Charity work: job opportunities and schemes for graduates
There are over 188,000 registered charities in the UK dealing with everything from international aid, culture and recreation to education and animal welfare. Many of the largest charities focus on health and children but even the smallest organisations play a part in providing public services. Indeed, the smaller the organisation, the more direct contact staff are likely to have with service users.
The day to day work of charities
Charities are run on a non-profit-making basis, so having staff with good business sense and practicality is imperative to their success. They are keen to recruit graduates who can communicate well, learn quickly, and manage effectively on limited resources. Often small charities can only afford to pay a couple of people, who can each turn their hand to anything and have both the flexibility and confidence to be spokesperson and decision maker as well as organise the admin systems. These positions are few and far between but offer the chance for graduates to learn valuable transferable skills and sector knowledge. The largest charities, on the other hand, often have highly complex structures with very specific and specialist job functions comparable to those found in the commercial and public sectors. Read the graduate views profiles for examples of what some charity workers do from day to day.
The charity sector varies so widely that it's impossible to include all aspects of working in the voluntary sector here. However, the kind of work you're likely to be doing in a charity depends largely on its size: in a small organisation you're likely to have to turn your hand to a number of tasks (for example, providing advice to members of the public and helping out on the organisation's reception desk), while in a larger charity roles are likely to be more defined.
Finding a charity job
The majority of charities and voluntary organisations don’t recruit graduates but advertise posts as and when they become available. Look in local papers and consider joining specialist recruitment agencies for advice as well as information about jobs. Look out for temporary or voluntary opportunities with organisations that interest you: this might put you in the right place at the right time if a paid role comes up. Nonetheless, there are some charity graduate schemes: ask at your careers centre and explore the options.
