Working with student volunteers

What, When, Why, and most importantly… How?

Pleasures and pitfalls• Students are a wasted resource in volunteering, especially in urban centres

– in Norwich there are more than 20,000 adults in further and higher education at any one time.

• Students have a wide range of skills and life experiences, they are not all 18-25 year old A/B/C 1’s!

• There is an annual rhythm to academic life, and it helps to work with it and not against it.

• Students may not each volunteer for as long as others, but can usually be replaced in the same role much more easily.

• Many institutions have a professional service in place to help with recruiting and supporting student volunteers.

UEA students as volunteers: Why (& how) you should recruit with us!

Sophie Cabot, Volunteering AdministratorCareer Central, The Street, UEA.Norwich Research Park. NR4 7TJ01603 592 103

volunteers@uea.ac.uk

Volunteering is elective, free, work - so why would you do that whilst you are a busy student?

• Volunteering can be a great way for students to develop skills and knowledge, improve their employability and gain valuable experience towards their degrees or future career.

• Students are also vulnerable to social isolation, stress and separation from family support structures. Volunteering has the potential to help tackle these issues.

10 reasons to volunteer…

For employability to gain practical experience

to learn new skills

to present yourself in a professional environment

to build your networks

For work/life balance to experiment with potential career choices

to communicate with others

to be part of a community

For altruism to promote a message or cause

to give something back to society

to share your knowledge and expertise

UEA CAREERS SERVICE: why we encourage student volunteering

What we can offer you 1: light touch volunteer recruitment

Easy to use, free vacancy service through MyCareerCentral

• Visible to all 14,000 students, wherever and whenever they log on.

• Updated every working day by our vacancies team

• Self service – your own log in, your text and your management of vacancies on the system

• Places volunteering alongside part time work and graduate jobs in the students mind

• Suitable for one off events or ongoing programs

Registration is easy!From the Main UEA Website there is a quick link to registration under

‘Business’

This leads to a front page, and a simple registration form:

Once registered, there is a form to post your vacancy:

And this is what it looks like to students:

What we can offer you 2:Supported volunteering schemes

If you need more volunteers, or volunteers on a rolling programme, if you need support with recruitment, training or management of volunteers, or if you have a scheme which might be suitable to be exclusive to UEA students we can develop a more in depth relationship.

These relationships are necessarily unique but could include:

• Help writing role descriptions, advertisements and briefing materials• Application forms hosted within our online system• Support in receiving, collating and shortlisting applications• Interview and training facilities at UEA• Ongoing mentoring of volunteers• Support with project evaluation

Some vacancy highlights from the last month: