Since January 2015, Volunteer Centre Barnet has been run entirely by volunteers to provide brokerage service for seeking volunteering.

CommUNITY Barnet shined as it gained several volunteer interests at The RAF Museum Careers Fair in Grahame Park Way. The event took place on Thursday 30th April 2015, 10:00 am -3:30 pm, where CommUNITY Barnet staff and volunteers visited the RAF Museum to advertise their volunteering services to the public to obtain more business and become a huge success. CommUNITY Barnet offer a wide variety of volunteering activities for those over 18 years old, including: working with children and the elderly, performing administration duties, acting as a buddy for someone in need, delivery driver roles, etc.

CommUNITY Barnet excelled in receiving an impressive total of 40 signatures from enthusiastic guests who visited the stall to sign up to volunteer. The guests demonstrated a high level of interest in the information received from the staff and volunteers on the stall. Guests, who signed up for volunteering for CommUNITY Barnet, left their names and contact details to be informed of all the available opportunities by email the following week, enabling them to make their selection from the list provided. It was discovered that some guests were already volunteering elsewhere, whilst others, who were students, were seeking to undertake a voluntary placement as part of their studies.

CommUNITY Barnet was later informed that around 160 guests attended the Careers Fair and that 25% had registered an interest in volunteering in Barnet.

Research has demonstrated that volunteering is an extremely useful way to acquire relevant experience to enhance CVs and job prospects as required by organisations recruiting new staff. Volunteers gain references and build up a network of valuable contacts to benefit them when entering into paid employment, giving them a greater advantage over those who don’t have any voluntary experience that guests, visiting the CommUNITY Barnet stall, were made aware of. In addition, volunteering builds confidence, enables volunteers to help others and have fun whilst learning new skills that are valued in the workplace.

Furthermore, CommUNITY Barnet held a brain storming activity for its guests, who were asked to list the reasons why they wanted to volunteer and the sort of volunteering they wished to undertake. From the information gathered, reasons to volunteer included: contributing positively within the community; obtaining experience and references to assist with seeking employment; familiarising oneself with the community; assisting others; and learning new skills.

Areas of interests listed were: working with children, including those with special needs; day centres/care homes; music and business-related companies.