Career pathways for graduates into the voluntary/community sector - Research progress to date
By Fiona Christie, Careers Consultant, Univeristy of Manchester Careers and Employability Division
Aims
The aim of this practitioner research project is to build a picture of the nature and range of opportunities for graduates in the voluntary/community sector with a particular focus on management and administration roles.
The research aims to explore areas such as management, administration, fundraising, HR, marketing, PR, finance, IT, volunteer management, policy and research. The choice of this scope was influenced by the fact that these are some of the areas for which the sector is experiencing skills shortages.
Context
Figures from the Voluntary Sector Almanac 2006 show that there is a steady growth of employment opportunities in the sector: 608,000 work in the sector which is an increase of 8% since 2000. High proportions of the sector staff are in the higher occupational categories and over a third are degree holders - a higher proportion than the private or public sectors.
There is also a favourable policy context: all sides of the political spectrum want to use the voluntary sector more, especially in the delivery of public services. As a result, public money is going into developing the sector’s infrastructure. According to Elaine Smethurst, Manager of Working For A Charity, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO): 'NCVO aims to develop a strategic initiative across the sector which will offer structured career entry opportunities at different stages of people's careers: one strand will be to encourage university and college graduates'.
Methodology
HE careers consultants survey
There were 69 responses to this survey representing 50 institutions. There was considerable consensus amongst respondents. The majority said that the students they worked with who wanted to work in the sector were concerned with ethical issues when deciding on their career path. They also reported that getting into the sector was perceived by students as difficult.
I find clients can be very frustrated by the lack of transparent schemes and entry points for graduates in comparison with the commercial world. They hold that against us in the careers centre, thinking we don't choose to promote the voluntary sector. We spend a lot of energy trying to redress that balance.
A common issue of concern relates to finance and problems in undertaking unpaid relevant work experience. There was also a strong sense that there were employment opportunities but students need to be proactive in finding them.
Graduate case studies/interviews
To date, 35 of these have been conducted.
Most, though not all, individuals have done considerable volunteering before getting a job in a charity:
I had bought into the myth that you have to volunteer for months or even years to get a good job in the sector - I'm sure that is the case for some of the high profile national organisations, but it's not the case everywhere.
Most interviewees acknowledged that pay in the sector does not compare favourably to some other graduate fields of work, but there appeared a common view that this was a compromise that was made in choosing a career that they could strongly identify with, or believe in.
Further information and outcomes
Findings from the research is currently being analysed. Anyone who would like further information or would like to contribute can contact me at Fiona.Christie@manchester.ac.uk or on 0161 275 2828. The major outcome of this research will be a publication for students and their advisers about getting into the sector, distilling the findings from the research. In addition, a report for the voluntary sector workforce hub, based on the higher education consultants survey, will also be prepared.
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