Need advice on NGO work in Glasgow!

July 26, 2012 3:14 AM

Would appreciate advice on part-time jobs in Glasgow, for a mature student with an eye on building her CV more than earning pocket money (though that would be good too!).

I'm about to begin my Masters at the University of Glasgow in September. My student financial situation is quite secure, so I'm not too fussed about looking for work to augment my living allowance (though I won't turn down the pocket money). Because of that, I am thinking that I should be exploring opportunities that's in line with my interests (politics, communications, media) and my working background (international development; international NGO - in programme management/grants administration capacity; journalism), instead of simply looking for a waitressing/tending gig.

Does this sound feasible? I am looking for advice in terms of the sort of civil society/NGO/media organisation in Glasgow, or the UK/EU at large (if I have to or should plan for a summer internship). I'm from Malaysia, and I've been to London, but this would be my first time in Scotland, and I'm quite conscious that a year-long Masters programme is a short time!

posted by cendawanita to Work & Money (3 answers total)

Best answer: I work for a charity, so I know lots about that aspect of the sector, hopefully others might be able to chime in with information on other areas. I'm also in London, so there will be specific resources for Scotland and Glasgow that I don't know about.

The sector in the UK has been really tightly squeezed for the last few years, so there are less jobs. But there are some, and quite often the ones that are are short-term contracts and part-time so you might luck out, especially if you already have some relevant work experience.

Some useful places to start to look for jobs across the UK are: Guardian Jobs, Charity Job, Third Sector (also good for a read to keep up with what's happening in the sector), Graduate Talent Pool (for internships, paid and unpaid), and Work 4 an MP (not just jobs with MPs, but all sorts of public affairs/policy/politics jobs - I don't know if there's an equivalent site for the Scotland, but there are jobs in Glasgow advertised there at the moment).

If you're able to volunteer, there will be a lot more opportunities for you. A lot of charities will have volunteers helping out in their offices doing things from general admin to working on specific projects. Good places to look for roles are your university careers centre (they might have a volunteering section as part of that or sometimes it's part of the Student's Union) and Volunteer Scotland. For volunteering in other parts of the UK Do it has most roles.

You can also contact organisations you are particularly interested in directly and see if there are roles you can do. Where I work, we recruit most of our volunteers to roles which we've identified as needing, but occasionally we'll be contacted by someone with particular interests or experience that matches up with some work we want to do and we'll create a role for them. But supporting volunteers takes time and resources so we only do it if there's a clear benefit for the organistion and our beneficiaries

This is my day job, so feel free to ask here or memail me if you want more information!
posted by Helga-woo at 5:57 AM on July 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks so much! I completely understand about the skills matchup -- that's always been a headache for where I am here too, not to mention it's part of my job under the roster of active programmes I take care of. The resources you've linked to are awesome, and remind me to look you up when I head down to London for a drink. :)
posted by cendawanita at 9:05 AM on July 26, 2012

Seconding what Helga-woo said. WRT to the specifics of the third sector in Scotland have a look at www.thirdforcenews.org.uk and their Goodmoves jobs section. Good Luck!
posted by Chairboy at 3:01 PM on July 26, 2012 [1 favorite]