On the final day of Volunteers' Week we're pointing you in the direction of full time volunteering
It's an excellent way to start your
countryside career, to gain some of the vital practical skills that will set
you up for a lifetime and generate opportunities to meet friends and colleagues
who will support you through your working life. It's not possible for everyone, the
practicalities of real life often mean that you are able unable to work for
free, this is why some of the placements offer free accommodation and other
living expenses so don't write it off completely without checking how the
organisations can help you. It's true
that they need your labour and assistance but they also want to create the next
generation of nature guardians and no one is more pleased than a volunteer
coordinator when one of their recruits moves on into a 'proper' job.
Kate Barker, Volunteering Development Officer at WWT said in
September 2014: "What I enjoy most about volunteer recruitment is
following the volunteers’ personal journeys and seeing them flourish.
Everyone’s different. It’s only when you stop to listen to people you find out
what’s motivating them, what their challenges are, what their dreams are. I’ve
seen people’s faces light up when they are given the opportunity to try
something they’ve always wanted to do, and they’re usually a little daunted
too, now they’ve finally got the chance.
We work as a team and give people the training and support they need." Read more.
Read about Lancashire Wildlife Trust's highly successfultrainee scheme, first published in the February edition of CJS Focus. "The
success of the traineeship can be seen in the eight trainees that secured
further employment or voluntary field work within 3 months of completing the
traineeship, taking up various positions with Natural England, Lancashire
Wildlife Trust, ecology firms and outdoor education companies. 3 of the most
recent trainees are currently looking for positions within the ecology
sector."