The Volunteer Centre Officer will support the day-to-day delivery of Communities 1st’s Volunteer Centre offer. The role will help residents find suitable volunteering opportunities and support voluntary and community organisations to promote clear, accessible and well-managed volunteer roles.
The postholder will provide practical brokerage, outreach, follow-up and administrative support, ensuring enquiries are responded to well, opportunities are kept up to date, records are accurate, and volunteering is promoted as a meaningful route into confidence, connection, skills and community participation.
The role will work closely with the Volunteer Centre Development Co-ordinator, CVS colleagues, community engagement staff and other teams across Communities 1st to ensure volunteering routes are visible, realistic and joined up.
General Responsibilities
· Support the day-to-day Volunteer Centre service, ensuring residents, volunteers, member organisations and local groups receive a helpful and timely response.
· Provide practical volunteering brokerage, helping people understand their interests, skills and availability and linking them to suitable opportunities.
· Support voluntary and community organisations to create, update and promote clear, realistic and accessible volunteering opportunities.
· Maintain accurate Volunteer Centre records on the CRM and other systems, ensuring enquiries, opportunities, follow-up actions and outcomes are recorded clearly.
· Support volunteering outreach, campaigns, events and volunteer fairs that raise awareness of volunteering and help more people take part.
· Promote good practice in volunteer involvement, including clear role descriptions, induction, support, recognition and retention.
· Work with colleagues to support inclusive and supported routes into volunteering for people who may need additional encouragement, confidence-building or signposting.
· Identify common barriers, gaps or delays in volunteering activity and share these with the Volunteer Centre Development Co-ordinator to support service improvement.
Key Responsibilities
Volunteer Enquiries and Brokerage
· Respond to enquiries from people interested in volunteering, providing clear information and practical guidance.
· Talk with potential volunteers to understand their interests, skills, confidence, availability and support needs.
· Help match people with suitable volunteering opportunities, including flexible, short-term, youth, group and skills-based roles where appropriate.
· Follow up with volunteers and organisations to understand whether introductions have progressed.
· Escalate complex or sensitive situations to the manager.
Support to Organisations
· Support charities, community groups and partners to advertise and update volunteering opportunities.
· Help organisations describe volunteer roles clearly, including tasks, time commitment, support arrangements and checks required.
· Provide practical guidance on good volunteer involvement, including recruitment, induction, supervision and retention.
· Encourage organisations to make volunteering more flexible and accessible.
· Identify when an organisation may need wider CVS support, such as governance, safeguarding, policies or trustee recruitment, and refer this to relevant colleagues.
Outreach, Events and Promotion
· Support the planning and delivery of volunteer fairs, outreach sessions, presentations and community events.
· Contribute information and ideas for newsletters, website updates, social media and partner communications.
· Gather feedback, stories and examples that show the value of volunteering.
· Support recognition and celebration of volunteering across local communities.
Data, Learning and Improvement
· Keep CRM records accurate and up to date.
· Maintain current information about volunteering opportunities and remove or update expired roles.
· Identify gaps, barriers or recurring issues in volunteering activity and share these with the Volunteer Centre Development Co-ordinator.
Pay: £13.47 per hour
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Health & wellbeing programme
- On-site parking
Application question(s):
- 1. Can you provide an example of a situation where you had to show initiative to resolve a problem? What was the outcome?
- 2. Would you be comfortable talking to volunteers, understanding their interests and skills and helping place them with suitable volunteering opportunities?
Education:
- A-Level or equivalent (preferred)
Work Location: In person
