Citizens Advice Wokingham offers free, confidential, impartial and independent advice and information to anyone living or working in Wokingham borough. We are looking to recruit Trainee Adviser.
The role will involve; completing an introduction to Citizens Advice and work through the Adviser Learning Plan training programme, talk to clients over the phone, face to face, or online to explore what problems they’ve come for help with, find information about the clients’ problems and help them to understand their options, supporting clients to take action to resolve their problems.
This might include drafting or writing letters, making phone calls, or referring the client to another organisation, writing a summary of the clients’ problems and what action you’ve taken and looking out for problems’ that are common, or are unfair, and write a short report about the problem or a letter to an elected official like an MP, AM or local councillor. What’s in it for you?
Make a real difference to people’s lives, learn about a range of issues such as benefits, debt, employment, housing, family, health and consumer rights, build on valuable skills such as communication, listening and problem solving, and increase your employability, work with a range of different people, independently and in a team and have a positive impact in your community.
We will reimburse expenses too.
If you’re a law student and you train as a Citizens Advice adviser, you can get up to six months off your solicitor training contract! You don’t need specific qualifications or skills but you’ll need to: be friendly and approachable, be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own, have good listening skills, have excellent verbal and written communication skills, have good maths and IT skills, be able to understand information and explain it to others, be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection and be willing to undertake training in your role.
Ideally, we ask for eight hours per week, which can be over one day or spread over two days, for at least 12 months.
Established in the early 1980s, the BMSTC now runs the Berkshire Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre, offering a range of therapies and treatments that help our beneficiaries manage their MS, as well as offering support for carers and family members.
We are looking to recruit new Trustees. Trustees are the people who make the top-level decisions for our charity.
Our Board includes people with experience of MS, and skills in governing our operations. We’d expect new trustees to have empathy with our cause and our beneficiaries, but you don’t necessarily need full knowledge or experience of MS.
Similarly, you don’t necessarily need prior experience of charity trusteeship, as support and full induction will be provided, plus specialist support as a new trustee including access to external training.
What you will need is the ability to think strategically and plan long-term; you’ll also need to be able to work collectively with other Board members.
We’re looking for trustees to bring new ideas, skills and abilities, particularly in marketing/communications, or income-generation, or people management, or even with knowledge of Health and Social Care systems; but if you don’t have these, we’re still interested in you.
We ask for up to eight hours of your time per month, which includes all meetings, discussions, etc. You will need access to digital communications, as much of our charity’s business is run that way.
If you are interested in the roles above or to discuss your specific volunteering needs, please get in touch with Helena Badger, Volunteer Services Manager; volunteer@wok-vol.org.uk 0118 977 0749 or visit our website www.volunteerwokinghamborough.org.uk
