Having just got back from Malawi after spending three months volunteering there on VSO's Global Xchange programme, I thought it was about time to thank the people who got me into volunteering in the first place. Yup, that's right, ProjectScotland.
Without my six month placement with PS, I'd have went down the same route as so of my peer group after leaving university - straight onto a graduate placement scheme for a company I didn't care about and more importantly, a company that didn't care about me. Or I'd be in a call centre, moaning and scanning job adverts incessantly, whilst fluffing my lines and being threatened with imminent dismissal. Thankfully, that was not to be. Cliched as it may sound, volunteering with PS was like being given a little key to a succession of doors that I didn't even know existed. And those doors have led onto other things - I would never have had the experience needed to be accepted on Global Xchange for instance.
I'm now on the hunt for employment in earnest and I am confident that the skills and experience I picked up through my placement will help me land a job that I REALLY want. And jobs aside, I will continue to volunteer throughout my life because my first experience was so positive.
Thanks ProjectScotland! Keep up the good work.
Jennifer Angus
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
ProjectScotland changed my life!
I volunteered with ProjectScotland from January 2006 until June 2006. My Placement was with Cornerstone Community Care and I fell in love with the work from very early on into the placement, after my placement ended it was clear that a career in social care was what I really wanted to pursue so I went on to do my HNC in Social Care.
I did very well here and overall I got an A for the HNC, to make things even better.....I have now gone on to get a fulltime (paid!) position with the placement that I originally volunteered with!
I just wanted to thank ProjectScotland for how much it really did change my life..you guys really helped open up so many opportunities for me and my future and now I have a job which I love with a passion. I am so so grateful. Thanks so much!
Christine Macleod
Cornerstone Community Care
I did very well here and overall I got an A for the HNC, to make things even better.....I have now gone on to get a fulltime (paid!) position with the placement that I originally volunteered with!
I just wanted to thank ProjectScotland for how much it really did change my life..you guys really helped open up so many opportunities for me and my future and now I have a job which I love with a passion. I am so so grateful. Thanks so much!
Christine Macleod
Cornerstone Community Care
Thursday, 12 July 2007
My placement experience...
I am currently doing my 4th month of my volunteering placement, and will finish in September. My placement is in project management and marketing for Dunedin Canmore Housing Association, and this is part of my French Master in Business Management.
The project I am working on is called SHAPE (School Holiday Activities Places Events). Valid during school holidays throughout the year, SHAPE offers generous discounts to a wide range of attractions and activities, including 67 per cent off at Dynamic Earth and two-for-one at the Filmhouse, plus volunteering opportunities at 12 organisations. The booklet has been distributed to 8,500 housing association tenants in Edinburgh.
We used to have two volunteers on this project. Camille Deeny, had already completed negotiations with the organisations taking part, so when I arrived in March, I did the information booklet that comes with the card. I wrote all the text and checked and rechecked the facts. We included a map of the city showing all the locations, and a competition as an incentive to get people out to all the attractions. I also marketed the card through a free newsletter distributed to tenants, and I organised the launch at our tenants’ open day.
Producing the information booklet has provided valuable practical experience in marketing, and the international work experience will strengthen my cv. A big thankyou to Projectscotland who offered me a very professional placement. I managed the project from A to Z, and I’ll finish it by evaluating the feedback from tenants. Making money is not the goal for me. It was finding out how a charitable organisation works and how they deliver projects.
Heloise Lassoudiere
ProjectScotland Volunteer
Dunedin Canmore Housing Association
The project I am working on is called SHAPE (School Holiday Activities Places Events). Valid during school holidays throughout the year, SHAPE offers generous discounts to a wide range of attractions and activities, including 67 per cent off at Dynamic Earth and two-for-one at the Filmhouse, plus volunteering opportunities at 12 organisations. The booklet has been distributed to 8,500 housing association tenants in Edinburgh.
We used to have two volunteers on this project. Camille Deeny, had already completed negotiations with the organisations taking part, so when I arrived in March, I did the information booklet that comes with the card. I wrote all the text and checked and rechecked the facts. We included a map of the city showing all the locations, and a competition as an incentive to get people out to all the attractions. I also marketed the card through a free newsletter distributed to tenants, and I organised the launch at our tenants’ open day.
Producing the information booklet has provided valuable practical experience in marketing, and the international work experience will strengthen my cv. A big thankyou to Projectscotland who offered me a very professional placement. I managed the project from A to Z, and I’ll finish it by evaluating the feedback from tenants. Making money is not the goal for me. It was finding out how a charitable organisation works and how they deliver projects.
