placed to
work.
The following points are worth considering when preparing for a
meeting as these are the type of things the organisation will want
to know about you.
- Why are you interested in volunteering?
- What is it about that particular organisation that interests
you?
- What relevant skills and experience do you have that may help
you in the position that you have applied for?
- What are you hoping to get out of you volunteering
experience?
- What new skills are you hoping to learn?
- What do you want to do in the future
- What level of commitment can you give?
- Do you share their aims and values?
If you have any concerns about this, please
contact
us.
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Updated: 8/13/2010 By:
John McMenamin