I currently volunteer at the Museum of Wigan Life. The volunteering serves a couple of purposes for me – I spent the last year recovering from a life-changing illness and have, until recently, not felt able to get back into work. Things have now changed and I felt that volunteering would help me to prepare for returning to the world of work.
I previously worked in the museum sector, although I had a 10-year hiatus when I changed careers to teaching. I’m looking to return to museum and heritage work and volunteering felt like a great way to help me get back into the sector.
I’m thoroughly enjoying my volunteer experience and it’s really helping to reignite my love for history and the heritage sector. I’m more keen than ever to return to work, and I look forward to being able to share my enthusiasm for museums more widely when the opportunity arises.
If you’re thinking of volunteering, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s a great way to meet interesting new people, and it helps you develop new skills and build on existing ones. It feels satisfying to know you’re doing something worthwhile that allows you to share and explore your interests.
The heritage sector relies heavily on volunteers, so in some ways it’s ahead of many other sectors. To build and maintain a strong relationship with volunteers, I’d say that the key factors are communication, trust and respect.
If you want them to give their best for an organisation, treat volunteers with the respect they deserve. Share your organisation’s plans and goals to keep them up-to-date and give them the opportunity to promote your work. And there’s no need to put them in a silo – integrate volunteers into the organisation as much as possible.