Volunteering Tips: Using Keywords Interests and Activities

How to be specific when searching for opportunities on Simply Connect

We have over 220 roles on our SimplyConnect site, so how can you find the role that suits you?

This tip explains the first three search criteria within Simply Connect.  If you would like help signing up to Simply Connect in order to register an interest in a whole range of opportunities across Bedfordshire, then email us at volunteering@cvsbeds.org.uk or call 01234 354366.

Anyone can access our Bedfordshire Simply Connect site to look for suitable roles.

You will find the role search facility at bit.ly/CVSVolunteer

General

Use the headings on the right of the screen to help you fine tune the selection of roles that appear on the left of the screen. 

Use the + sign to reveal the boxes to make your selections.

Once you have made your selection, scroll down until you see the green SEARCH button and make your search.

To demonstrate how to use the Keyword, Interests and Activities options let’s suppose you have an interest in mental health issues and would like to get some experience that will support your application for training in this area ...

Keyword Search

This is your free format search field. It is not case sensitive. If you know which organisation you would like to volunteer with, you can type the full or partial name of the organisation here. You can also type any word here, and the search will result in all of the roles which use that word in their organisation name, description of the role or the skills & activities of the role.

So, if you know that you would like to volunteer with Mind BLMK, as they are the biggest charity supporting positive mental health and wellbeing across Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes , then you can enter the keyword Mind BLMK and this will throw up only those roles that relate to their work.

Care:  If you use the keyword Mind, then any role which uses the word Mind in the role description or skills and activities, will also be displayed in the roles available, which will produce a lot of opportunities that have nothing to do with mental health. 

Areas I am interested in

You can select up to three areas from the drop down list.  The roles that will show up, are those that match any of the interests that you choose, so it is probably best to select one interest at a time and see what results that brings.   

In this instance, perhaps you would like to see what other organisations apart from Mind BLMK have roles associated with mental health, so select the mental health box in the drop down list and make your search.

There are now a lot of roles to search through, so let’s get a bit more specific….

Activities I am interested in

Again, you can select up to three areas from the drop down list and we advise that you only use one of these at a time unless you are not getting enough choice in the roles that are displayed.

Look down the list to see what activity most matches what you have in mind.  In our mental health example, there are several categories that might be relevant:

• advice, information and support
• befriending, buddying and mentoring
• caring

Use these, or any other activities that you would be interested in doing, to narrow down the search for roles in mental health.

Whilst organisations do their best to match their roles against activities and interests, there is nothing as useful as personal knowledge, so if you can’t find a match then speak to us at Community Voluntary Service and we will work with you to find something that suits.

The other categories that you can use to help you find the role that suits your requirements are:

• skills - indicate the skills you want to use
• travelling distance - use this if you are limited in how far you want to travel - check out our volunteering tip on this function
• availability - indicate when you are available to volunteer
• age range - indicate your age to exclude opportunities that you are not eligible for
• support and type - use this if you have special needs or requirements
• application process - use this if you want to exclude roles that require checks, forms or references

If you have any difficulties with using Simply Connect or finding a volunteer role in Bedfordshire, please drop us an email at volunteering@cvsbeds.org.uk, leaving your phone number, or call us on 01234 354366 and someone will be happy to help you.