Since I volunteered at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 I've never looked back, I definitely caught the volunteering bug. I do a lot of event volunteering as well as a volunteer mentor role. I have a pretty full diary most of the time! As I got more into volunteering I realised that is where my passion is and  working in the charity sector as a volunteer coordinator/manager is what I want to do with my life. I have been on courses at Volunteer Scotland and through meeting people there and at other volunteering roles have had some excellent opportunities such as visiting the Scottish Parliament and being asked to take on more responsible roles at charity and sport events. I was also asked to write a guest blog by Historic Scotland which was well received and shared by Volunteer Scotland. My confidence in trying new things and not being afraid to take on new roles has grown so much and I try and grab any opportunity that comes my way. However I seem to be struggling in to find employment in the third sector and I'm not sure what my next move is. I've been working for about a year and a half or so networking, volunteering and doing courses and research and I don't want to give up as it is my dream job but it I have to admit I'm finding it difficult to even get an interview. My background is in the private sector in mostly finance and administration so it would be a career change for me. What I lack in experience I more than make up for in passion and determination. (a comment that was made to me on a course was that the passion shone out of me and you could tell how much I love it all) I recently started some casual work with a major charity working at some of their 2017 events which is great and an amazing step forward now all I really need is for an organisation to take a chance on me and have the patience to let me learn, develop and grow in a full time role, I would love for that to happen.

If anyone has any tips or advice on how to change careers into the third sector I would love to hear from you.

Links to my blog are below if anyone fancies a read.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my post!