Jobs in charities

Howard Lake | 4 April 2012

Jobs in charities | Top Tips

If you are straight out of school or university, or indeed this is your first working experience, to help get a job in the charity sector you should first start the process by volunteering for unpaid work with the charity of your choice.  Perhaps as an intern. Getting such a position would show the charity that you are committed to NGOs and charitable causes and will boost your chances should a paid job appear in the future. Receiving such experience is really vital and a good reference from a well-respected charity will really help your chances of getting your dream charity job.

Here’s a tip to get a foot in the door: You may know family or friends who already do some sort of volunteer work so you should see if you can join them. Another suggestion would be to go to a volunteer governmental agency and do the same.

Your CV would be greatly enhanced by your volunteer work and any prospective employer would be glad to know that they will not necessarily have to go through the process of training you for the job, as you will be able to hit the ground running; especially, if you are applying for a job in the same type of charity that you previously volunteered in. This would show any prospective employer that you have a passion for that particular type of charity niche and wish to work with those kinds of beneficiaries. For example if you volunteered in a homeless shelter and applied for a charity job in a homeless organisation, your chances may be better than if you were applying to an animal based charity.

Remember to get a volunteer job you should qualify yourself in the particular area that you want to work in. Charities are like businesses and are run in often a more stringent manner. They are businesses and all best business practices must be adhered to. Government rules and regulations must be observed and therefore any qualifications you already possess would greatly help your chances of getting a job in the charity sector.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.