Volunteering can be a lot of fun and is a great way of meeting people and new friends. Many volunteers also benefit from learning new skills and getting work experience that can help secure paid work in the future.
Some volunteers get satisfaction from putting their existing experience or professional skills to good use by donating their talents to our cause. Whatever your motivation, you can be sure that your efforts will be making a real contribution to our work.
People from all walks of life volunteer with us. Students and young people volunteer to gain work experience and skills. Others volunteer when they've had a break from the job market and are looking to build up fresh experience. Many of our volunteers are retired people, looking to put their experience and some of their newfound free time to good use!
Our volunteers are free to choose their own level of commitment, provided they stay within Volunteering Australia's guidelines (a maximum of 16 hours per week). Before undertaking any activity it's a volunteer's personal responsibility to find out the time and energy needed to carry out the job and make a commitment to effectively completing the task.
Many of our volunteer roles don't require any experience or specialist skills. For example, if you'd like to work at one of our events or try your hand at fundraising, we'll provide all the training and information you need.
Office based administrative support roles might require good computer, phone and customer service skills. We develop position descriptions for all of our volunteer roles and the skills and experience required are clearly outlined.
Where possible, we try to recruit volunteers with the relevant skills and experience to fit each role description. We provide induction and role-specific training for ongoing volunteers. All ongoing volunteers have access to our learning and development program and can discuss individual training and development needs with their Supervisor or the Volunteer Recruitment Officer.
All new volunteers will have a more experienced volunteer on hand to offer advice.
You can volunteer at our offices in Carlton, or at one of our many registered fundraising events.