Laura Bussa is overseas placement coordinator at 2Way Development, a specialist international volunteer agency which placing skilled volunteers with established NGOs
Building contacts while you are overseas can help you find further opportunities: It is very common for development workers to find or change jobs while overseas, but this is primarily because they have worked in that country before and they have a network of people and organisations they can easily access and engage with. When I volunteered in Lebanon for example, I was offered the opportunity to stay and work at the end of my placement for an Italian NGO that runs projects in partnership with my host organisation. Very recently two of our volunteers were offered jobs within their host organisations in Cambodia and Morocco after volunteering there for two and six months respectively. Being overseas definitely gives you an advantage, but you should look at ways to build up the right networks to begin with and volunteering is definitely a good start.
Starting volunteering while at university can help you develop skills that employers require: If you are a student and you don't have any previous work experience, volunteering part-time will definitely help to start building your CV and demonstrate to future employers that you have used your skills in a working environment.
Volunteering abroad does come at a cost, but it's valuable experience all the same: It is totally understandable to feel frustrated about the current situation but unpaid internships have become very common in every sector, not only in the development sector. Rather than taking it as a sign of corrupted practices, it is more positive to see them as opportunities to learn and gain the experience you need for the next step. I did a three month internship at the British Red Cross in London part-time, while also working and living on a very low budget. I then worked for six months in a totally different sector and saved enough money to volunteer overseas with 2Way Development for six months. It's true, volunteering abroad comes often at a cost, but there are options out there that are not too prohibitive. Most volunteers I work with don't have huge budgets but manage to save enough to then go overseas and get the first step towards their career.
Katherine Tubb is director of 2Way Development, a specialist international volunteer agency which placing skilled volunteers with established NGOs
Voluntary experience overseas is a good way of narrowing down where you want to specialise: A master's is a really valuable thing to have, but you have to be careful you choose the right one as international development is a very broad subject. You could, as an alternative, to organise a placement overseas which would give you the experience, perhaps in a more relevant way, and help you decide on a more specialist master's long term. I would recommend a minimum of six months overseas experience - that is what employers will look for and a time frame in which you can build solid skills.
Make sure you find the right agency who'll match your placement with your future goals: What you need is to find an agency who recognises the skills you have, and places you according to those skills, as well as your future goals. That way you, and the charity you volunteer with, will get a lot out of it. Check out Volunteering Options for advice about finding the right agency.
Ben Paine is development director at Medair UK, which brings life saving relief and rehabilitation in disasters, conflict areas and other crises
It's vitally important to make sure the organisation you work for matches your values: All organisations have values - most will now publish these too, together with some detail about their understanding of them. I think it's crucially important for everyone wanting to work in this sector to find (an) organisation(s) whose values match your own - I believe even more so than in many other sectors. Why? Because your values and commitment will be tested - firstly during the months and years you may need to spend working you way in and secondly when you're confronted with extreme need and difficult decisions. Few of the situations our organisations work in are simple - and being clear about values in advance - and knowing that you share those with others making decisions in your organisation - can avoid a lot of friction and misdirected effort.
If it's research your interested in, there are many places to look for work: If you want to work in research in international development, the obvious places to look at are universities (too many to list) and think tanks (arguably the same), but the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is a leader - perhaps attend some of their public events and get talking to research staff to see how they got there.
Ilse Wermink works in recruitment and finance at GOAL UK, an international humanitarian agency
There are certain skill sets which are in demand: Humanitarian organisations try to recruit locally and regionally as much as they can and international staff are hired for the combination of their technical and personal skills. GOAL recruits professionals with at least two years of post-qualification experience and for certain technical skill sets overseas experience is not essential. We currently are recruiting accountants, nutritionists, logistical managers, civil engineers plus project managers with previous overseas experience.
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