Volunteering as an advice worker?

[AccidentalMum]

Hi.

I have 2 DDs and am thinking about returning to work but need a complete career change (used to run a shop). I think I would be good at jobs involving advocacy, advising and support but don't have the experience. There is an opportunity to train locally for free but then the volunteering committment is at least 1.5 days a week for a year (withfurther training opportunities) which seems like a lot to work for free. Am I just being churlish and short sighted though? Does anyone think that it is a good deal? I would really appreciate other peoples opinions.

Thnaks.

Well you may find that the days are short ones. I do voluntary advice work with a similar level of commitment required. In my case I have had a career in commercial and legal advice, and whilst some aspects of the voluntary work are very different from my previous job, there are enough skills which get carried over and I feel that it helps to fill a gap on my cv (as I'm having a longer break from work than I would have intended).

If you actually want to be out and earning then I would probably look at other ways of training though. Although I think that my doing a voluntary stint you would soon get a feel as to whether this was the right career path for you.

contact your local volunteer centre and ask them to find you something that suits you in terms of commitment

My da is retired but started working for CAB initially in a voluntary capacity.Later because of his previous professional background they employed him in a paid capacity as a trainer to the CAB volunteers,so maybe something like this could lead to a paid employment??He work on a pt basis now.