CIMSPA Youth Panel - How volunteering can help start your career
How volunteering can help start your career in the sport & physical activity sector.
Following our post last month on the benefits of volunteering, we wanted to follow up on how volunteering can help start your career in the sports industry and how to find opportunities. Volunteering experience is a great way to get to know what areas of sport you might want to go into, boost your CV and network.
CIMSPA has mapped a wide range of job roles, where many people will enter or first experience them as a volunteer. Such as many coaches will start off as volunteers in a local club or sports team before they then get their qualifications or progress into paid roles. Beyond coaching, officiating/refereeing, event support and committees, there are many other volunteering roles that you could investigate as they also can vary by sport, geographic area and organisation. So take some time to look around and see what you could have a go at!
Where to start?
- Make the most of holidays and term breaks. Plan ahead so that it gives you time to look, apply and get the most out of volunteering when not studying. Also consider if a more regular volunteering role would be best suitable to you.
- Start putting together your CV, which many universities and colleges can support you with in their careers department.
- Linkedin! Start creating your own profile as not only does it allow potential organisations to find you but also allows you to see what other people in the industry are doing and roles they do.
Start looking around
- National Governing Bodies, sports organisations and companies often post not only jobs but also volunteer roles on websites such as UK Sport, Sport and Recreation Alliance, Careers in Sport, LinkedIn and Indeed.
- These organisations will also post them on their own websites, so take note of organisations you are interested in and come back to them or set up email alerts where possible.
- Find your local Active Partnership and see if they are advertising for volunteers on their website. Many list opportunities on their websites submitted by local and national organisations.
- Charities do a lot of work in the sports industry and often use sport to fundraise, so look at Charity Jobs and charity websites for opportunities.
- Events- there are many sports events all around the country, from local events like Parkruns to multisport events like the Commonwealth games that offer volunteer opportunities. Big events of 2022 include the likes of the Commonwealth Games, Rugby League World Cup, Uefa Womens Euro football among others.
- Ask direct- if there are particular areas you are looking for, reach out to organisations, clubs/teams or venues to enquire, especially smaller or more local organisations that are volunteer run.
CIMSPA Youth Panel