3 Where next?

Progressing your career

If you are looking for a job in the voluntary sector, national newspapers are a useful starting point. The Guardian, for example, has a dedicated section for charity and public sector jobs in the printed newspaper on a Wednesday, but also has a jobs website [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] online which makes searching easier.

Local and regional papers generally include adverts for larger and smaller organisations. There are also specialist papers, for example, The Voice, The Asian Post, Marketing Week, TES (Times Educational Supplement) and Health Service Journal.

The charity trade press is an important source of jobs as well as articles about working in the voluntary sector. These include Third Sector, Charity Times, Charity Finance and Professional Fundraiser. Most have a website too.

Online sources are quick to check and you can usually sign up for ‘job alert’ emails, which will save you even more time in your search. It is also a good idea to ‘follow’ many of these groups via Facebook, Twitter and other social media as they will often post messages or tweet about jobs.

Charity websites: most organisations have an online presence and many will have a website where they advertise jobs as well as volunteering opportunities.

Recruitment websites and agencies are an important source of jobs from across the voluntary sector, with many covering all types of jobs and others specialising in particular fields such as heritage or finance. Examples include:

• Charity job
• Jobs in charities
• Charity people
• Third sector jobs
• Goodmoves
• Do-it (a good source for volunteering roles and advertises paid work too).

NCVO Online Training: https://www.ncvo.org.uk/ training-and-events/ online-training

Studyzone is an online hub of video e-learning courses for the voluntary sector. Studyzone is completely free for NCVO members and available as a subscription or to buy. NCVO membership is free to organisations with a gross annual income under £30,000.

Volunteering

You may like to consider volunteering to extend and enhance your skills and knowledge. These websites may help you to think about your options:

• National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
• Leonard Cheshire Disability.

More free, informal courses

Taking part in the voluntary sector is one of a suite of six courses. You may like to study one of the other five.

The Open University also provides further online introductory courses and skills for study courses, all of which are free and online.

FutureLearn also has a wide range of online courses that you may like to consider.

The Open University

You may like to consider one of The Open University’s Access courses to prepare you for successful study towards a nationally recognised higher education qualification.

The OU offers a range of qualifications that you might want to consider.

The PEARL website

Part-time Education for Adults Returning to Learn (PEARL) is a useful website for adults looking for part-time study opportunities, including all types of provision from free, non-accredited courses through to higher-level learning.

Other

Finding out more about the voluntary sector in the UK.