Community Engagement Officer jobs in Watford

The Volunteer Centre Officer will support the day-to-day delivery of Communities 1st’s Volunteer Centre offer. The role will help residents find suitable volunteering opportunities and support voluntary and community organisations to promote clear, accessible and well-managed volunteer roles.

The postholder will provide practical brokerage, outreach, follow-up and administrative support, ensuring enquiries are responded to well, opportunities are kept up to date, records are accurate, and volunteering is promoted as a meaningful route into confidence, connection, skills and community participation.

The role will work closely with the Volunteer Centre Development Co-ordinator, CVS colleagues, community engagement staff and other teams across Communities 1st to ensure volunteering routes are visible, realistic and joined up.

General Responsibilities

· Support the day-to-day Volunteer Centre service, ensuring residents, volunteers, member organisations and local groups receive a helpful and timely response.

· Provide practical volunteering brokerage, helping people understand their interests, skills and availability and linking them to suitable opportunities.

· Support voluntary and community organisations to create, update and promote clear, realistic and accessible volunteering opportunities.

· Maintain accurate Volunteer Centre records on the CRM and other systems, ensuring enquiries, opportunities, follow-up actions and outcomes are recorded clearly.

· Support volunteering outreach, campaigns, events and volunteer fairs that raise awareness of volunteering and help more people take part.

· Promote good practice in volunteer involvement, including clear role descriptions, induction, support, recognition and retention.

· Work with colleagues to support inclusive and supported routes into volunteering for people who may need additional encouragement, confidence-building or signposting.

· Identify common barriers, gaps or delays in volunteering activity and share these with the Volunteer Centre Development Co-ordinator to support service improvement.

Key Responsibilities

Volunteer Enquiries and Brokerage

· Respond to enquiries from people interested in volunteering, providing clear information and practical guidance.

· Talk with potential volunteers to understand their interests, skills, confidence, availability and support needs.

· Help match people with suitable volunteering opportunities, including flexible, short-term, youth, group and skills-based roles where appropriate.

· Follow up with volunteers and organisations to understand whether introductions have progressed.

· Escalate complex or sensitive situations to the manager.

Support to Organisations

· Support charities, community groups and partners to advertise and update volunteering opportunities.

· Help organisations describe volunteer roles clearly, including tasks, time commitment, support arrangements and checks required.

· Provide practical guidance on good volunteer involvement, including recruitment, induction, supervision and retention.

· Encourage organisations to make volunteering more flexible and accessible.

· Identify when an organisation may need wider CVS support, such as governance, safeguarding, policies or trustee recruitment, and refer this to relevant colleagues.

Outreach, Events and Promotion

· Support the planning and delivery of volunteer fairs, outreach sessions, presentations and community events.

· Contribute information and ideas for newsletters, website updates, social media and partner communications.

· Gather feedback, stories and examples that show the value of volunteering.

· Support recognition and celebration of volunteering across local communities.

Data, Learning and Improvement

· Keep CRM records accurate and up to date.

· Maintain current information about volunteering opportunities and remove or update expired roles.

· Identify gaps, barriers or recurring issues in volunteering activity and share these with the Volunteer Centre Development Co-ordinator.

Pay: £13.47 per hour

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Health & wellbeing programme
• On-site parking

Application question(s):

• 1. Can you provide an example of a situation where you had to show initiative to resolve a problem? What was the outcome?
• 2. Would you be comfortable talking to volunteers, understanding their interests and skills and helping place them with suitable volunteering opportunities?

Education:

• A-Level or equivalent (preferred)

Work Location: In person