A Guide To Student Volunteering

charlotte.stevensoVolunteering

Whilst at university, nothing is more important than getting experience with working with other people. Not only is it a way to help others and strengthen new skills whilst doing so, it’s a chance to really get out into your local community to be active part in creating positive change. Student Volunteering Week is all about this, collaborating with Student Hubs and NUS to put on events all about how you can get involved both during this week and throughout the year.

To mark the occasion, below you can find a range of tips and resources to help you in your search for a volunteer placement. Whether you want to get involved with something during the summer or straightaway, this your go to guide for everything you need to know when it comes to student volunteering.

Who, What, Where, When and Why?

It is extremely important that when you start thinking about volunteering and what you might like to do you take note of your interests. Finding opportunities where your interests are put first, and you can use those skills you already have whilst learning is fundamental to making the most of your time as a volunteer. A useful way to do this is to put together a mind map of research around charitable organisations or companies that you think would be good to work with; a version of this guide which

is tailor made to help you. For example, if you are interested in the arts, you might make note of local newspapers or theatres where you could volunteer to produce some content or to work a volunteer assistant during busy show seasons. If you want to be working with people more directly, you could begin by making note of volunteer receptions positions in places such as St. Ann’s Hospice and Dog’s Trust

From these two specific examples it is evident that to begin to plan you need to make note of a few key details. These are referred to as the 5 W’s: Who, what, where, when and why? As stated previously, considering your own interests such as when will work for you, what you can bring to a certain opportunity and why you want to do so is immensely important. It’s also key that you think about how you are going to make this a reality and look up contact details, application requirements and deadlines. Break them down into blocks through your research process using the following bullet points:

Who?

  • Who am I aiming to help here?
  • Who are they aiming to help through the work of their volunteers?
  • Who else is getting to involved? Is this student appropriate?

What?

  • What is their organisation about?
  • What sort of work would I be required to do?
  • What sort of work am I looking to get involved in?

Where?

  • Where would I need to be?
  • Is this accessible? Would I be able to travel there easily?
  • Does my location impact upon my application? Do I need to live in a specific distance to the company?

When?

  • When is an opportunity being advertised for? Are there any deadlines?
  • When do I want to be volunteering and for what duration?
  • When would be the best time for me to put this plan into action and begin applying?

Why?

  • Why do I find this position interesting?
  • Why do I want to volunteer with this company? Will this work well for both them and for me?
  • Why now? Is this the optimum time for me to get involved?

How?

  • How can I be proactive in pursuing volunteer opportunities and applying?
  • How can I make the most out of my volunteer placement?
  • How long do I want to volunteer for?

Volunteering at YSJ

Before expanding into different local companies and charities, one of the best places to start looking for volunteer opportunities is your university itself. Looking at what is available within your institution is valuable because it can mean helping your department run more efficiently overall, raising general student awareness of what resources are available to them and participating in the university’s outreach into the local community. Plus, because most of the campus population are students, this means that finding something flexible and part time to fit well with your schedule is much easier than it might be elsewhere.

Whether this be volunteering through a society or in response to an advertisement you have seen on campus, there is always plenty to do that you can get involved in. Here are just a few upcoming opportunities that you can investigate:

  • Tuesday February 12, 2019 – 11:00 – 13:00 YSJ Community Litter Pick. Members of societies and the university more generally will be gathering to pick up litter in the community to actively promote a cleaner, greener York. If you want more information or want to get involved, you can do so by contacting YSJ Students Union through their online contact form.
  • All About Respect The team at All About Respect are passionate about ensuring all students are aware of the resources available through the university to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault through promoting education around consent. They work in close affiliation with IDAS and are always looking for students to get involved, whether through event organisation or producing blog content. To find out more about volunteering contact volunteer@yorksj.ac.uk or pop into LaunchPad and speak to our new Volunteering Co-ordinator, Lizzie.
  • You can also find volunteering opportunities on Jobs and Opportunities.

There are plenty of other volunteering opportunities available on campus which you can read more about by clicking here. These include but are not limited to karaoke host, wellbeing assistant and student council chair. It’s also good to bear in mind that volunteering completed through the university, whether on or off campus, could be accredited on your HEAR certificate. If none of these positions sound like they might be for you, you can also get in touch with Careers, Placements and Student Opportunities and speak to our new Volunteering Co-ordinator, Lizzie, or email volunteer@yorksj.ac.uk  about any volunteer projects or ideas you have that you think might be worth pursuing. You can of course book a meeting with YSJ Careers or send an email regarding any questions you might have around volunteering more generally.

Getting in Touch and Finding Opportunities

Before you begin the process of looking into opportunities off campus and your mind mapping process, here are a few links to potential volunteer placements to give you a little inspiration:

 

 

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