Volunteer
Our volunteers are vital members of the Citizens Advice Barnet team.
If you’re looking for a worthwhile experience and excellent training, there may be a suitable volunteering role waiting for you at Citizens Advice Barnet.
Volunteering is a great way to contribute, use and gain skills, make friends and feel part of an enthusiastic team.
Most of the work we do is carried out by highly trained volunteers. We very much value the work of all our volunteers, who strongly uphold the aims and principles of the Citizens Advice service.
Our volunteer roles
We offer a variety of volunteering opportunities throughout the year; currently we are recruiting for the following voluntary roles: advice services team, trust fundraising and social media.
A list of the main duties and responsibilities of each role can be found below, but volunteers will be encouraged to develop their own interests and take on different tasks depending on their personal skill set.
Join our Advice Services Team (currently recruiting)
Commitment: 2 days per week for at least 9 months
After successfully completing the initial training, you will:
- assist clients on reception,
- call back clients who have been referred to us,
- give advice via email,
- speak to clients on our helpline,
- support clients in person at drop-in advice sessions throughout Barnet,
- undertake administrative tasks supporting the advice team.
Purpose of the role
- help provide an effective and efficient advice service to members of the public,
- help influence government and other organisations by collecting evidence of the effect of their actions on the lives of clients for the Research & Campaigns team to use,
- help us raise essential funds to continue our work by collecting evidence of the need we address and our impact.
Qualities Required:
- being open, approachable and non-judgmental,
- ability to communicate effectively in writing and in person,
- a good level of literacy and numeracy skills,
- a good level of IT literacy,
- ability to commit to 2 days a week for at least 9 months,
- ability to commit to and work within the aims, principles and policies of the Citizens Advice service.
Social Media volunteer (currently recruiting)
Commitment: 1 day a week for at least 3 months (longer preferred).
Purpose of the role
Support our Head of Business Development with using social media to deliver our marketing and communications strategy. For the right candidate, there is potential to take ownership of our social media and support with other areas of marketing and communications, if desired.
Duties include
Creating social media content for our channels—Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn—as directed by Head of Business Development:
- creating eye-catching social media graphics,
- writing engaging social media copy,
- ensuring all social media content adheres to Citizens Advice brand guidelines,
- scheduling social media posts 2-3 times a week on all channels.
About you
No professional experience is required, although it would be useful if you’re familiar with using the social media platforms we use (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn). This role would suit you if you have an interest in marketing and communications, especially social media, and the following skills/attributes:
- IT literate; experience of using Canva desired but not essential,
- attention to detail,
- eye for design,
- engaging, clear writing skills,
- understanding of importance of accessibility in our communications,
- ability to be creative while following brand guidelines.
Join our Trust Fundraising team (currently recruiting)
Commitment: 1 day a week for at least 3 months.
Purpose of the role:
To support the Head of Business Development in raising essential funds from trusts and foundations and enable us to continue supporting the most vulnerable people in our community.
Duties include:
- identifying funders we could approach, e.g. by searching funder databases,
- researching funders to clarify whether or not we are eligible to apply, how much funding we could apply for and which project they’d be most likely to fund,
- recording the above information in a spreadsheet and keeping this record up-to-date,
- updating a master document which collates key information for applications,
- writing applications for small grants with support from the Head of Business Development.
About You
No previous experience or knowledge of trust fundraising is required; this role would suit you if you're interested in trust fundraising and have the following skills and attributes:
- strong research skills,
- high attention to detail,
- IT skills, especially MS Word and Excel at a basic level (sort, filter, basic formulas) or willingness and ability to learn,
- ability to present complex information in a clear and easily navigable format,
- clear and persuasive writing skills
Research and Campaigns Volunteer (NOT currently recruiting)
Commitment: 1 day a week for at least 3 months.
Purpose of the role
Citizens Advice Barnet’s twin aims are to help people in our community resolve the problems they face and campaign to change the policies and practices which affect their lives. As a Research and Campaigns Volunteer, you will enable us to achieve the second aim, using the experience of the people we help to influence lasting change that makes a real difference to our community.
Duties include:
- supporting the Research and Campaigns Lead to identify opportunities to improve local policies and practices that affect people we help,
- gathering evidence to support local and national campaigns,
- undertaking research to build a campaign,
- writing six-monthly updates for local councillors on what we're seeing in their ward,
- writing up reports to present your research and recommendations,
- researching and writing reports to raise awareness of local problems,
- representing Citizens Advice Barnet at external meetings to campaign for change,
- working with the Communications team to raise awareness of Research & Campaigns work.
Person Specification
No previous experience is required; this role would suit you if you have an interest in social policy, or would simply like to make a difference in our local community, and have the following skills and attributes:
- IT skills, especially Word and Excel at a basic level (sort, filter, basic formulas), and willingness and ability to learn to use our CRM to run reports,
- strong research skills,
- high attention to detail,
- analytical skills,
- ability to work on own initiative,
- excellent communication skills, both orally and in writing, with the ability to write clearly and persuasively.
Application process
To apply, please complete the application form linked by clicking on the button below. If successful we will invite you for an informal interview where we will discuss your interest and roles available. Our interview questions are the same for all roles as we don’t require certain skills or experience—these can be taught—instead our interview questions enable us to identify whether or not you have the behaviours we look for that will make you a good fit for our team.
We ask everyone to undertake some initial brief training and you need to available for the first 1-2 months (depending on the role) to not miss any crucial training. There will be opportunities to progress and you will have regular reviews with your manager.
We recruit volunteers for our Advice Services Team in cohorts. You will be required to attend training on 2 days a week (days to be confirmed) for 2 months and to commit to volunteering for 9 months. Full training and support will be provided to enable you to deliver high-quality advice, which is why we require a long commitment. As part of the Advice Services Team you will be expected to help clients across all our access channels: reception, email advice, referral call-backs, helpline and drop-in sessions, before moving on to delivering advice appointments.
For the trust fundraising, social media and research and campaigns roles, we take on volunteers as needed and open for applications on an ad hoc basis. We are currently recruiting for social media and trust fundraising volunteers.
A typical day for a volunteer
A typical day will vary depending on your role. We encourage all volunteers to attend our office in Hendon from 9:30am until 4pm, but some roles can be performed remotely, after an initial training period. You will be supported by a great team of fellow volunteers and staff. We have a dedicated training manager to support you in your training and supervisors who are always on hand to support you.
