The British Red Cross is a volunteer-led humanitarian organisation that helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We enable vulnerable people at home and overseas to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help people recover and move on with their lives. Placement Volunteers at the British Red Cross are highly valued for the skills and energy they bring. We aim to provide our placement volunteers with an insight into the daily workings of the world’s largest humanitarian organisation. The successful candidate will have access to relevant in-house training and development opportunities during their placement. There may be some ad hoc opportunities to get involved in other areas of activity. Your role as a placement volunteer will help make a great contribution to the work of the British Red Cross. You will take responsibility for achieving specific objectives that are agreed with you within one of the various departments across the UK. You will have a real responsibility and place in the department, bringing some of your skills and experience to the role; you will also have the chance to develop workplace skills. **The expected start date for the placement is 14th May 2025 and the placement will run for 12 weeks.** **The role will be hybrid based from the placement volunteer's home with 1 day a week (preferably Wednesdays) at the British Red Cross office in London, EC2Y 9AL.** While we don’t offer voluntary internships, we are happy for you to describe yourself as an intern on your CV, if you feel that would be helpful. **The role will involve working in the Youth Engagement team coordinating 2 projects:** 1. Work experience opportunities in the UK Office (Moorgate, London) for July/August 2025. Your role will involve promoting the benefits of taking on work experience students to the various departments, whilst shortlisting young people for the different roles in different departments. You will be involved in matching applicants to the various work experience opportunities. Your role will also involve assisting with inducting the work experience students as well as ensuring that staff members who are hosting the students have all the support and resources they require. 2. Coordinating 1-day careers event. You will be responsible for organising a careers event for young people with the aim of providing young people with employability skills. You will liaise with various trainers to organise a workshop for young people to attend in August You will be involved in everything from sourcing interns to take part to promoting to staff about attending the event. You will have majority ownership of both these projects and therefore will need to be able to use your initiative on how best to coordinate opportunities as well as promote it to staff at the Red Cross. This role is to ensure the smooth running of the work experience programme in the Summer period. Typical tasks for the role may include; - Promoting the benefits of hosting work experience students to various departments. - Identifying as many departments as possible in our head office in London who can take part in hosting work experience students for a week in July & August 2025. - Shortlisting applicants and matching them to an appropriate work experience opportunity. - Coordinating the induction of work experience students. - Ensuring that both the work experience students and the departments have all the resources they require. - Sourcing trainers for the 1-day careers event. - Sending out correspondence to young people regarding the careers event. You need to have good interpersonal, diplomacy, communication and teamwork skills although full training can be given for any technical requirements. We keep the beneficiary at the heart of what we do, working to understand their needs and the difference we make. Also someone who is: - Passionate about supporting young people from different backgrounds to progress - Able to communicate with a wide range of audiences - Organised and able to prioritise workload within deadlines given - Able to use your initiative - Computer Literate **Please ensure you state how you meet the skills/experience needed in this role in your application.** **Bursary Scheme** The British Red Cross offers a bursary scheme to those placement volunteers from low-income households. Eligibility will be determined through a separate application process open to all short-listed candidates. All British Red Cross volunteers are entitled to out-of-pocket reasonable expenses. For this scheme we are defining low-income households as: **Inside London:** Living with family or partner £25,000 or under. Living independently £22.500 or under **Outside London:** Living with family or partner £18,500 or under. Living independently £16,500 or under **Young People and this role** Our placement volunteer opportunities are open to people at different stages of their career, aged 15 or above. Whether you’re student, a recent graduate or someone with more experience looking for a career change, we would be happy to hear from you. Anyone can volunteer with the Red Cross from the age of 15. An individual risk assessment, parental consent and safeguarding considerations will be required for those aged 15 – 17. The nature of the activities specific to your intern opportunity may mean that you need to be 18 years or older. **Diversity** We welcome applications from people of different backgrounds, experience and circumstances. We seek to ensure that our organisation and our services are relevant and accessible to all, with equality, diversity and fairness at the core of what we do. We invite applications from individuals regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or political belief and are committed to promoting fair participation and equality of opportunity for all of our applicants. The British Red Cross is committed to being inclusive, with a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible diversity of backgrounds, cultures and experiences – including disabled and ethnic minor Placement Volunteers at the British Red Cross are highly valued for the skills and energy they bring. We aim to provide our placement volunteers with an insight into the daily workings of the world’s largest humanitarian organisation. They will have access to relevant in-house training and development opportunities during their placement with possible ad hoc opportunities to get involved in other areas of activity. Our placement volunteers will help make a great contribution to the work of the British Red Cross and will be responsible for achieving specific agreed objectives within one of our various departments.
Why we want you: We need volunteers to help us ‘behind the scenes’. It’s up to you how you choose to help. You could be undertaking some admin tasks, offering your specialist knowledge or supporting in another way. Whatever you do, you will be getting involved in a great cause.
Tasks: General admin tasks
Other tasks as required by the team
See advert for further tasks
Skills: Good communication
Flexible and willing to help the team with a range of tasks
Reliable, organised, and able to work independently
Good IT skills
Benefits: Meet new people and be part of a dynamic and inclusive team
A great opportunity to use your skills or gain new ones
All training and induction for the role (there is no charge for training)
Reasonable pre-agreed travel expenses for the role including for attending training
An opportunity to be part of the world’s largest humanitarian organisation and the knowledge that you are making a difference to people’s lives
