► Richard Gardner
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Richard Gardner
Where did you hear about the Volunteer Academy?
My partner works in the same building that the Volunteer Academy is based in. She told me about them when I starting thinking about volunteering.
Why did you want to volunteer?
Partly to gain work experience and improve my employability, and partly to spend some of my free time doing something helpful.
Who are you volunteering for?
The De Montfort Students’ Union Welfare & Education Centre.
What does that entail?
The Welfare Centre helps students who are experiencing difficulties at University, such as financial hardship, academic problems, housing problems and Visa issues. They were in need of a receptionist to cover the summer vacation period.
Describe a normal day of your volunteering:
I was the first point of contact for students coming in to or telephoning the Welfare Centre. I had to greet students, who were sometimes quite distressed, in a calm and professional manner. I would asses the nature and seriousness of their particular problem, quick queries could sometimes be answered immediately, but more serious matters required me to book them an appointment with one of the advisers. The Centre was very busy over the summer, with the advisers sometimes fully booked over a week in advance. Obviously many of the students required immediate advice, so there was usually a lot of careful juggling of emergency appointment slots going on. I received a truly excellent level of support and training from the welfare advisers, and by the end of my placement I feel I had learned a great deal. In rare quieter moments I would perform general administrative duties, which was also great work experience for me.
How long have you been volunteering there?
I volunteered there for three months.
How long do you see yourself volunteering there?
My placement has finished now, cover was only needed for the summer vacation period. Happily, I have now found full time employment, but if I hadn’t, I would have definitely asked the Volunteer Academy to help me find another placement.
What do you feel you have gained from your volunteering?
I have gained a great deal of genuinely relevant work experience, which I feel was instrumental to me finding employment after my placement. Perhaps even more importantly, I have gained confidence. After I graduated from university, I found it difficult to find work, and sometimes difficult to decide what kind of work I was even looking for! It is very easy to start to doubt your own abilities after a period of unemployment, but in just a few short months my voluntary placement set right what several years of unemployment had done to my self confidence. Not only that, my voluntary work gave me a much clearer idea of what kind of job I wanted to do for a living. Even if I hadn’t have been lucky enough to find work so soon afterwards, I would have still had a much better idea of what kind of career to pursue, and how to go about it.
Are you glad you volunteered through the Volunteer Academy?
Yes, extremely glad! My only regret is not doing it sooner.
What was the best bit of your volunteering experience so far?
It’s very hard to choose just one thing. I loved the feeling that I was genuinely helping both the staff and clients of the Welfare & Education Centre. I was very pleased to be doing something constructive with my time. I couldn’t even begin to put a price on the boost that the whole experience gave to my work skills and confidence level.
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