We’re on the lookout for a new Volunteer Coordinator!
We’re seeking an energetic Volunteer Coordinator to join our friendly and successful Volunteer Team. Your work will play a key role in helping us achieve our ambitious goals. If you’re passionate about supporting young people and eager to gain experience in the charity sector, we’d love to hear from you!
| Salary: | £24,000 inc. London weighting |
| Contract Type: | Full time, permanent (35 hours per week, 11am-7pm, Monday to Friday) |
| Location: | Hybrid from the Hackney Ship, Dalston, and home working |
| Application Deadline: | 9am, Wednesday 16th October 2024 |
| Stage One Interviews: | Phone interview, Monday 21st or Tuesday 27th October between 10am-4pm |
| Stage Two Interviews: | Online or in-person in Hackney Ship, Tuesday 29th or Wednesday 30th October, between 12pm-4pm |
| Start Date: | Ideally 11th November 2024 |
Skills & Experience We’re Looking For
Personal Attributes:
We are looking for candidates who are a good fit in terms of attributes and attitude, and who are keen to learn and gain experience. These attributes include:
- Confident and happy engaging with new people in a variety of contexts.
- Reflective and ready to learn with a growth mindset
- A positive, proactive and dedicated approach.
- Engaging and accurate communication skills.
- An understanding of and passion for our mission and values.
- Flexibility and responsiveness when required to turn your hand to different tasks.
- Highly organised, calm under pressure and with excellent attention to detail.
- Target-driven and solution focused.
- Passionate about volunteering and social change.
- Systematic approach to working, and the ability to refine and develop new effective processes.
Experience:
While certain experiences will be helpful, we are not looking for a specific set of experience. Consider any experiences you have from work, study, volunteering or personal projects and how these might demonstrate you have the right attributes and the ability to learn and perform in the role.
If you had one or more of these experiences while studying, working, volunteering or in other setting, we want to hear from you:
- You may have worked with a range of people or projects in different contexts or communities.
- You have volunteered yourself or worked with volunteers/young people and/or their families in any setting.
- You may have experience with customer services, sales or recruitment.
- You may have experience of administration and organising people.
- You may have an interest or desire to learn to use software and online platform.
- You may have been in busy and fast paced environment and enjoy being organised.
Role Description
Purpose
Our Volunteer Crewmates play a vital role in our after-school learning programmes in Hackney, and online. By working 1:1 and in small groups, they help Young Pirates to develop their literacy, confidence and perseverance. We’re looking for a Volunteer Coordinator to help us recruit and retain them.
In this entry level role, you’ll be working within the Volunteering team to help us get more Volunteer Crewmates on board, and to make the volunteering experience the best it can be.
From making sure that each Young Pirate has the support of a dedicated volunteer to increasing representation across our volunteering base, there’s a whole range of challenging projects to get stuck into!
Key responsibilities
Recruiting Volunteers:
- Attending volunteering fairs and giving talks at universities, job centres, volunteer centres and local organisations.
- Meeting with and running recruitment events at local businesses, communities and faith groups.
- Creating and maintaining effective recruitment materials and online adverts, with support from the Senior Communications Manager.
- Generating a constant flow of volunteers via outreach activities.
- Tracking and monitoring potential volunteers.
- Managing relationships with a variety of organisations and communities to bring in more volunteers.
Retaining Volunteers:
- Greeting volunteers upon arrival and completing daily session admin.
- Aiding the smooth delivery of volunteer sessions, supporting our volunteers in Hackney and on our online program
- Running evening social events.
- Debriefing with volunteers at the end of sessions, taking feedback and celebrating their achievements.
Administrative Responsibilities:
- Processing volunteer applications and induction by delivering training and welcome meeting.
- Processing volunteer criminal background checks.
- Managing daily communications with all volunteers and volunteering partners by email, phone and in person.
- Maintaining accurate volunteer records, input and tracking of relationship and connection with local communities and organisations on our databases.
General:
- Taking an active part in learning and evaluating the Volunteer Programme.
- Taking an active part in feedback and review, both of yourself and of the organisation as a whole.
- Ensuring all children are safe by enforcing our child protection and risk management policies at all times.
Benefits of Working at The Literacy Pirates
- Be part of a committed, inclusive organisation that supports its team to thrive. We value each member of our team’s professional development and provide training to make sure you have the chance to develop your skills and grow your experience as part of our expanding team. Click here for more information about our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
- Request flexible and home-working arrangements. We know how important your personal life is, so every member of the team is able to apply for flexible and home-working arrangements around their delivery commitments.
- Receive enhanced sick, maternity, paternity and adoption pay, with supportive parenting arrangements. Your family is important and we are committed to supporting our you as a parent, which is why we go above and beyond our statutory responsibilities.
- Take a mental wellness day. Staying well means looking after our mental health and physical health so, rather than taking a sick day, a mental wellness day acknowledges that sometimes we can feel overwhelmed, not quite ourselves and we need time out.
- Take a career break. After four years with The Literacy Pirates, you can take sabbatical leave to pursue personal development or time with your families, and come back to work without needing to end your contract.
- Gain 24 hour access to qualified counsellors for yourself and your immediate family. Through the Health Assured Employee Assistance Programme, yourself and your immediate family can receive free, confidential advice and support from qualified counsellors, on everything from stress and anxiety to family issues, bereavement and finances.
- Save up to 39% on a commuter bike and accessories through Cyclescheme. Through our partnership with Cyclescheme, you can get a bike for work with payments automatically taken from your monthly salary and no upfront payments. This means you’ll be able to spread the cost over 12 months and pay less Income Tax and National Insurance.
- Get time during work hours to volunteer. As an organisation that relies on the passion and generosity of volunteers, we know how valuable volunteering is. We offer all employees 14 hours of volunteering time per year, which you can take by the hour or in one go, so that you can support issues and causes that you care about.
- Receive 23 days of annual leave per year, plus bank holidays and the days between Christmas and New Year, and increased allowance with service.
- Get 8% pension contributions, with 3% paid by The Literacy Pirates.
- Get to work in a pirate ship!
How to apply
To apply for the position, complete our online application form by 9am, Wednesday 16th October 2024.
Initial phone interviews will be held on either Monday 21st or Tuesday 27th October, between 10am-4pm.
If you are successful, you will be invited to a second interview, online or in-person in our Hackney Ship, on either Tuesday 29th or Wednesday 30th October, between 12pm-4pm.
Each interview will last 30-60 minutes and we are able to compensate for unpaid leave were required.
Following interview, successful candidates will be invited to attend a session and meet the Young Pirates and their volunteers on Thursday 31st October Between 4.30pm-5pm.
To find out more about The Literacy Pirates and the role, come to one of our informal, virtual open evenings on Friday 5th or Tuesday 8th October at 5pm
Open evenings do not form part of the recruitment process. To book, contact ahoy@literacypirates.org
All employees are required to complete an Enhanced DBS check prior to starting work. You can see our policy on employing those with a criminal record here.
If you need to take time from work or pay for childcare to attend interviews, we are happy to compensate you for you. We share more details about how to do that if you are invited to interview.
We’re committed to ensuring our recruitment practices are accessible to and inclusive of all prospective candidates. If you require any reasonable adjustments to accessing our recruitment materials or attending interviews, please let us know by emailing or using the Contact Page.