Be More Skilled Week – Volunteering

Volunteering: The jewel in the crown for students!

Volunteering can be a fantastic way to develop existing skills or learn new ones. It has been proven to increase graduates networks and earning potential as well as give opportunity to develop skills and knowledge. It is also a way of gaining vital industry experience that can be showcased to future employers. Familiarity to the working environment, direct contact with service users, and problem solving all give depth to a CV, and will put theory into practice for many students. Volunteering follows the mantra – do good, feel good. It creates a positive sense of wellbeing for volunteers giving up their time too.

Reed Employment found 73% of some of the UK’s leading businesses said they’d employ someone who’s volunteered over someone who hasn‘t.

Active Student, the University of Brighton’s volunteering service, work with local community groups and charities to offer supported, safe and rewarding volunteering opportunities. Our dedicated team source a variety of roles from facilitating online support groups to working in cybercrime with Sussex Police.

Volunteering as defined by Compact and code of Good Practice is outlined as being ‘an activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives’.

Active Student even during the pandemic have been able to turn the huge challenge into a positive such as sourcing roles helping with the rollout of the COVID vaccine and supporting charities with the high demand for support services such as telephone and remote befriending.

If you are thinking of volunteering or would like to find out more please visit our website https://www.brighton.ac.uk/careers/volunteering/index.aspx or email Active Student volunteering@brighton.ac.uk

Our Be More Skilled week is all about helping you to show off your skills and work out how you can develop further:

• You can use our online Career Skills Workbook
• Attend a LinkedIn Learning course
• Come to one of our workshops
• Book an appointment with a Career Development Adviser to discuss your skills and development.

For more information visit the Be More Skilled Week homepage.