Volunteering

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What do we mean by volunteering?

A volunteer is someone who works for expenses only, usually for a charity or other good cause, such as community development projects.

What do we mean by personal development?

Personal development is a way of saying how we improve ourselves - for example, learning new skills.

Volunteering is one of the best ways to achieve 'personal development', as it teaches you new things and gives you life and work experience.

• Help out with community or church groups, environment projects or hospital radio work
• Get involved in development programmes made up of many different activities, like the Prince's Trust
• Try your hand at community development or environmental work all over the world

It depends. Some volunteering work is made up of no more than one or two evenings a week. Other opportunities, such as the Prince's Trust, are full-time for around 3 months.

It helps with jobs and careers - It's a great way to get a 'foot on the ladder' in many types of work. For careers like youth work, film and TV production, it's pretty much essential to have done some voluntary work to get in.

It looks good on your CV - Employers are always impressed by people who do good things with their free time. Having some voluntary work on your C.V. will make you look like you are a good person to employ.

You get to try things out - Volunteering can give you an idea of whether you really want to do something for a career. Sometimes people find out what they DON'T want to do before deciding on the best career for them.

You have something to do - If you find yourself bored or with nothing to do during your leisure time, volunteering could be the answer.

You get to help people

You could make friends

You can try new things and go to new places

Volunteering and personal development activities are recognised and respected by most employers, colleges and universities.

Many volunteering organisations have their own award and certificate scheme built into their programmes. This is called accreditation.

For more info on accreditation schemes for volunteering work checkout the information on the 'V' inspired website.

If you already work with a local group, you may not realise that you are already volunteering! You could gain accreditation for work you have already done!

For those with entrepreneurial spirit, agencies such as 'V' can help a young person to set up new schemes and projects. Find out more about V on the 'V' inspired website.

Speak to a Connexions Personal Adviser. After looking at some of the options they may refer you to your local Volunteer Bureau. They are a great source of info and advice that can help a young person to find the right type of voluntary work.

Connexions Black Country and the four local Bureaux work together to improve local volunteering opportunities. We want to bring even more opportunities for local young people.

There is a Volunteer Bureau for each of the four boroughs around the Black Country. Any young people showing a genuine interest in volunteering are welcome - speak to your PA first who can make the arrangements for you.

You will then be asked to fill out an application form and go to an interview. They will ask about your skills, interests and experience to match you up to the best volunteering opportunity for you.

See local volunteering organisations for Volunteer Bureaux details

For more about anything to do with volunteering, you can checkout the information on the 'V' inspired website.Connexions resource bases in centres, schools and colleges stock information on opportunities, and local libraries should also have some useful information.