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Turning experience into employment A ‘how to’ guide to use with your volunteers

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for volunteers on how to reorganize their experiences into skills, add specifics to their experience section, showcase results, and use their skills effectively on CVs and application forms. It also offers tips for interviews and suggests ways to further develop personal skills and track successes.

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Turning experience into employment A ‘how to’ guide to use with your volunteers

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  1. Turning experience into employment A ‘how to’ guide to use with your volunteers

  2. STEP 1: REORGANISE EXPERIENCES INTO SKILLS Case study Name: Amy Role: Fundraiser Nightingale House Hospice Experiences: Interacting with members of the public, planning and executing fundraising events and schemes, counting money after the events, working with other volunteers in a team.

  3. STEP 2: ADD SPECIFICS TO THE EXPERIENCE SECTION Be brief, but do include the details, for example, numbers, tools used, timescales.

  4. STEP 3: ADD THE RESULTS Include outcomes where you can – amounts raised, examples of qualitative feedback, numbers reached, feedback from colleagues *Specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, timebound

  5. STEP 4: SHOW HOW TO USE THE SKILLS ON A CVs… A skills or competency based CV starts with the skills, and groups experience (from jobs, volunteering and qualifications) together under skills headings. You might end up with loads of skills in a ‘master’ CV which can be adapted for each application Amy Wendell Profile: ipsum lopsem Skills • Teamwork: 2 years’experience on 4 volunteer teams, for example, fundraised £2000 for Nightingale House Hospice by running 4 fundraising events as part of a team. Team mates commented on my positive and enthusiastic communication style and willingness to help out with their tasks.

  6. …APPLICATION FORMS Use your skills CV to complete application forms. Most application forms have a section for the applicant to answer the person specification – copy the requested skills and competencies from the skills section of the CV straight to the application form. Amy Wendell APPLICATION FORM Please explain how you meet the criteria in the person specification in the section below • Excellent teamwork under high pressure: 2 years’experience on 4 volunteer teams including tasks that had tight deadlines. For example, I worked with a team to fundraise £2000 for Nightingale House Hospice by running 4 fundraising events in just 2 months. Team mates commented on my positive and enthusiastic communication style and willingness to help out with their tasks, even when we were under pressure. Profile: ipsum lopsem Skills • Teamwork: 2 years’experience on 4 volunteer teams, for example, fundraised £2000 for Nightingale House Hospice by running 4 fundraising events as part of a team. Team mates commented on my positive and enthusiastic communication style and willingness to help out with their tasks.

  7. … AND INTERVIEW Interviewer: Please give us an example of when you have succeeded under pressure… “I was a volunteer fundraiser for Nightingale House Hospice. In a team, we agreed to run 4 fundraising events in just two months, and set ourselves a target of £1500 to raise. As the events approached, one of the team members, responsible for publicity, fell ill. I remained positive and calm, and we worked together to share the work so that the events happened on time. Participants commented on how smoothly the events ran, and we broke our fundraising target, and raised £2000! Adapt your examples for interview, and don’t forget to mention the success in your interview examples

  8. STEP 5: TRY SOME OF THESE • Have a good personal development template so volunteers get in the habit of recording not just what they’ve done, but also what they have learned, the skills developed and their successes • Include in your support meetings and exit interviews help for volunteers to identify the skills they’ve developed and the results / successes stemming from their contributions. • Build in time and funding for CV / application / interview support sessions for your volunteers into project planning – staff might find these useful too! • Encourage volunteers to peer review each others’ applications and CVs (taking into account data protection considerations) • Keep a folder of good practice CV and application form examples, as well as guidance that you can refer volunteers to • Help volunteers to gather the results of their contributions and to think about how they might measure their own success.

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