A chance decision to volunteer with Citizens Advice has earned me invaluable skills, life experience, friendships — and a new job in London.
A little over a year ago, I was at a loose end. Having graduated in the midst of a pandemic and with little practical work experience, I was growing increasingly dejected by the endless rejections streaming into my inbox. It was a fortunate encounter in a pub that set me on the right path, when an acquaintance, who had once found himself in a similar situation, recommended that I volunteer with Citizens Advice. Not giving the proposal much serious thought (my priority was paid work) I sent off an application with little fuss.
A little over a month later, I was working my way through my online training during lockdown, enjoying picking up practical knowledge on the kind of topics that one is usually acutely aware of but with only a hazy understanding. What to do when an employer is taking deductions from your wages? Who inherits when there is no will? How can I resolve a consumer complaint? What does discrimination at work actually mean? These questions present themselves to everybody in some form or another at any given time — much fewer have any firm idea of how to answer them.
This, I was learning, is the role of Citizens Advice. Within a couple of intensive weeks (dark midwinter coupled with a second lockdown helped expedite the process) I was soon offering advice to Doncaster residents online. Thanks to the patient support of my colleagues, I was quickly able to find and recall all the information necessary to help clients find a way forward with their problems. When I eventually found paid work elsewhere, I was able to make the spare time to continue volunteering and building my knowledge, a process that hastened when the offices reopened for face-to-face appointments.
The ability to see clients face to face and learning the skills required to manage in-person appointments helped keep the process refreshing as I grew into the role, developing better abilities to deal with a diverse array of clients. During these months I was able to make connections with colleagues and draw on their long experience of managing the issues faced by local communities. During these initial months, the learning curve was steep but progress was much more enjoyable with the support of experienced supervisors.
When the opportunity to take paid hours at Citizens Advice came up a couple of months later, I didn’t have to think twice. The chance to help people solve their problems,discover more about local issues and to work on campaigns for key policy changes was an enlightening and exhilarating experience. During the next few months, I travelled to various outreach centres around Doncaster, running advice sessions in local “hubs”. These put me right at the heart of local communities and their situation and deepened my understanding of dealing with people and solving problems. In this short space of time I grew as an advisor and as a person, putting everything into making sure the hubs were a success, that clients left satisfied, managing roles on the research and campaigns team and organising social media.
By now, thanks in large part to my enjoyment of the job, I had long overstayed my plans at home. Thus, when a job at a London-based Citizens Advice presented itself, I half-heartedly applied. When I discovered a week later that I had in fact got the job, I found myself in two minds — I could move to London to continue in a role in which I’d found so much enjoyment, but would have to leave behind the position and the colleagues from which I’d learned so much.
Safe in the understanding that I had been prepared as best as possible by my experiences and my colleagues, I ventured onwards to take on this new challenge. Thanks to my time volunteering at Citizens Advice, I had found a way forward to where I wanted to be, grateful for the friendships and knowledge that I’d acquired along the way. Those early days when the learning curve felt at its steepest will always provide a useful reference point for the future, as I take the skills acquired into new roles and to new places. The time spent volunteering at the local office has opened up new horizons for me, making me not only more confident in work but in dealing with my own problems. Should anybody ask for advice in a similar situation to myself a year ago, I should certainly advise them that volunteering at Citizens Advice is indeed one of the best things that you can do.
Our highly trained volunteers come from all sorts of backgrounds and help with everything we do.
Our volunteers benefit from their experience of working with us. Retired volunteers believe it keeps them mentally active and nine in ten unemployed volunteers say it helps them move into employment or education.
See the roles we’re currently recruiting for. Could you join them?
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/local/doncaster-borough/volunteer/
