Test the water: Why voluntary work could be the perfect start to a career

Planning a gap year after university should be a pleasure - all that time to fill, with only the limits of your imagination to hold you back. Only problem is, the sheer wealth of options can make the whole thing seem more complicated than revising for your final-year exams. If you'd like to do something useful, but don't know where to start, here are a few pointers to help you choose the placement that's right for you.

There are hundreds of companies tapping into the lucrative market in gap year volunteering abroad and, though it can be expensive, there may be advantages in choosing to go with a recognised firm. They'll usually organise everything for you and offer on-the-ground support when you get there - important when you're alone in a foreign country. And it will definitely reassure your parents.

Teaching & Projects Abroad (www.teaching-abroad.co.uk) is one of the largest, offering volunteering projects in 21 countries, ranging from teaching English or working in an orphanage to journalism placements. More than a third of the 3,000 people it sends abroad every year are recent graduates on a gap year.

"The volunteers we get want to take a break before starting a job and settling down," says Ian Birbeck, senior programme executive. "It gives them a chance to try things out and adds something to the CV, especially if you've done something constructive. A lot of young people want to do something worthwhile with their year rather than just bumming around the world."

Coral Cay Conservation ( www.coralcay.org) meanwhile, offers expeditions to tropical forests and coral reefs around the world. "We get invited in by local governments to conduct environmental surveys," explains spokeswoman Lucy Timms. "We then ask for volunteers to help us with that work." At the moment, Coral Cay is taking volunteers to projects in the Philippines (see case study, below), Tobago and Papua New Guinea.

"The Tobago project involves surveying a coral reef," says Timms. "Volunteers spend a week learning to dive, two weeks learning the science side of things, such as what species live there, and the remaining time collecting data. You will mix with the local community and be diving in areas of coral reef where no-one else is allowed, which makes it very special." Volunteers stay for between six weeks and three months and prices start from £1,500 for four weeks including dive training, equipment, full board and accommodation, but no flights.

If your budget is tight but you fancy going further off the beaten track, there's no reason why you can't tailor-make your own volunteering opportunity abroad. Rachel Burgess, 23, decided to plan her own trip after graduating with an English degree. "It was partly because I didn't have lots of money to spend but also because I think that the money could be invested better in the community when you are there," she says. During her year out she worked for a charity in India, building schools and teaching sex education, and taught English in Argentina, finding projects through her own internet research.

Having done a voluntary placement through a gap year firm during her year out before university, she says going it alone was more satisfying. "It was definitely more rewarding," she says. "As a naïve 19-year-old you want to be picked up from the airport and held by the hand, but for me travelling is searching for authenticity and finding it myself and really getting involved was so satisfying. My advice would be to sit in front of the computer with a fast internet connection and research. You can always e-mail organisations to get a feel for their ethos."

Steve McElhinney, an IT professional from London, set up www.volunteersouthamerica.net after becoming frustrated with the difficulty in finding free volunteer work in Argentina. The site now lists dozens of small South American projects looking for volunteers, from an orphanage in Guatemala to a street children's charity in Peru.

"If you want to volunteer you should be able to without spending a four-figure sum," he says. "But I was finding it was very difficult to find grassroots organisations. I created the site to offer people a choice between the big money organisations and those that don't cost a fortune."

Since he set up the site, two others have also appeared - www.truetravellers.org and www.independentvolunteer.org.

You don't have to go jet off abroad to have a rewarding and exciting experience. Working for a charity or voluntary group in the UK could offer valuable work and life experience in a more familiar environment.

"Not everyone has thousands of pounds to spend after university," says Paul Donohoe, spokesman for CSV (www.csv.org.uk), the UK's largest volunteering organisation. "Doing a UK-based gap year is affordable and you don't need to worry about your carbon footprint." The charity offers a huge range of placements for a minimum of four months up to a year, including mentoring young people at risk of offending, helping a disabled person live independently at home and teaching children with learning disabilities.

Volunteers get an allowance of up to £70 per week and free accommodation.

"You can often marry it up closely to a future career," says Donohoe. "Say you want to get into social work, you can find out whether you have the right qualities, skills and temperament for the job."

Rachel Beck, 21, from Lincolnshire, is volunteering through CSV at Nightsafe, a homeless shelter for young people in Blackburn. "My gap year has been amazing," she says. "Along with other volunteers I have been running and managing the shelter. Working with homeless people has really challenged my perceptions. After leaving university, I just couldn't have afforded to gain this type of work experience if it wasn't for the living allowance and free accommodation."

The major charities also need volunteers. Oxfam, for example, has short- or long-term positions in its shops and offices, while Amnesty International offers three- to six-month internships in London, Geneva and New York. If you'd like to work outdoors or with animals, charities such as the RSPB, National Trust and RSPCA run volunteering programmes aimed at graduates. Visit www.gapyear.com/ volunteer for more information.

'I did a lot of work with the locals, teaching kids how to snorkel and how to survey the reefs'

Bethan O'Leary, 22, is about to graduate from Southampton with a degree in geography. Last summer she spent two months working on a marine project in the Philippines with Coral Cay Conservation.

I chose the project because I wanted to do something that was science based and that might actually make a difference. I also used it to do my dissertation on the biological and social impact of Marine Protected Areas.

I went on my own but when I got there there were about 20 other volunteers ranging in age from 17 to their late twenties. We spent time learning to how to dive and about the marine life and after that we would carry out surveys twice a day, with time at the weekends. We also did lots of day trips to see other parts of the country. One of them was to see Saint Bernard, the site of a major landslide, where we saw the Red Cross villages and how people are coping. I'm now helping to fundraise so they can build a playground for the children.

The trip gave me a lot of field experience and taught me a lot in terms of science. I did a lot of work with the locals, teaching kids how to snorkel and how to survey the reefs, and we also helped paint murals at municipal buildings. I took a gap year after school and just wanted to have some time off. But my Coral Cay placement had a completely different purpose. I wanted to learn and make more of a difference.

'The builders were great - and very amused that women wanted to help'

Penelope Copping, 23, from London, works as a teaching assistant while applying for jobs. Last year, she spent seven months in Ghana with Teaching & Projects Abroad after graduating with a degree in psychology.

I'd always wanted to go to Africa. I decided to go with a company because I knew I didn't want to just travel. I wanted the stability of volunteering somewhere for a while so I could feel part of the community.

I spent my first three-and-a-half months building classrooms, which was hard work because everything was done by hand, but also really good fun. The builders were great, and very amused that women wanted to help. I then spent the same time again teaching basic maths and English to children aged three to six. It was difficult finding different ways to explain things but the kids were absolutely amazing. I spent my weekends travelling around and also took two weeks at the end to travel up to Mali.

You really do have to change in order to fit in, particularly because you live with a host family. Their lifestyle is so different that you appreciate everything much more. Since I've come back, I have a much more laidback approach to life. I know I want to work with children and eventually move into play therapy. It's a bonus in my job hunt because I have experience of working with children - and also of another culture. It has opened my mind to accepting other people's ways and given me a lot more confidence.

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