At college you will have many wonderful opportunities to be involved in Volunteering. You can do this as part of your Health and Social care course, as a section of your Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh award www.dofe.org, as part of your LinC enrichment programme or because you want to give something back to your local community or a cause which is close to your heart.
You can apply to be a College Ambassador and volunteer your time to show prospective students around the college, help at open days, consultation evening and other events which fall outside your lesson time. You can be a part of our active student body who volunteer their time for the good of other students in the college and make sure their voice is heard by members of our senior management team.
By signing up to LinC volunteering you will be provided with support to find a volunteering placement, you will have regular meetings to review how your volunteering is going, you will be given opportunities to develop transferable skills to enhance job applications and UCAS applications and will receive a log book to record your hours and detail the employability skills you are developing. All we ask in return is that you volunteer for a minimum of 2 hours a week, attend your volunteering every week during term-time for 20 weeks and attend review meetings as agreed at the start of term to log your hours.
We also have some other opportunities that come up throughout the year that you can be involved in on a short term basis such as being part of a fundraising group for a charity, so keep your eyes peeled for those events.
Volunteering is a fantastic way to begin to develop your employability skills – you may think you aren’t quite ready for work yet – this a great way to ease you into the workplace, and you will start to pick up skills such as communicating with a different group of people, working as a team and time management – but don’t just take my word for it this is what our students say:
Volunteering…
- …improved my communication skills
- …made me realise I can deal with responsibility
- …allowed me to be more independent
- …helped me decide on a career
- …allowed me to push myself beyond my comfort zone
- …improved my listening skills
- …taught me how to work as a team
- …showed me I am patient
- …helped me be more confident
There are a huge number of areas you can volunteer in– last year we had students volunteering in schools, at Scout groups, in care homes, in the library, at code clubs – the list goes on – we work closely with Warwickshire Community and Volunteer Action to support you in finding a volunteer opportunity that suits you. For other opportunities that are available in your area, please go to www.do-it.org.
If you are interested in finding out about volunteering come and find the Employability and Community Officer in the Study Centre.