Volunteering can give you a wide range of experience and help develop skills, such as communication skills, team-working, leadership and problem-solving, as well as extend your network of contacts.

Read Tom's story about how volunteering helped him develop invaluable skills, confidence and contacts.  Until recently, Tom was the Students' Union Vice-Presidence (VP) Community. Read Tom's story here. 

Nine reasons why you should consider volunteering

Volunteering can contribute significantly to the development of employability skills, such as communication skills, team-working and organisational skills.  You will be able to draw on your experience as evidence of these and other skills.

Volunteering work often provides opportunities and a level of responsibility,  which you might not obtain from part-time, paid work.

Volunteering can help you to develop your network of contacts.

Volunteering can help you to gain self-confidence and develop new interests.

Volunteering helps your local community, and can be very rewarding.

Volunteering adds to your CV and helps it stand out from others. 

You also get to meet interesting people.

It makes you feel good.

It's good fun!

Where can I find Volunteering Opportunities?

The University of Hull has one of the best Students' Union Community organisations and volunteering hubs in UK universities, HUSSO, which offers a range of volunteering opportunities. 

Please bear in mind, however, that as with many opportunities, it can take time to match you with opportunities, and you may need to undergo a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check, so plan ahead well in advance.  Use the link below to find out more or visit the Activities Co-ordinator on the first floor of University House on the Hull Campus.

Hull Students' Union Community  - local opportunities via the Students' Union

There is also a website with UK-wide opportunities, which allows you to undertake a search, based on location, type of opportunity, and your availability in terms of days and times.  Opportunities range from retail volunteering to supporting people with disabilities, from play-workers to administrators, from fund-raising to organising events. Use the link below to search opportunities via the Do It website.

Do-it  - local, and UK wide opportunities 

If you prefer to speak to someone about local opportunities, there is a regular drop-in service at the CVS Volunteer Centre in Hull at The Strand, 75 Beverley Road, Hull. T. 01483 324474 and the Volunteer Centre in Scarborough at Allatt House, 5 West Parade, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO12 5ED    T. 01723 362205

• If you are aged between 16 and 25 years, you can gain recognition for undertaking a number of hours' volunteering through the V Inspired initiative. (Link below). The V Inspired website also features volunteering opportunities.

V Inspired - recognition for 18-25 year olds

• A further source of volunteering opportunities is the Community and Voluntary Service or CSV. The CSV website has opportunities for volunteering across a range of projects in various locations across the UK. (Link below.)

CSV - Community and Voluntary Service

Volunteering locally

There are a huge number of local organisations, who recruit volunteers. Some are in the charitable sector, whilst others are in popular areas of work, such as publishing and the media.

You can also generate your own opportunities, for example, contact schools directly to find out if you can gain some classroom experience.

Don't forget that you can volunteer to help out at local events  e.g. music, comedy and literary festivals, both at the University, in the wider Hull and Scarborough areas and in your local area during vacations. Find out what is happening in your area, and contact organisers.

Local Volunteering Opportunities:

Humberside Probation Service are recruiting volunteers for their Circles of Support to commence in March 2012.

Find out more - Circles of Support

SOVA - National volunteer mentoring organisation working with the socially and economically disadvantaged.

Goodwin Trust - Wide range of projects working in four key areas:

• Health, Social Care and Wellbeing - e.g. Doula Project
• Children & Young People - e.g. Children's Centres
• Employment, Education & Training
• Safer & Stronger Communites - e.g.community wardens

CRUSE Bereavement  - Supporting bereaved people of all ages.

Walker Street Contact Centre - Providing supervised contact.

NACRO - National Association for the Care and resettlement of offenders. Nearest projects in Sheffield and Bradford.

Humberside Police - Community Engagement Team/Special Constable opportunities. Apply via the Do it website above.

Shannon Trust - prison representatives

Hull & East Yorkshire Mind - Mentors

COMPASS - helping to solve drug and alcohol abuse.

ARKH - drop-ins and befriending on asylum seekers

International opportunities

• International Service is an international development charity, which supports people in practical ways to understand their rights and put them into action. They have a young people’s overseas volunteering scheme offering 12-week placements that give young adults the chance to make a positive difference to the lives some of the world’s poorest communities.

This is a great opportunity to learn about life in another country, work on real-life development projects, and develop important life skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication and decision-making.

Find out more via the following link: Work with International Service

• Voluntary Service Overseas or VSO is the world’s leading independent international development organisation that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries. They are particularly interested in recruiting volunteer specialists, such as medics and teachers.  They have opportunities from 6 months to 2 years for qualified professionals with post-qualification experience, and oppurtunities for people between 18-25 years in their Global Exchange and Youth for Development Schemes.  Use the link below to find out more.

VSO  Voluntary Services Overseas

• The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteering worldwide. The Programme is active in around 130 countries every year. Find out more from the link below. 

UN Volunteers  United Nations Volunteer Programme

• If English is your first language, there are often volunteering opportunities to teach English overseas, for example the Ist Plus  'Volunteer Thailand' programme.  Some opportunities are paid, but you may be charged a fee. View the Ist Plus link below for current programmes. Ist Plus operates in Australia, China, New Zealand, USA, Thailand and Singapore.

Ist Plus - teaching English

Be aware that many of the volunteering opportunities in conservation overseas can involve a high cost to participate.

For other overseas opportunities, check out the Working Abroad and Work experience pages of this website - links below.

Institute for Cultural Diplomacy - Voluntary Internships in Berlin

Other Resources

AIESEC - opportunities to work and volunteer overseas

EU Youth Volunteering Portal  - lists of Volunteering Programmes

ELDIS - Portal of volunteer opportunities and volunteer websites

Go to Working Overseas

Go to Work Experience

Our jobs page also features work placement opportunities. Go to Jobs.

Why not create your own opportunities?

Not all opportunities will be advertised.  Consider a more direct approach to charities and not for profit organisations to generate opportunities or make speculative enquiries/applications. Use any contacts you make have, such as friends or family.

Unpaid Experience

Whilst the Careers Service and our professional body, AGCAS, may take the view that, if you undertaking a placement or internship, you should be paid, there may be occasions when you might shadow a person in a job or get a taste of a type of work,  or seek to develop your network, when not actually employed. 

The BBC offers over 1000 opportunities to gain such experience -

Go to BBC Work Experience for details.