At Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton, we deeply appreciate our volunteers and actively promote their professional development. Over the years, we have welcomed a diverse range of volunteers, including students.
A prime example of this is Robert West who began his journey with us in 2008 as a student volunteer. He has since advanced to full-time employment, initially joining our administration team, then transitioning to the money advice team, where he eventually became the manager. He now serves as the Deputy CEO & Head of Advice of our entire organisation.
Here is what Robert had to say about his incredible journey with Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton:
“I started at Citizens advice in 2008. I was at a point where I was unsure what direction I wanted in terms of education and future career but one thing I knew was that I had always had a lot of respect for the work done by the charity sector.
My plan was to gain some experience by volunteering and use the opportunity to try different channels to help me work out the direction I wanted my career to go. I started volunteering with the admin team and as this was central to the whole organisation I quickly started to find a direction that worked for me whilst gaining confidence at the same time.
My volunteering led to paid employment within the admin team and with the support and guidance of the organisation I showed an interest within money advice and proceeded to direct my efforts in this direction. This put me in a strong position for the upcoming money advice trainee role in which I was successful.
From there with the support of the organisation I was able to continue to gain experience and promotion to numerous roles including money advisor, money advice supervisor, money advice manager and most recently Deputy CEO & Head of Advice. Throughout my time I have also gained knowledge in other areas of law and other skills.
I always found volunteering as a great option to give to the community whilst gaining essential skills for yourself that can be carried forward throughout your career. Citizens Advice was key in supporting me throughout this.”