I’m a careers advisor and tutor people who are learning English as a second language, so volunteering at Breaking Barriers is a good mix of my experience. However, you don’t need to be a careers adviser or anything like that to volunteer here. You just need to be able to help solve problems. If you enjoy communicating with different people, it’s a good opportunity to go for.
I’m based in Lancashire and volunteer with the Manchester office. I joined Breaking Barriers in 2023, but I’ve been an active volunteer for years in different roles. Volunteering gives me a chance to do things that are different from my daily work. Even though I’m a career advisor, I work in schools, so supporting adults who are from different backgrounds is a new experience for me.
I’m an Advice and Guidance volunteer, which is quite general. I can be helping a refugee client to tailor their CV, or research factory work, or craft an application for a senior role. One client who stood out was a lady who was a similar age to me. She’d done a lot of different things in life, and she wanted to run her own business. She had really researched what she wanted to do, and her motivation and drive was inspiring.
It’s also been interesting to hear about employment practices in other countries and how they differ from the UK. I’ve learned a lot about other cultures, and how in some places other things are considered during the recruitment process, such as protected characteristics, the university you went to, what course you did, whether you are married or what religion you are.
I don’t think I’d appreciated before how used to the UK system I am, and how valuable it can be to share that knowledge with others. For example, I was supporting Ukrainians who were getting frustrated that they never heard back after applying for jobs. While I agree with them that it’s not good practice, I was able to manage their expectations and explain how things work in the UK.
One of the things that stands out at Breaking Barriers is the flexibility, and that even in a short amount of time you can make a difference to someone’s life. Although I’m a freelancer, my work can be quite bitty, so it’s good to volunteer somewhere where I can work it around my life and I don’t have to commit to a certain day or time. There aren’t a lot of volunteering opportunities that are this flexible out there, so it’s really good and it’s time well spent.
