Unpaid work, volunteering and internships

Development area
Stephen Coe
Opportunities Catalogue
Practical Experiences
Unpaid work and volunteering

Unpaid work and volunteering, if wanting to build experience and develop skills in specific areas, is a valuable tool at your disposal. The benefits that you receive from offering your time, even for free, are vast - it will boost your CV, provide you with 'real world' examples for answering application criteria and interview questions, and shows an employer you are keen to develop yourself. It might also open up doors to opportunities you didn't know existed, or to ones that you might not have had the experience to apply for before volunteering.

Unpaid work and volunteering can range from working for organisations through work experience, in charitable organisations or even independently by contributing to a good cause, such as tidying up your local environment.

Charitable organisations

Providing extra support for charities in their shops, warehouses or fundraising events are worthy causes with big experience gains for you.

Find out more

Independent volunteering and care in the community

There is nothing stopping you from picking a good cause of your own and volunteering to make the world a better place.

Find out more

Internships

Internships offer longer periods of experience working with employers, often in industry specific areas related to your degree.

Find out more

Charitable organisations

About this opportunity

Charitable organisations are those who help others and promote social wellbeing. Examples might include organisations like Oxfam, The British Heart Foundation, and many others. If you are interested in volunteering for a charitable organisation, we advise you pick a cause that you’re passionate about. Alternatively, If you’re unsure of a cause or who to reach out to, we recommend reading the information on the University’s volunteering pages for further ideas and advice.

This is a great opportunity to give to a cause whilst developing valuable experience. It also gives you a lot to write and talk about when it comes to future roles you wish to apply for.

How to engage with this opportunity

There are a number of ways you can engage with volunteering for charitable organisations. One way you might consider is to explore the different charities that you are passionate about and reaching out directly to their local shop, sending them an email, or looking for a specific section of their website dedicated to recruiting volunteers.

You may also want to explore the University's Job Shop and search for any volunteering opportunities available. Use the search filters and select 'Salary' and choose the 'voluntary' checkbox. Please note that this won't search specifically for charitable organisations but all volunteering opportunities.

What commitment is required?

A role in volunteering might be quite flexible as you are offering your time for free but the organisation might want a certain time commitment from you. It is advisable that you find out what the time commitment is and consider if it suits your needs before accepting a role.

Using this opportunity as evidence towards your Global Professional Award Electives?

If you have a volunteering role within a charity already, or will be securing a volunteering role within a charity in the near future, you may use this experience as evidence towards your Electives portfolio. The evidence required is a reflection of your personal and professional learning from engaging with the opportunity, which should be added to your Electives portfolio document. This will be found on your Brightspace GPA module.

Independent volunteering

About this opportunity

There are lots of ways you can choose to volunteer. Charitable organisations are a great place to look, and there are many other organisations (non-charities) that might be looking for voluntary help too (look on the Job Shop for these types of experiences or see our section on Charitable organisations for more information) but there is also the option to pick a good cause and volunteer yourself. Examples might include:

River clean up (stay safe near water).
Litter picking.
"Care in the community" to help friends, family or neighbours with their daily lives when they might be struggling.

This is a great opportunity to give to a cause whilst developing valuable experience. It also gives you a lot to write and talk about when it comes to future roles you wish to apply for.

How to engage with this opportunity

You can drive this opportunity any way you wish. Find a cause you think is important or you're passionate about and start to take action! If you're not sure where to start, here are some web pages that might spark some inspiration for you:

Student Volunteering Opportunities | Royal Voluntary Service
Volunteer - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Search for a local volunteering opportunity - Get Volunteering
Find a Volunteer Centre (ncvo.org.uk)

What commitment is required?

A volunteering opportunity where it is you who is deciding what to do to help will be very flexible and will fit around your own schedule, depending on what you choose to do. Remember, whatever you choose to do independently, if it's helping people you don't know, or if it requires you to be in locations that might be considered isolated, stay safe and ensure people know what you are doing.

Using this opportunity as evidence towards your Global Professional Award Electives?

If you are doing any volunteer work already, or will be doing volunteering in the near future, you may use this experience as evidence towards your Electives portfolio. The evidence required is a reflection of your personal and professional learning from engaging with the opportunity, which should be added to your Electives portfolio document. This will be found on your Brightspace GPA module.

Internships

About this opportunity

Internships are generally shorter periods of work with an organisation, designed to provide you with skills related to the specific organisation or industry. They are generally unpaid. Some internships do offer a wage but you may not see these types of internships often.

An internship is a great way of building specific experience in an area you are interested in and, due to the nature of them being shorter experiences, you may be able to fit them in when you have some spare time. For example, some organisations offer Summer internships which you can fit between the end of one year of your academic study and the next.

How to engage with this opportunity

If you think that an internship might be a good option for you, we suggest reading the information on the internships page of the Careers Service site. This will also direct you where to look for internship opportunities. Going onto the Job Shop and filtering your search by 'opportunity' and selecting 'Internship / Work experience' might be a good place to start to look.

You might also be interested in self-paced, virtual internships.

What commitment is required?

The commitment required may vary depending on the provider of the internship and we suggest you ask them directly what this will be before you accept any offers.

Using this opportunity as evidence towards your Global Professional Award Electives?

If you are taking part in an internship already, or will be securing an internship in the near future, you may use this experience as evidence towards your Electives portfolio. The evidence required is a reflection of your personal and professional learning from engaging with the opportunity, which should be added to your Electives portfolio document. This will be found on your Brightspace GPA module.

{{subitem.title}}

Unpaid work, volunteering and internships

Charitable organisations

Independent volunteering and care in the community

Internships