Heloise Lassoudiere
ProjectScotland Volunteer
Dunedin Canmore Housing Association
Monday, 28 May 2007
Getting a job….
I'm a graduate, have worked from the age of 12 (papers); supported myself all the way through uni and am generally a pleasant individual - so I hope! So when I finish University after 4 years of hard work and a considerable amount of debt later you hope that you have gained transferable and desirable skills, which could potentially be an asset in the workplace….one hopes.
Unfortunately this perception that studying for years will increase your employability may be a myth….now I understand that there is more to being a desirable employee than academia, which having worked in several part-time jobs over the years ranging from customer service positions, administrative support to supervisory positions thought that I may have taken a step in the right direction to have gained actual work experience….apparently not.
After a number of months spent applying for jobs of varying levels I hit a brick wall…what was I to do now? I had had my summer of travelling- racking up even more debt- and had completed my degree, should I do a masters, should I try and work abroad, or should I try and get some work experience?
The latter option was the most appealing. Then the problem of finances reared its ugly but inevitable head…what would I do for money, how would I pay my debts back or at least keep on top of them? Then ProjectScotland came to my aid…a way of gaining work experience, whilst receiving some form of financial support, with the added flexibility to keep a part-time job on the go at the same time. Fab.
My placement has been cracking, I have met some lovely people, have had an interesting insight into the workings of a vast organisation that is the Scottish Executive, have learnt new skills, practiced existing ones and developed a stronger or shall we say more reflexive idea of what I would 'like to do with my life'. Guidance from both within the executive and from the ProjectScotland team has ensured that my placement is both challenging and rewarding.
Now the scary bit begins again…job hunting. I do feel more confident in my own abilities and hope that the valuable experience gained stands me in good stead.
So was uni worth it? Yes and no. Would I change the 'path' I have taken? No. Would I recommend a placement? Yes. Do employers need to give us a chance to gain experience? Yes!!! Will I be writing in with another rant if I don’t get a job? Hmm maybe!
Danielle Logan, ProjectScotland volunteer with the Scottish Executive.
Check out the monthly ebulletin The ProjectScotland VoluntEar on www.projectscotland.co.uk. I won email of the month and got £55 cash prize!
Unfortunately this perception that studying for years will increase your employability may be a myth….now I understand that there is more to being a desirable employee than academia, which having worked in several part-time jobs over the years ranging from customer service positions, administrative support to supervisory positions thought that I may have taken a step in the right direction to have gained actual work experience….apparently not.
After a number of months spent applying for jobs of varying levels I hit a brick wall…what was I to do now? I had had my summer of travelling- racking up even more debt- and had completed my degree, should I do a masters, should I try and work abroad, or should I try and get some work experience?
The latter option was the most appealing. Then the problem of finances reared its ugly but inevitable head…what would I do for money, how would I pay my debts back or at least keep on top of them? Then ProjectScotland came to my aid…a way of gaining work experience, whilst receiving some form of financial support, with the added flexibility to keep a part-time job on the go at the same time. Fab.
My placement has been cracking, I have met some lovely people, have had an interesting insight into the workings of a vast organisation that is the Scottish Executive, have learnt new skills, practiced existing ones and developed a stronger or shall we say more reflexive idea of what I would 'like to do with my life'. Guidance from both within the executive and from the ProjectScotland team has ensured that my placement is both challenging and rewarding.
Now the scary bit begins again…job hunting. I do feel more confident in my own abilities and hope that the valuable experience gained stands me in good stead.
So was uni worth it? Yes and no. Would I change the 'path' I have taken? No. Would I recommend a placement? Yes. Do employers need to give us a chance to gain experience? Yes!!! Will I be writing in with another rant if I don’t get a job? Hmm maybe!
Danielle Logan, ProjectScotland volunteer with the Scottish Executive.
Check out the monthly ebulletin The ProjectScotland VoluntEar on www.projectscotland.co.uk. I won email of the month and got £55 cash prize!
Ginger Gorilla Film
Have you seen the new ProjectScotland Ginger Gorilla film? It's brilliant! Check it out here http://www.projectscotland.co.uk/
Monday, 21 May 2007
Friday, 18 May 2007
Ginger gorillas...
So without much of a sensible link to ginger gorillas, here is the introduction to our beautiful ProjectScotland blog.
Ginger Gorillas Forever (GGF) is part of an expedition to spread the word about ProjectScotland online and to let you guys know that there is much, much more to volunteering than building fences in the country.
So if you live in Scotland and are aged between 16 and 25, take at look at some of our adventures, because there's a lot more to us than just monkeying around....
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