What is your job title?
My job is two-fold: I am a Race Equality Advisor and a Volunteer Development Advisor.
What do these roles entail? My job as Race Equality Advisor is to promote equality and diversity in and outside of the workplace. At Barnardo’s we have an equal opportunities strategy called Enacting Our Vision (EOV). This initiative aims to improve Barnardo’s work with black and minority ethnic (BME)children, young people and their families. My role is to ensure that all Children’s services in my region are meeting the needs of BME service users and their families. My other role in Barnardo’s is developing volunteer schemes within the region. I create plans to encourage and maintain the input of volunteers. I offer training on all current infrastructures to do with volunteers. It is a very exciting role as it is always thinking ahead about ‘what can we do better’ and ‘how can we make better use of our volunteers time?’. I enjoy this kind of strategic thinking. Why did you choose this field? I was originally a volunteer manager at one of Barnardo’s
services in West London but after 8 years in that role I felt I needed a new challenge. When this job with the race angle came up I felt confident that I could provide good advice and be a real asset to the team. I also knew that the role would give me
opportunities to develop and to acquire new skills. What qualifications are required for this role?
For this role it was important to have knowledge of the organisation. I was an internal applicant which immediately put things in my favour. I had been recruiting and developing volunteers for 8 years in Barnardo’s so really my experience was my qualification.
Can you give us a little insight as to what your daily duties are?
I often find myself on the road, travelling to various parts of the South and East of England to visit projects and develop ideas for how our services can be used as good practise. I spend a lot of time collating data and researching for local or national information – this supports or benefits resource structures for services. I write reports and work with the national
fundraising team to offer support. I also engage with BME communities around London, East of England and the South East and find out what their needs are. What are the hours like? They are quite good and I am getting better and better at managing my time which means the tasks I have to do get done more quickly so I get to leave on time more frequently! I have to be flexible at weekends or evenings if it means attending important meetings or creating new opportunities but on the whole the hours are very flexible which works well for me and my family.
Do you find these roles rewarding?
I find both the roles very rewarding. I have found creativity to be a key factor in my jobs and this is good since I am a creative person who likes to come up with innovative solutions to difficult problems. I believe there is nothing more rewarding and satisfying than nurturing an organisation and the people within it, to grow and develop. It is a very positive feeling when structures you have put in place work well and you can watch the
organisation or a group of people bloom.
What advice would you give somebody that wants to venture into either of these fields?
I believe it’s important to be open minded about opportunities and
development. A lot of people won’t even realise that my job exists as a Race Equality Advisor. It’s important to look and think outside of the box when you are thinking about careers. I started at Barnardo’s 11 years ago now and since then, doors have opened for me that I never would have dreamed of. It’s difficult to encourage people to keep open eyed and seek new opportunities when the job markets are so depressing, but ultimately you just have to keep trying and pushing new doors - you never know what might be waiting for you.
How do you get your Kix? By watching volunteers and staff/colleagues develop and reach their goals. This gives me my ‘Kix’ as I can start to believe that my input really is instrumental in others success.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68