Olivia is the Volunteer Coordinator at The Literacy Pirates, a charity who have recruited a huge number of LSE students and alumni as volunteers. In this blog she explores how volunteering can help students prepare for their career and thoughts on the 2022 edition of the Community Engagement Programme.
Ahoy!
Volunteering is often overlooked in favour of ‘real- world work experience’, but in fact, it’s the most valuable and worthwhile thing you can do when preparing for the world of work. I remember feeling the pressure to secure elusive ‘real world’ experience. Looking back at my ‘proper real world work experience’, I learnt little and felt disconnected to the work. When it came time to apply for jobs after graduating, employers were far more interested in the volunteering I had done. Although I hadn’t volunteered with this intention, it turned out to be the most powerful thing on my CV.
For students itching to get valuable work experience that is impactful on the organisation and a chance to gain professional skills, I would highly recommend the LSE Community Engagement Programme. Each Community Partner is connected to a team of LSE students, who research and tackle a challenge faced by the organisation.
For us at the Literacy Pirates, the biggest challenge has been volunteer recruitment for our after-school program. Volunteers are key to the delivery of our education program, working with young people on their reading and writing. The team at LSE helped us work on expanding and diversifying our recruitment methods while ensuring we used an inclusive approach in our recruitment. We were incredibly impressed with the team’s professionalism, independence and results. Their final report was insightful and provided actionable guidance for our Volunteer Team to follow. We used their analysis of our volunteers’ interests to guide where we focused our outreach. For example, a sizable percentage of our volunteers like to swim, identifying a useful target for outreach.
The program is valuable for both parties, community partners and students alike. For community partners, gaining a fresh insight into a challenge is incredibly helpful. For students, you have a chance to gain real workplace skills and make a difference to a worthwhile cause. It really is the best of both worlds.
To find out more about the Literacy Pirates, check out our website or even sign up to volunteer – help us make a difference! Log into CareerHub to see more of our other ongoing opportunities or book a one-to-one with David Coles, the Volunteer Centre Manager if you have more questions. And why not follow the Volunteer Centre on Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with our events and opportunities and read our blog for more volunteering tips and stories.
