Volunteering can be an excellent way of gaining skills and experience in order to progress into your chosen career.  In the arts, it is often essential to have volunteering experience as competition is high for jobs.  To this end, the ABO operates a volunteer register, which is renewed every year at the careers seminar Where Do I Start?.

The ABO’s volunteer register operates as an email alert service to positions that are available with ABO members.  When members alert the ABO to forthcoming vacancies, details are emailed to those on the volunteer register.  The number and type of positions vary, but can be anything from a short term internship through to a starter level job.  To apply for any position, you will need to contact the advertising organisation directly.

To join the ABO’s Volunteer register click here.

Go to Jobs to view current advertisements, but please note that volunteer positions are not listed here.

When volunteering you should remember the following:

• Being a volunteer does not affect your entitlement to government benefits
• To receive Job Seekers Allowance, you can do as much voluntary work as you want as long as you continue to actively seek work.
• An employer can reasonably be asked to provide expenses to reimburse volunteers who are out of pocket.  As long as this is for actual amounts and a record of receipts is kept it should not affect your benefit status.

There are a variety of useful sources of information about volunteering and employment law.  The ABO is a member of Voluntary Arts Network (www.voluntaryarts.org) and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (www.ncvo-vol.org.uk) which both have information and a variety of links on volunteering.  Another useful website is Volunteering England (www.volunteering.org.uk).