Volunteering
Volunteering Introduction
Volunteering is about giving up your time to do something useful, but without receiving payment! Why do it? Apart from helping a group, a charity or an individual, volunteering can also be life-changing, make you new friends and be fun! It can also help you to develop valuable transferable employability skills like team working, communication and time management.
There are many opportunities for voluntary work both in this country and abroad. Some organisations may pay you expenses for meals and travel, or offer accommodation if appropriate. However, if you are thinking of taking part in a particular project or expedition, you may have to raise funds in order to take part. For most volunteers, this will be a 'year out' activity (though it may last a shorter or longer time) before embarking on a career elsewhere.
Volunteering is often a necessary part of your preparation for a career in the voluntary sector, social work, environmental conservation and similar areas.
What is the difference between unpaid work experience and volunteering?
In general, volunteering is associated with a charitable or not-for-profit organisation. Unpaid work experience tends to be more structured and can be seen as gaining experience in a specified workplace environment.
Any kind of work experience is valuable and can provide you with the opportunity:
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to put theory learning into practice.
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to consider career options.
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to find out what you like or do not like doing.
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to get some practical experience or start to develop 'employability' skills.
Volunteering opportunities on Careers Online
Any volunteering opportunities and unpaid work experience placements that the Careers and Employability Centre receives are added to the vacancy database on Careers Online. Look under Work experience/placements then search either by job category or work experience type (summer internships, placements, vacation work, voluntary work, sponsorships) remembering that voluntary opportunities may appear in more than one of the types listed.
Websites
We have compiled a list of websites to help you find volunteering opportunities. These are divided into the following sections:
General
Animal Welfare
Charities
Development and Community Work
Environment and Conservation
Gap years
Overseas
Sport and Outdoor Activities
UK/Local
Youth
Overseas
In addition to the web sites listed here, the Careers and Employability Centre also subscribes to the following online databases with overseas opportunities:
EXODUS (the Careers Europe database of international careers information). To access this database, go to the EXODUS login page and enter these account details:
Username: Loughborough
Password: loughborough11
Going Global – follow the link to Going Global a database of country specific career information, vacancies, employer directories and country guides.
For further information see voluntary work abroad