Looking to volunteer around Worthing area

[Ventrue]

Hello, I hope I am posting in the correct section, I understand this is more for advertising a vacancy but I could not find a more relevant subforum. I have been using this website for a while now but only now subscribed to create a thread in hopes of finding an opportunity to volunteer and gain some valuable work experience.

I have graduated from computing HND with 4 distinctions and 3 merits making me over qualified for government sponsored apprenticeships. And I have also already done some work experience during college, working 1 day a week for 9 months in a school as a junior IT technician. However even in most basic entry level positions I find my self competing with people who posses more experience then I had accumulated. I also got a windows server 2008 with some clients on Oracle Virtualbox at home so I can practise how to deploy MSI packages over group policies, or how to do remote support with Mstsc and other low end server management.

At the moment I am currently available up to 5 days a week, I do not expect to be given much control over the network as I understand that could leave people above me liable for my actions and I am happy with 1st line support duties. I am not sure if I should post my CV here publicly so I suppose I can give it on request and answer any questions there might be.

[elsiegee40]

Welcome. Don't post your cv publicly, but our resident cv expert @witch will undoubtedly be able to help you fine tune it.

@Ephelyon may be able to offer practical help too

[witch]

I can have a look, sure!

Pm me for email address

[Ventrue]

Thank you very much, but for now I am pretty happy with my CV.

[Ephelyon]

If you'd like any assistance or coaching with server maintenance, I'm at your disposal via PM or Skype.

[Ventrue]

That is a very kind offer, thank you. I might take you up on that at some point in the future. At the moment though I'd love to focus on finding some work experience. Maybe some one could provide me with some websites or are aware of some companies/schools I could contact to see if they would consider taking on some one to do work experience? Any kind of point in a right direction would be really appreciated.

[Ephelyon]

Be mindful that the ideal solution isn't always what we thought it would be. It's also worth noting that the greater skillset you can offer for a volunteering role, the better.

 

Looking around, there are various contract roles available in that area along with a few agencies recruiting for centralised IT support for schools. You could look at sending your credentials to people like Class Technology Solutions (based in Horsham).

[elsiegee40]

There's a good selection of websites in this thread http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-jobs/148436-education-job-websites-where-look.html

 

You could do worse than send a speculative application to all the schools and colleges (don't forget the independents) in your area.

[elsiegee40]

Keep your eye on East Sussex volunteer centre too http://www.vces.org.uk/

 

Also the national website https://do-it.org/

E.g. https://do-it.org/opportunities/bf12efbf-8e14-4e65-821d-f2e710a663c9

https://do-it.org/opportunities/389f53f0-d5db-418b-b8dc-0d044fd2fd6c

https://do-it.org/opportunities/9541e8f4-c4af-4b7b-a3b8-c92d33183e42

 

Given that the ultimate aim is get paid employment, think carefully about getting help from witch and Ephelyon; they both have good track records in getting EduGeeks into employment

Edited March 1, 2015 by elsiegee40

[Ventrue]

Thanks to all of you, I will keep an eye on all of those websites. I have contacted Class Technology in the past and have applied for that position in Worthing area that had no dates, I did not hear back from them and saw the dvertisement reposted, so I am just assuming they did not get the enough applicants. I have also contacted a great number of schools, for some reason its always a problem as its hard to determine who to contact exactly, I would contact the secretary, then if I get details the technicians and then HR. And an issue that comes up is that its not simple manual labour work, people are afraid that if they get some one to do work experience and person makes mistake, they will end up paying. As far as the job websites go, I do use them, pretty much all in that list come up during google search, as well as government websites. The volunteer websites is some thing else though, so far I could not find anything I wanted to do on them, most of it is teaching people how to use computers. I would like to do some thing with infrastructure and if possible 5 days a week, even if most of the time I am doing some thing trivial at least I get to observe a lot of it.

 

edit.

Oh and no, the ultimate aim at the moment is not to get in to a paid employment. I am in position that allows me to not rush in to first job that offers money, I am only apply to jobs I actually want to do, on-site technician, schools mostly. I am avoiding 1st line phone only jobs or computer reselling. I understand that I can not expect to just pick the job I want and go for it with out having the expertise, but if it takes 5 months working for free, spending my money for travel, or if I get lucky find a really basic junior role that might last 2 years... I am willing to do it. I do not want to start big, but at least start in the correct area.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Ventrue

[elsiegee40]

You are making life quite hard for yourself if you are being picky about what you apply for.

 

As an employer, when there are many similar applications, someone who has evidence of working is more likely to be picked for interview, even if the work experience isn't relevant... shelf-stacking at the supermarket or whatever. Particularly with more junior roles, I need to know that person is capable of turning up day in day out on time, can work with other people and accepts that life sometimes brings you lemons... i.e. that the work isn't always that great or that interesting, but they'll still get on with it.

 

Of course, I want to see an appetite for learning and the larger the skill set the better, but the other stuff is important too. I would actually try to get yourself into some regular paid employment as it will do wonders for your cv.

 

With regard to employment in schools, the correct person to write to, if in dohbt, is always the Headteacher. If the school is part of a multi academy trust, recruitment will be handled by the Trust HR department. Stand alone schools will usually have a Bursar or Business Manager who does this. Don't expect to go direct to whoever deals with the IT.

 

As for the voluntary roles you said

most of it is teaching people how to use computers.

That is extremely valuable work experience, especially for working in schools. We spend a huge amount of time helping users to do things that should be obvious, but aren't. The average day for many of us isn't spent maintaining the network infrastructure. If you can patiently work with others helping them to understand, you are a very useful person indeed.

Edited March 1, 2015 by elsiegee40

[witch]

I agree

Also, I understand that you are pretty happy with your CV but it is always worth letting someone who has quite a lot of recruitment experience have a look - there might be something you have forgotten or you may be underselling yourself in some way.

I would have thought your qualifications and work experience would get you interviews for junior technician - I don't think you need to do any more voluntary work in this field. As elsiegee40 says, any paid employment whilst searching for the right tech job would be a good idea

[Ephelyon]

Agree with all of the above.

 

It might also be useful to let someone give you a "technical appraisal" that identifies current strengths (to then go on the CV) and current areas for development (which could then be provided for). It also allows you to put "private/guided study" on your CV for the present time, perhaps referencing this site and other resources.

[Ventrue]

I suppose there are no valid arguments that I can offer to your logic... So I am convinced that my approach might be the wrong one, as such I'd like to accept the kind offer to have my CV looked over. How would it be best to contact you then?

[crc-ict]

@Ventrue: If you are Worthing based and interested in schools ICT, have you thought about contacting JSPC based in Sompting?

 

They have a very large customer base of schools across the West Sussex area and always seem interested in nurturing new talent. Might be worth a call?

 

Home | JSPC Computer Services

 

You may struggle to find volunteer work, as because of requirements for DBS checks and disclosures, there is quite a lot of admin involved and schools that need to have the level of technical support available to justify the admin probably already have their provision in place.

 

Good luck!

Edited March 2, 2015 by crc-ict

[Ventrue]

Thanks for the tip, I have just now contacted JSPC. I have had DBS check done before, it did not seem too hard on paper work and only costed around 100 pound, I could always offer to pay it my self.